UKC

Wooden Handled Axes

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 mypyrex 24 May 2020

Following on from my post about my old axe, I'd be interested to knowif anyone still uses wooden axes.

Apparently Grivel still make them.

 jon 24 May 2020
In reply to mypyrex:

There are a couple of Swiss manufacturers that make wooden shafted step cutting axes - Willisch in Täsch and Bhend in Grindelwald, who to my mind make the best ones:  https://www.eispickel.ch/eispickel/ They are mainly for Swiss guides though it appears that anyone can order one now.  I have one but it's so beautiful I could never bring myself to use it! 

 Bacon Butty 24 May 2020
In reply to mypyrex:

The head fell off my chopper the other week, sadly.
I'm hoping to get a good length of hickory to replace it in the near future.

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 Blue Straggler 24 May 2020
In reply to mypyrex:

Tom Ripley 

1
OP mypyrex 24 May 2020
In reply to Taylor's Landlord:

> The head fell off my chopper

Ouch🤣

1
 EwanR 24 May 2020
In reply to mypyrex:

I have a Bhend that gets used regularly - ideal for ski touring and classical alpinism.

Be aware that they are short for the length as there's a good few cm of spike which reduces the useful length when cutting steps going downhill.

 Timmd 24 May 2020
In reply to mypyrex:

IIRC it was Hammish McInnes who made some of the first alloy axes after seeing the results of a snapped axe during an axe and foot belay by somebody lowering other people on a mountain?

There's some cool wooden axes in the upper room of the Barrow Mountaineering hut in the Coppermines Valley. 

Post edited at 19:50
 David Myatt 24 May 2020
In reply to mypyrex:

Yes,  I do.

In reply to mypyrex:

Many years ago when chopping wood a little enthusiastically the head came off the wooden handled chopper I was using as I drew it back, flew up in the air, and landed beside my foot. 

Since then if I'm buying an axe or a hammer I don't even look at ones with wooden handles.  I want a 100% reliable connection between the handle and the business end.

 Timmd 24 May 2020
In reply to tom_in_edinburgh: I'd not much thought of that with my tools being in decent nick, did your axe genuinely not have any visible defects or drying out/shrinking of the wood - and what have you? How did the handle fix into the head?

Post edited at 23:12
In reply to Timmd:

> I'd not much thought of that with my tools being in decent nick, did your axe genuinely not have any visible defects or drying out/shrinking of the wood - and what have you? How did the handle fix into the head?

It was an ancient thing that belonged to my mother.  I was a lot younger at the time and more interested in bashing stuff with an axe than checking the axe for defects.

There was a hole in the metal head the top of the wooden handle was pushed into.  Presumably they had some trick to push the wood in so that later it would be a tight fit.

 Blue Straggler 24 May 2020
In reply to tom_in_edinburgh:

> Presumably they had some trick to push the wood in so that later it would be a tight fit.

Presumably the same “trick” they use for fitting a metal band to a cart wheel 

 Timmd 24 May 2020
In reply to Blue Straggler:

The metal band is heated over fire/flame to make it expand, I can't remember if water is applied once the wheel is put inside, it possibly is, but I've images in my minds eye of the process of it being heated and smoke developing once the wheel is placed inside the ring from seeing it happen. 

Edit: Actually, water is applied....

Post edited at 23:50
 Timmd 24 May 2020
In reply to tom_in_edinburgh: That's a relief. I've seen axes where 'things' have been hammered into the top to help to expand the wood into the axe hand, but I think it can be the inherent spring/squashiness in moist enough wood which holds it in place, that and some taper to the bit which it goes in. I'm going to have to google it now, it seems plausible that a factory could have a different approach to a craftsman or woman.

Post edited at 00:08
 oldie 25 May 2020
In reply to mypyrex:

> I'd be interested to knowif anyone still uses wooden axes. <

I still have three in loft. Long shafted army surplus (WW2?), cheapo one i bought for trip to Scotland while unemployed, and Chouinard with battered laminated bamboo shaft. The latter is the only one I've used in past 10 years, I think it was once highly regarded but the pick seems hardly more curved than a modern walking axe, Now, on very infrequent trips, I only use metal shafts: usually a ridiculously light cheapo Camp, but also some old MT tools.

 Sharp 25 May 2020
In reply to Timmd:

I imagine it is the same as axes for cutting wood or other wooden tools. A channel is cut out of the head of the handle before putting it into the eye of the head, about a third of the width running front to back. Some tool heads are negatively tapered so the hole at the top is greater than the hole at the bottom. Once installed a wedge of wood is bashed into it which expands it and locks it in place. Once the top is cut neatly some people add small additional metal wedges at a 45 degree angle to the wooden wedge as an extra security measure.

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 colinakmc 25 May 2020
In reply to Taylor's Landlord:

The head fell off my chopper
 

Is that an overuse injury?

Post edited at 14:39
 Fredt 25 May 2020
In reply to mypyrex:

Yes, I still use my bamboo shafted Chouinard, a straight handle axe is so much more useful in mixed Alpine routes. Used it last summer ascending the Breithorn.

It'll be 45 years old next year.

OP mypyrex 25 May 2020
In reply to Fredt:

I've never heard of an ice axe having a bamboo shaft. Thought they were usually hickory or ash.

1
 alan moore 25 May 2020
In reply to mypyrex:

I have an old one that I use for winter walks.

Its long enough to use as a walking stick which gets a lot more use than the head-end for your average Munro bag.

 Timmd 26 May 2020
In reply to Sharp:

> I imagine it is the same as axes for cutting wood or other wooden tools. A channel is cut out of the head of the handle before putting it into the eye of the head, about a third of the width running front to back. Some tool heads are negatively tapered so the hole at the top is greater than the hole at the bottom. Once installed a wedge of wood is bashed into it which expands it and locks it in place. Once the top is cut neatly some people add small additional metal wedges at a 45 degree angle to the wooden wedge as an extra security measure.

That seems to be the case from looking at my own axes and some browsing on the internet. I'd half imagined a large machine pressing the handles into axe heads for some axe manufacturers. 

Post edited at 14:21
In reply to Blue Straggler:

> Tom Ripley 

?


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