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Wood splitter: making a wooden handle with your own hands. Your own carpenter: how to make an ax and sharpen it What to make an ax handle for a cleaver

Axes have been known to mankind since ancient times. This is one of the most useful inventions of mankind. The invention is very simple and functional. However, in Russia, since ancient times, axes were divided into several types, each for a kind of work. The dimensions of the ax and the size of the ax became the main difference between the axes.

I hope this article will help you understand what the right ax handle is. It considers the shape of the ax handle, gives the drawings of the ax handle. After reading this article, you will be able to make an ax with your own hands.

Currently, axes are used in everyday life for cleaning garden plots, small carpentry work and chopping firewood. There is an ax for every job, so it is important to know the correct ax sizes.

In logging, axes are used for cutting trees before felling, cutting branches from fallen trees, debarking logs (in the absence of special tools), splitting and cutting wood. In accordance with this, they are called lumberjacks, loppers, cleavers and axes for tees.

Consider the structure of the ax, it consists of the ax itself and the handle, called the ax handle. A drawing of the correct ax is shown below.

It has a blade, blade and butt. The front corner of the blade is called the toe, the back is called the heel, the line running from the corner of the toe to the base of the butt is called the toe line; the line coming from the corner of the heel - the line of the heel; side surfaces of the canvas - cheeks.

The material for the manufacture of axes are tool high-quality medium-alloyed heat-treated steels.

Now consider the shape of the correct ax handle in the drawing. In it, as shown in the drawing above, there are fixing, middle, gripping parts and a tail.

The tree for the ax handle is birch, ash, maple, hornbeam, old mountain ash, beech, apple tree. From poor material, you should not make an ax handle, for safety reasons.

The size of the ax depends on the type of ax. For work requiring special impact force, you need an ax with the shape of an elongated ax handle as in the drawing. For clean precision work that does not require great impact force, axes are made with the shape of a short ax handle. For logging axes, you need to use the correct ax handles 700 - 900 mm long, for branch axes 600 - 800 mm, but the ax handle for a cleaver has dimensions of 750 - 930 mm. The smallest length is about 500 mm - they have axes for tees.

The middle and gripping parts of the ax handle are given a somewhat curved shape and their surface is carefully treated as shown in the drawing. The tail is made broadened. The fixing part fits tightly to the butt hole. The angle of the head must correspond to the type of axe: for woodcutting 86 - 88°, branching 70 - 80°, cleaver 80 - 90°.

The axis of the correct ax handle and the line of the blade are located in the same plane. After the blade is mounted, the ax handle is wedged by driving in two wedges.

The impact force applied when working with an ax also determines the shape of the ax itself. Thus, a lumberjack ax used for cutting the trunk and chopping off thick branches on large trees should penetrate as deeply as possible into the wood, not get stuck in it, give large chips, that is, it requires a special impact force. In accordance with this, its wedge-shaped forms are convex, as in the drawing, the line of the blade is convex.

The following are examples of modern axes.

A delimbing ax is used mainly for delimbing and sometimes for cutting small trees when sawing. When delimbing, less impact force is required, but a greater frequency of work, so the blade of the delimbing ax is long as shown in the drawing.

In our time, such axes are produced a little, everything that I could find is given below.

The cleaver is used for splitting - splitting wood, so the shape of the blade is short, wedge-shaped, heavy, with thick cheeks, with a sharpening angle of about 35 degrees.

Axes for tesky riveting and similar work have a wide blade with one-sided sharpening as in the drawing below.

He is the real "king" of carpenter's tools. He is the true salvation for those who are lost in the forest. He - faithful assistant, if you need to chop wood for a bath, build a house or butcher game. A well-sharpened ax can be used in dozens of other situations, but the fact remains. The tool will be useful in any suburban economy.

The only difficulty that an economic person may have is the purchase of a solid, high-quality ax. More and more often you are convinced that it is much easier and more reliable to build an ax with your own hands. So let's look at the entire manufacturing process, starting from the preparation of an ax handle and ending with sharpening.

Making an ax handle step by step

The process of creating an ax with your own hands always takes place in a strict sequence. First, a tool handle is made, called an ax handle. When the length and shape of the handle are matched correctly, the tool literally "burns", demonstrating high performance and ease of use.

Try to take a stick with the usual round section and plant an iron base. You will quickly get tired, because holding such a tool for a long time, the hand experiences a strong tension. Another thing is when the ax handle has a curved shape, the tail is expanded and slightly bent down. Thanks to this design, the axes are firmly held in the hands even when strong blows.


The traditional ax tool consists of wedges (2 and 9), a blade (3) and a butt (1), a toe (4), a chamfer (5) and a heel on the blade (6), a beard (7), and the handle itself (8). The number 10 indicates sharpening.

We prepare the material and cut out the first template

Since we need to make an ax from wood, we will take this material as a basis. Best of all, designs made of birch and oak, ash and maple have proven themselves.

A wooden ax can be made at any time of the year, but it is better to harvest the material for it in the fall, even before the onset of frost. The blanks are stored in the attic for at least a year, some experts advise drying them for five or even more years.

It is clear that if the taiga ax donated by grandfather was broken on an impregnable deck with your own hands, you can also take a fresh tree. This option will still be temporary, because after drying, the volume of wood decreases. The butt of the ax will begin to stagger, hold on less tightly.

To prepare a good template, drawings of the future product are desirable.

When there is a cardboard template, it is much easier to transfer the contours of the designed product to the tree. A ready-made ax handle is taken as the basis, with which you are comfortable working. It is outlined with a simple pencil on cardboard and cut out.


Preparation for the work of the beam

From the bar-blank to the careful extrusion of the ax handle

  • Before you make an ax, you need to carve a bar from a dried chock. Keep in mind that the length of the piece of wood must exceed the planned size. finished product about 10 cm. As for the width in front (fitted onto the canvas), ideally it exceeds the diameter of the metal eye by 2-3 mm.
  • Overlay ready template on the bar and transfer its contours. Leave an allowance of 1 cm in front, and 9 cm in the tail part of the workpiece. Before you put the ax on the ax handle, you will inflict more than a dozen blows on the handle. An allowance in the "tail" is needed to avoid splitting it. When final assembly is over, you can easily cut it off.
  • We proceed to the main part of the work with the ax handle. In the upper and lower parts of the bar, transverse cuts are made with a depth not reaching 0.2 cm to the contours. A chisel is used to chip off excess wood along the cuts, the final cut is made with a rasp.
  • Use a regular file or rasp to round corners, smooth curves and transitions. Sandpaper will help with the final sanding.
  • It is still too early to install a steel sheet - the wood is impregnated with a solid waterproof composition. Linseed oil is suitable, drying oil has excellent properties. Apply a small amount of the substance to the ax handle, let dry. Then the next layer is applied. The procedure is repeated until the instrument made by you personally stops absorbing it.
  • Biggest mistake to cover wooden base varnish or oil paint. However, nothing prevents you from adding a little dye to drying oil (red, yellow). A bright instrument will never get lost in thick grass.

How did our ancestors choose the canvas for the hatchet?

Several hundred years have passed, but the method of buying a good canvas has not changed. Our ancestors knew how to make an ax out of wood and what kind of metal base to use. They have always paid attention to:

  • Steel quality. By the way, today this issue is solved simply. Look for the GOST badge on the product - this will be an indicator of excellent quality. No OST and TU!
  • Blade. The ideal blade has no cracks and dents, very even.
  • Butt ends. They are strictly perpendicular to the blade.
  • Eyelet shape. It is better when it is made in the form of a cone.

How to put an ax on an ax handle (video)

When the canvas is selected, a completely logical question arises: how to properly plant an ax on an ax handle and achieve a “dead” fastening? Start by drawing the center lines at the end. There will be two of them, perpendicular and longitudinal. The groove to the depth of the eye must be cut exactly along the contour of the longitudinal line. The cut will be useful for wedging the ax handle.

Having attached the butt to the end, outline the contours of the eye on it - the center lines will be a guide. Use a knife or planer to trim the landing part of the ax handle. It is important that the ax handle does not protrude beyond the edges of the eye by more than 1 cm.

It is convenient to fit the canvas with the help of hammer blows. Do it accurately, with effort, but without too much pressure. You don't want your punches to crack the wood, do you? As soon as the butt went beyond the boundaries, we check the strength of the fit, we look at how the canvas sits. It shouldn't slide off.

Wedge by wedge knock out or wedging method

You can strengthen the fastening of the metal part if you do a wedging. To do this, a small wedge is driven into the butt, made of hardwood - for example, oak. Because of this, the dimensions of the landing part grow, and it is fixed “tightly”.

Some craftsmen use not one, but two or even five wedges. But as practice shows, even one additional fixation is quite enough.


Wedging an ax. Drawing

A proven way to sharpen an ax blade

Sharpening an ax is the initial task after your tool is made and ready to use. Only in this case the product will perform the main function.

To work with freshly cut wood, the sharpening angle in an ideal tool is 20 degrees, dry wood - from 25 to 30 degrees. Equally important is the width of the chamfer.


Sharpening an ax by hand

How to sharpen an ax on a conventional electric grinder

Stock up on a container in which you will cool the metal in advance. Next, do this:

  • Hold the product in such a way that the blade can be directed towards the rotation of the disc. We hold the butt at an angle of forty-five degrees. This is the optimal sharpening angle, regardless of the type of tool, its features.
  • To sharpen the ax, it moves smoothly along the circle. The chamfer is ground, the angle of the sharpening being performed is sharpened.
  • The final sharpening of the ax is always done with a special whetstone. From time to time it needs to be moistened in water to cool the metal.
  • If it is not possible to sharpen the hatchet with a bar, it is replaced with a piece of plywood, which is pasted over with sandpaper.

Do not forget that working with a sharp tool is always a pleasure, while a blunt ax means more additional and completely unnecessary effort, quick fatigue and not a good result. After the work on the manufacture and sharpening of the ax is completed, a sheath is put on the blade. This will extend the life of the product, and it will not need to be sharpened so often. The cover is made of leather, birch bark, any other suitable material.


Ax case

There is an opinion that the tool can be stored stuck in a log. This is a big misconception. Consisting of strong steel and a hand-made ax handle, the ax becomes an "extension" of the master's hands. Try to chop wood homemade tool- and you will no longer want to return to store-bought products.

An ax is one of the tools that you need to have on the farm. Of course, it can be purchased at the store, but if you want to have a reliable and convenient thing, it is better to make a tool yourself. The article will discuss how to make an ax handle at home with your skillful hands and properly plant a metal sheet.

How to select and prepare wood

The hatchet is the handle of a working tool. The productivity of labor depends entirely on how easy it is to work with him. Therefore, the usual straight stick in this case will not work. A real ax handle is a curved beam with an oval section and straight sections. The tail part should be expanded and bent down. Only with this option, the hand of the person performing the work will be able to securely hold the tool, while not feeling tired for a long time.

For the manufacture of an ax handle, the following types of wood are best suited:

  • maple;
  • Birch;
  • acacia;
  • ash.

Wood should be harvested in the fall. Birch is perfect for carpentry tools, and for hiking option maple is more commonly used. Its impact strength is less than that of birch. The ideal option is considered to be very durable and rarely changing shape ash. It is better to make an ax handle from a section of a tree located near the root, and the workpiece should be 15 cm wider and longer than the future product.

Attention! Before the prepared bars are used to make an ax handle, they must dry for at least a year in a dry, dark place, for example, in the attic. This is necessary in order to ready-made the handle did not shrink and did not begin to hang out in the eye.

You can use fresh wood only in case of breakage of the ax handle as a temporary option to be replaced soon.

How to make an ax

In order to make an ax handle you will need:

  • wooden blank;
  • hacksaw;
  • chisel;
  • pencil;
  • file;
  • a hammer.

The manufacturing process itself takes place in the following order:


Attention! You need to make an ax so that the cross section is oval. In this case, it will be possible to hold it without particularly straining the hand and produce very accurate strikes.

Impregnation of an ax handle and an ax nozzle

The upper part of the finished handle must be impregnated with a water-repellent compound. There will be two options:

  • drying oil;
  • linseed oil;
  • ski resin.

Lubricate the tree with the selected agent and leave to dry. The treatment is repeated several more times until the fat is absorbed. Ski resin is able to penetrate into the deeper layers of the workpiece, but it is difficult to find in stores. Therefore, the first two options are more often used.

Advice. A bright dye can be added to the impregnation agent. So the finished tool will be difficult to lose.

Attaching an ax to a handle is done as follows:


Watching videos and photographs will help you better understand the manufacturing technique. Making an ax handle with your own hands is more difficult than buying it ready-made. However, if you have the desire and some skills, it is quite possible to get a quality tool.

How to make an ax handle: video

It's no secret that an ax is an indispensable carpentry tool. In addition, an ax is especially useful in the household: from chopping firewood to repairing a home.

This article considers issues related to the manufacture of a taiga-type ax, because to find such useful tool on the market is quite difficult, and it will cost a lot. The article provides additional useful information that will tell you which ax is better to choose for certain needs.

What should be the taiga ax?

Such an ax, due to its special parameters, which are radically different from the characteristics and sizes of “classic” axes, is an indispensable assistant when performing many tasks, such as:

  • Tree felling. Whether it's carpentry or a simple preparation of firewood for the winter - a taiga ax will help you complete the task quickly and efficiently;
  • Rough processing of logs - cleaning of branches, other similar works;
  • Tool as a way of "survival" - any catalog of axes will confirm the statement that the taiga ax is ideal for hunting, preparing bags and traps;
  • Creation of a hut and flooring, construction wooden house as soon as possible;
  • Wood preparation.

In cases where the performance of work requires special accuracy, the best option there will be a forged ax with a long blade. Cutting trees with such an ax is not very effective, but accuracy plays an important role.




Distinctive features of the taiga type ax

Most people do not see the difference between a taiga and an ordinary ax at all. So what are the differences between these two types of axes?

  • The length of the roundness of the blade - the taiga ax is lighter in weight;
  • Long beard - additional protection against deformation and breaking. Typically absorbs up to 60% of impact force;
  • Special sharpening - allows you to use the ax as a standard cleaver, when choosing the right blow. In this case, the front edge of the blade is twice as wide as the back. The edge of a conventional ax has the same thickness index;
  • The special angle of inclination of the ax handle reduces hand fatigue, increases the overall efficiency during work.

Making a taiga ax head

It is worth buying an ordinary carpentry ax, the head of which will weigh 1400-1500 grams.

In front, we cut off the protrusion of the blade flush with the butt. We form the roundness of the back of the blade - a grinder will help us with this. It is necessary to cut off all the metal so that there are no corners left.

We turn to the inside of the blade - carefully cut out a semicircle, which is necessary for a more comfortable grip. In addition, this manipulation can significantly reduce the weight of the head. To further reduce the weight and increase the maneuverability of the ax, it is necessary to cut off the upper corners of the butt.

Sharpening is done using an emery machine. For the best result, a large circle with a medium grain is installed. In addition, sharpening should be done on both sides.

Making an ax handle for a taiga ax

It is worth noting that the choice of the right wood is the key to success in the manufacture of a high-quality taiga ax. Ideal Options become maple and ash. Simpler options are birch and pine. The latter is perfectly polished and honed, but extremely unreliable due to its fragility.

Below is the instruction:

Selection of chocks - without the presence of knots, defects. Processing and drying - the tree is cleaned of bark and splits in the middle. Drying of wood should be carried out at + 25 °, while the moisture index should be 15%. The retention period is two months.





Creating the shape - we will need a hatchet or a large knife to remove the main wood. In addition, do not forget about a chisel and a small hammer - these tools will be needed for smaller jobs.

How to plant an ax? You should use gauze, as well as epoxy. After three days, the taiga ax will be ready for work.

The last step is sanding and varnishing. The ax will become not only useful, but also beautiful, such as in the photo from the advertising catalog!

DIY photo of axes

For those who live in own house, it is often necessary in the country and on hikes such a tool as a taiga ax. Work tool good quality is expensive and hard to find.

An ax from the market is not always of good quality. Therefore, we will make our own ax using improvised means.

Varieties of axes

Consider the variations of axes:

  • A cleaver is a heavy conical axe. Due to its high weight, it is well suited for cutting large, hard woods.
  • Carpentry - small weight and size, has a pointed blade. Used for careful, precise, accurate work with wood.
  • Taiga - suitable for felling trees, harvesting trees, building a hut, removing bark, branches.
  • Tsalda - designed to clean the area from shrubs.
  • Kitchen (cooking) - designed only for chopping bones. It is a small hatchet, with a short handle and a large "blade".
  • Lesorubsky - used only for cutting trees. It consists of a long ax handle and a wide, sharp blade.

Of all the above species, the taiga ax is more necessary and more useful than all.

Distinctive features of the taiga ax:

  • Light weight.
  • A small area of ​​​​the piercing surface (makes it possible to drive it as deep as possible into the wood).
  • Specific sharpening of the blade (the rear edge is much smaller, thinner than the front.

This feature is made in order to use this type of ax as a cleaver (if the blow is applied correctly. A regular ax has a blade of the same shape for precise work with wood).

Making a taiga ax

Handle material

The function of the ax is primarily affected by its shape and length. The handle should be curved, and the section should be oval.

For the handle, species of trees such as maple, oak, ash, birch are best suited. Since these types of wood tolerate vibration well upon impact.

Wood harvesting starts in autumn

Dry in a dark place. Before use, wood must be stored for about one year, and preferably five.

Only felled wood is not advisable to use as it will dry out over time and will not hold in the eye.

Create a cardboard template

On a large cardboard sheet, we outline the shape of the handle and apply it to a wooden blank. The template will help us make a more accurate handle.

Handle material preparation

A one-year-old wood block is hewn parallel to the fibers. The blank for the handle should be longer than the template. We make the place that is inserted into the eyelet wider than the main part.

On both sides we circle the attached drawing, while not forgetting to leave allowances. After that they inserted upper part into the eye, remove excess wood.

Steps to cut an ax handle

Before cutting the handle, you need to make transverse cuts, but so that they do not reach the line of the future handle by about 4-5 mm. With the help of a chisel, we remove the remains of wood and excess allowances.

Ore transitions and corners are performed by turning with a rasp. After the workpiece is done, we bring the sandpaper to smoothness.

Buying a stabbing part for a taiga hatchet

It is unrealistic to make a blade in a domestic environment. In this case, here is a list of what you need to focus on when buying it on the market or in a hardware store:

  • The presence of GOST marking (indicates the quality of steel);
  • The hole for the handle (eye) must be cone-shaped;
  • The blade is smooth, without defects;

Collecting an ax

  • We cut the upper part of the handle along and across.
  • Cut into five pieces of hard wood.
  • We wrap the top of the handle with gauze soaked in resin for better entry into the hole in the blade.
  • Using a hammer, drive in the handle.
  • Hammer the prepared pieces into the cuts at the top of the ax handle.
  • After the structure dries, cut off the protruding parts of the wooden pieces.

Note!

Sharpening the stabbing part of the taiga ax

A properly sharpened blade gives excellent performance of the hatchet. In accordance with the activity that you will perform with an ax, the sharpening angle depends.

The sharpening of the taiga ax is performed at an angle of 30-35 ̊. If they will perform work with fresh wood, then we sharpen at an angle of 25 ̊.

If you use a grinding wheel for sharpening, then the ax handle must be held at an angle of 40-45 ̊. We reproduce the sharpening slowly, carefully.

If you have everything in stock the right tools, a photo step by step manufacturing an ax, then its creation will not take away a large number time, effort and money, and in return you will receive a quality ax made by yourself.

But do not forget that with a piercing part made of high-quality metal, the ax will last much longer and if the handle is treated with linseed oil, then it will not rot and deteriorate.

DIY ax photo

Note!

Note!