Handle Tutorial - Part 6 - The Wedge, The Kerf, & Hafting

[@bigoldgrizzly]

Best reason to leave a small section of the kerf unfilled by the wedge, is if at a later date the haft gets a little loose, you have an easy fix by driving the wedge a little deeper. This only works if you don't glue your wedges. I never have used glue and have not had a problem with loose wedges. Similarly, an unglued wedge is easy to remove.

[@lancemillward2462]

not to shabby

[@tlbenson60]

Great work Tanner. I really like the attention to details!

[@brettbrown9814]

Beautiful job! Can you please expand a bit more about why you cut your kerf deeper than 2/3 of the depth of the head. I have seen other videos suggesting this as a standard. Do you get a tighter hold without sacrificing handle strength with this method? Thanks for the video.

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Really, really nice job! Especially on the bit alignment. A lot of guys seem to ignore that part of hanging an axe altogether. I always enjoy seeing how different people solve the same problems differently. On my next axe video, so long as I don’t forget 🤦, I want to give you a shoutout. I’m mostly hanging users, but many of my subs would really enjoy watching someone make an axe you could hang on the wall when you’re done. Speaking of, do you do this as a hobby or for others? You’ve mentioned having a long drive home, which made me think you weren’t working out of your shop but for someone else. Either way, it’s cool you can video some of these process at length and share them with us. Thanks!

[@axehafter1009]

Thank you so much! Yeah so I got into axe restorations in January of 2014, started making handles and also got a job picking for the Jonesport Wood Co (which owns The Liberty Tool Co, The Tool Barn, Captain Tinkham’s Emporium, and The Davistown Museum) in 2015, then in 2018 got offered a job hafting axes for Brant & Cochran that I oooobviously couldn’t refuse! Since then I designed the handles for their Allagash Cruiser and their Dirigo Belt Axe. The shop in these videos is my home away from home at Brant & Cochran. As for bit alignment, it’s a must for me! I would feel far too awful to go through all the trouble of making hand made axe handles (which I charge folks a good bit of money for) just to have the bits be mis-aligned! I’m glad to hear you share my sentiment! Nothing against folks who make do with an axe that has bad bit alignment, I just always want to challenge myself to justify my reputation!

[@aussiehardwood6196]

He is a professional... beyond a how too guy on YT or 'this is my new hobby, I'll video it'. Have a look at his workshop....it tells you way more than the video does.

[@terryhatton3622]

Beautiful job love your work thanks for the tips.

[@wfphillips2]

Drop your blade guide down to just above the stock, you'll get less blade waver and lessen the chance of throwing the blade off the wheel.

[@bristleconepinus2378]

I like the mirror trick on the bandsaw to see the back side of the work.

[@maxhannum4616]

I had a beautiful bit alignment with a kelly woodslasher, and man... it just felt so good to get it perfect

[@ElectricPhantasmagoria]

Nice to see the old skills being kept alive, especially by people under 40. This and Buckn Billy Ray are the only two places I’ve seen so far that get very in depth on axes. I appreciate the knowledge you’re putting out there🤟

[@lancemillward2462]

looks sweet. subscribed

[@ryanb1314]

I love using this video as a reference to go back to sometimes. Btw I got a B&C 2nd from the Maine axe meet up I found a filson marked dirigo handle and was wondering if it’s possible to ask for one of them when ordering on the website

[@axehafter1009]

Heck yeah! Thanks! We don’t currently send out handles with any other company names on it as we save those to replace handles if any should break from that style.

[@ryanb1314]

@@axehafter1009 so I stumbled upon that filson handle in the bin that shouldn’t have been there? I figured as much that’s why I won’t hang this one. Also love your video showing the different handles would love to see one with different head patterns. Just the different New England patterns keep my head spinning

[@axehafter1009]

@@ryanb1314 oh no it was probably in there for some quality control reason. Grain orientation or blemishes or pinholes or checks, which makes sense that it was in the seconds bin. We’ve just since then definitely gone through all the engraved seconds and only have the top choice replacement handles left that are engraved. At least I think so off the top of my head. When I get back to work in the new year I’ll take a look for ya. And thanks for the kind words!

[@casterman2]

200 subscribers you’re doing great! I’m stuck at 125 lol. The mirror is genius! Thanks for the tip! I usually cut mine by hand, but I’m gonna give that a try! Great looking haft!

[@axehafter1009]

Thank you so much!! Yeah, I work at Brant & Cochran and we move a bunch of axes and I’m the hafter so back when I started I had one of my co-workers watch the blade of the bandsaw engage the wood and tell me if it was straight or not. Needless to say that wasn’t a realistic way of doing the job of kerf cutting so-as they say-necessity is the mother of invention, and now here we are using a mirror instead! Thank you so much for you kind words!

[@casterman2]

@@axehafter1009 I’m getting my handle company off the ground. I really appreciate the knowledge you share! Look forward to more videos!

[@KevinsDisobedience]

The mirror is brilliant. I’ll be stealing that lol. Also, you answered my question about where you worked, so no need to answer it again in response to my comment. Thanks

[@casterman2]

@@KevinsDisobedience haha I was blown outta the water with the mirror. 🤪😂

[@buck1978]

Nice job

[@axeandturtle]

Great!

[@timmason2556]

Hey friend is that a collin south American pattern axe

[@Joey-L]

Great series. I often cut my eye wood down before wedging because I feel more wedge gets down into the actual axe head that way. Is there any reason this wouldn't be a suggested technique ? I just feel like so much wedge gets cut off and wasted otherwise. Thoughts ?

[@axehafter1009]

Great question! In my experience there are many different variables the go in to a wedge succeeding at holding the head in place properly; Different wood varieties which have different hardnesses; Eyes of different axe heads having different tapers to them; and then there’s the nuance of what you bring up in your question (among many other variables)... I’ll make a video explain all of these variables in detail some day but for now... The reason why I first shape my handles to fit the eye snugly, then cut the kerf, then drive the wedge without taking much more wood off of the handle, is because I’m relying on the compression of the wood itself in the handle and wedge + the taper of the eye for the success of the hold when I’m hafting. There’s a lot of pressure inside the eye when you haft like this which helps with the firmness of the hold. Taking care of the axe for its lifespan by remembering to re-oil the handle and especially the eye every shoulder season is how to prevent the grain from “collapsing” in spite of the pressure. This specific axe head called for this specific method because of the sheer mass of wood that actually exists inside the eye in this instance. The more wood, the more pressure you can add without fear of “collapsing” the grain (which once that happens the wood looses its “spring” which is what makes the haft hold through all seasons... note loose axe heads in winter) So you can throw a big old thick wedge down in there and rely on all that wood to give to the pressure a little. Note the different depths that I point out such as how low I cut my kerf and how close the wedge comes to being flush with the top of the wood on the handle. The wedge sticking out that quarter of an inch from the top means that the bottom of the wedge is a quarter of an inch from the bottom of the kerf and therefore the wedge is almost completely to the bottom of the axe head in this instance. Hence how happy I was once the drive was over! You’re absolutely right that the less material you have on the handle the deeper you can drive the wedge but also relying on other factors such as the compression of the wood, the taper of the wedge itself, and the taper of the eye all can also influence how deep you can drive the wedge. The reason why I don’t typically slim the handle down more is because I’m actually trying to toe the line of the wedge being at the maximum level of pressure without also “collapsing” the grain. I also have this cool trick where I grind out the lower portion of the eye a little creating a reverse taper which compresses the bottom of the kerf but I did not do that in this instance just because-once again-there just soooo much space for wood in the eye of that head that it allows for a relatively easy job of compressing the wood nearly perfectly. I hope that helps! When I make a video on this subject I’ll link you to it! Thanks for the comment!

[@Joey-L]

@@axehafter1009 Thanks for the response. Everything you said makes sense, especially all the different variables. I've seen some videos where the head is seated far down on the handle leaving so much eye wood coming out thru the top that once the wedge was driven, it left me wondering how much wedge actually made it down into the axe head. That's where I got the idea to trim some wood off the top first. Now if I could just make my hangs look as nice as yours........

[@bigoldgrizzly]

I wouldn't cut down the eye to make a wedge fit. I would always thin down the wedge. Commonest fault is folks leaving wedges way too fat. They go in only so far and the friction resistance between the faces of the wedge and the haft, exceeds the fail strength of the wedge and it just gives in and folds up, with the wedge driven only halfway in. Once you cut it off flush and tidy it up, nobody can see what's happened but fat wedges driven like this are very prone to loosening and popping out. I learned the hard way that if a wedge starts getting tight too soon, stop ! Pull the wedge out, bin it and make a thinner one. If it goes in a bit further [say 3/4 way] and then gets tight, BEFORE the wedge starts getting mashed up, it pays to split the wedge in the middle and from there on in, drive both halves separately using a steel drift under the hammer. the wood has the same ultimate strength, but the frictional resistance of the wedge has been halved and it will go deeper. Hope this proves helpful to someone.