Okay, 'experts assemble!' or maybe not....'Bodgers assemble!'
as you know I got hold of a pretty nice 4.5lb Hult Bruk head a while ago and have done nothing with it as its got an unusually large eye, the right length but about 1 and 3/8" wide! I have pondered if it were made with the long size of eye that exists in Europe and had been pounded on the poll and deformed but I find that unlikely as the eye shape looks uniform and right, just too big for any regular handle. So... I ordered 2 Pick axe handles in Ash. 2 as...well I was buying on line and they were cheap, 2 would allow some selection. both tight grained and no hearthwood, both straight enough although one slightly S-shaped (right one)
so one (left) loos really rather good! which balances out against the stick of firewood on the right.
a closer look
next I select ....the firewood on the right....as I think I may as well practice this hang on the rubbish handle
I drew a line to mark the depth of the head a the eye, i did allow for a small protrusion at the top, but not much. the perspective misrepresents that
Ah ha! i have over come the width issue, yay!
but introduced a length issue....hmm...that can be overcome more easily though.....can't it?
let's tale a look from another angle.... view through...nose of the eye is maybe 1/8" 'on' so once seated down on the handle which tapers heavily (as pick axes, like tomahawks, are friction fit) there shouldn't be a gap, but there won't be material to remove either. back has a good 1/8" gap against the top of th handle, so once seated down the a gap will be a good 1/4 inch.
So I drew another line or 3. Axis line sketched by eye, 'P' for 'Poor' handle and the material to remove.
and from another angle... yes looks about right at the nose.
Right so my question. before i take my freshly sharpened plane and m freshly bought japanesey raspy file thing to form this handle fit....
do you think I'm on the right track to attempt to fill the back? I reckon the front of the eye, if I moved the head across such that the back were filled, would be easily filled with basically a protruding wedge and just couple of small gaps, however i think the balance of the head would be awful at that point with the axis of the handle too far back by probably 3/8", maybe more. Striking accuracy would be dire. TBH, my accuracy isn't the bst anyway, but let's not handicap myself here. So plan is to plane the back of the handle flat, cut a lump of the bottom of the handle (its 36" so needs shortening), cut that in half and plane the cu surface flat and then shape to to fill the back of the eye. when good fit is achieved the wedge and the back filler piece will be inserted and glued with gorilla glue, an expanding wood glue. I think this way will be more work and harder to do....although i have managed to a good sharp edge o my cheap jack plane so maybe i can get a flat surface and get the filler piece to glue fimly on. however it feels like necesary work, or else the axe would be far too long on the nose. I am open to other ideas though, if anyone has one.
