How to make a beautiful ax with your own hands. Instructions on how to make an ax with your own hands - a step-by-step description for creating and assembling

Owners of a country estate are often interested in the question of how to make an ax with their own hands. This tool is necessary in any household - it is used both for splitting firewood and for the construction of outbuildings. But not all tools that are commercially available are good in operation and reliable. And some of them can even be dangerous in operation.

An ax is necessary for splitting firewood, and for the construction of outbuildings.

Most hosts own country houses they prefer to do everything with their own hands, including the construction of buildings necessary for the household and many tools. Self-made things are often much more reliable and convenient than those sold in stores.

How to make an ax with your own hands

To make an ax, you need to act in a certain order. First of all, they are taken for the manufacture of an ax handle.

The hatchet is the handle of the tool. From what will be its length and especially the shape, performance will depend. A simple stick with a round section will not work here - it is inconvenient to hold it, the hand is too tense and will quickly get tired. It will be more practical to make an ax slightly curved shape, with an oval section and several straight sections. Its tail should be made wider and tilted down. This makes it possible to more securely hold the ax in the hands during operation.

Step-by-step production of an ax handle:

For the manufacture of an ax handle, it is better to use maple wood.

1. How to choose and prepare the material.

To make a durable part for an ax, it is better to take birch, oak, maple or ash. Traditionally, harvesting wood for ax handles is carried out in autumn time even before frost sets in. It is necessary to fold the selected logs for drying in the attic, in a place that is dry and devoid of light. The blanks are stored in this way for at least a year, and experts recommend drying such a tree for up to five years.

If, when chopping firewood, the ax handle suddenly broke, a temporary option from an undried tree can also help out. Fresh wood will help if you need to chop firewood urgently, but after a while it dries out. After the handle is reduced in volume, it begins to “walk” freely in the eye of the ax and is no longer suitable for work.

2. How to make a pattern

For convenience, you can make a template. Cardboard, thick paper is suitable for him. With its help, the contours of the designed part are transferred to the surface of the material, after which the tool is easier to manufacture with the dimensions that are needed. If you already have an ax with a good comfortable handle and want to make a spare in case this one breaks, you can use it as a reference. Press the tool handle to a sheet of cardboard and circle with a pencil. Then the template is cut along the contour with scissors.

3. How to make a blank bar

For harvesting, you need dry material. It is necessary to carve out a bar from it, while movements are performed along the fibers. The length for the workpiece must be made 10 cm larger than the size specified for finished product. The width of the front part of the workpiece intended for the device in the eye of a metal part must be several millimeters larger than it.

A template is applied on both sides of the bar and the contours are transferred to the wood. The template is located in this case as follows: an allowance of 1 cm is left in front of the bar, and about ninety millimeters in the tail section. An allowance is needed in the shank so that the handle does not split during the installation of the blade. After the tool is ready and assembled, the allowance is cut off.

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How to carve an ax handle

To bring the ax handle to the right size, in the upper and lower parts of the bar, cross cuts are made. Choose the depth so that the bottom of the cut would not reach the contour planned for the ax handle by about 2-3 mm. Along the cuts, excess wood is chipped off using a chisel. Then, up to the very contour line, sawing with a rasp is performed. They can also round corners, bends, transitions wood detail. Use sandpaper for final sanding.

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Processing with special compounds

The wood for the ax must be impregnated with drying oil.

When making an ax yourself, you need to provide wood good impregnation waterproof compounds. Among them, linseed oil and drying oil are considered the best. Any of these compositions cover the ax handle in several layers, drying each one well before applying the next. Oil must be applied until the surface no longer absorbs it.

Oil paints and varnishes are not recommended to be used to cover the ax handle - this makes it slippery. If you want to leave bright marks on the handle so that the ax thrown into the grass is clearly visible, mix a little dye into the drying oil. It is better to use red, yellow or orange dye.

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How to choose a metal sheet

It is unlikely that someone will be able to independently make a metal sheet equipped with an eyelet at home. It is better to buy it ready. When purchasing material, you should pay attention to the following points:

at the eye, the shape should be cone-shaped;
steel should ideally be marked with GOST;
inspect the blade for the absence of dents, bends, notches;
at the butt, the ends should be perpendicular to the blade.

The eyelet of the canvas must correspond to the cross section of the ax handle.

Draw a longitudinal center line on the end of the ax handle and another perpendicular to it. Cut the groove along the longitudinal contour to the depth of the lug. The slot is made in order to make it more convenient to wedged the ax handle. After that, attach the butt to the butt. Take the center lines as a guide and draw the outline of the lug.

Now take a knife or planer and cut the landing part of the part so that it repeats the shape of the lug. The ax handle should extend slightly beyond it - about a centimeter.

Put the iron part on the wooden one, using a hammer. Hammer blows should be applied as carefully as possible to prevent cracking of the wood. When the end finally protrudes beyond the border of the butt, you need to check how firmly the blade is planted. It should sit tight, without slipping.

Selection the right material it is very important for an ax handle, it is impossible to make a reliable ax if the wrong wood is chosen for an ax handle.
For the ax handle, only hardwood of deciduous trees can be used.
The wood must be well dried: standard drying of lumber to 8-12% humidity is not enough, it is advisable to take dried wood in special chambers or keep the workpiece for a long time in a very dry place - on radiators or on a stove. Additional drying allows you to avoid loosening the ax due to drying out due to loss of moisture in conditions with variable temperature and humidity - winter / summer, damp forest / heated apartment.

The choice of wood species for the manufacture of an ax handle

Ash

Ash, in our opinion, is one of the the best materials for the manufacture of an ax handle. Ash wood is quite affordable: well-dried ash lumber of the required quality is used for finishing and furniture manufacturing. In a large wood-selling organization, you can usually choose a bar required size and quality.
The strength of ash is beyond praise. In terms of wood density, hardness and durability, it approaches oak, but at the same time it is quite elastic. The shafts of spears and ax handles of battle axes were usually made from ash. At present, the handles of the instrument and gymnastic bars are made from ash.

Ash wood is beautiful and can vary greatly in appearance. In one tree there is wood that differs in color and grain pattern. In the manufacture of ax handles, we focus not on the beauty of the pattern, but on the arrangement of the fibers, which provides the greatest strength. We can only offer to choose an ax on an ax handle darker or lighter from among those available in stock.

Jatoba

Ax handles from jatoba and ash

Jatoba wood has high impact strength and is well suited for the manufacture of sports equipment and tool handles, suitable for the manufacture of bent parts with steaming and is often used in furniture production. The wood is very durable, hard, viscous, surpasses oak wood in strength. Jatoba is beautifully processed and has an unsurpassed appearance. Perhaps this is the most beautiful wood from which it makes sense to make ax handles.
Jatoba is great for making ax handles, especially if the ax requires not only functionality, but also high aesthetic data.

Hickory

Hickory, also called American walnut, is widely used for ax handles, hammers, pickaxes, and other tools in America and Canada. The wood is strong, resilient and quite durable.

oak and beech

They have a beautiful structure, are strong, durable, quite easily processed, affordable. Unfortunately, in the manufacture of ax handles, both breeds have disadvantages. Oak is too hard and dries the hand when cut. However, when we planted a felling ax on a long (about a meter) oak ax handle, the recoil was no longer transmitted to the hand - the length of the ax handle amortized the blow. Beech is excellently cut, has a beautiful surface, but is very hygroscopic. To protect against moisture for a beech ax handle, a simple impregnation with oil will not be enough.

Birch

The most widespread in Russia are axes made of birch, although it is difficult to name birch wood. the best option. Perhaps, if you use split dies of the butt of a curly birch, felled and dried in a certain way, you can get an excellent product. But the availability of such material leaves much to be desired: even if it is possible to choose a birch trunk of the required quality cut down in winter, there is a place for drying with the necessary parameters, then the drying time will still be more than a year. In addition, birch easily absorbs water and is spoiled by microorganisms, therefore, in addition to thorough initial impregnation, further care during operation.
Making a high-quality ax handle from birch can be recommended only to those for whom the self-production process is valuable and who are ready to spend considerable time and effort on preparing wood.
The quality of mass-selling birch ax handles is extremely low, and sold birch lumber is not suitable as a material for ax handles.

Maple axes

Maple showed himself good stuff for making axes. In addition to sufficient strength and elasticity, maple has beautiful texture and well polished. Made of maple ax has a wonderful appearance.

Handle durability

The breaking strength of the ax handle is ensured by the location of the fibers along the ax handle and the strength of the wood. Cross-layering is unacceptable, with the exception of blanks made from chipped slabs of curly wood, in this case, considerable strength can be achieved during manufacture, taking into account the arrangement of layers.

Blade service life

The durability of a properly made ax is determined by the resistance of the wood to impact and compression. The part of the ax handle located in the eye experiences very significant loads, over time it can be crushed and the ax head is loosened. The service life is determined by the type of wood (the harder, the better), drying (a poorly dried ax will “soak” very quickly), nozzle density: precise fit and dense nozzle (by blows or pressing) significantly increase durability. Properly made ax handles can work with a heavy load for years without requiring repair.
If a properly made and mounted ax is loosened, it can be repaired. In the case of a direct attachment (when the ax is mounted on top of the tapered end of the ax handle, and then wedged), the ax should be upset and an additional wedge of hardwood should be hammered in. It is also possible to use a flat or round metal wedge.
With the reverse attachment of the ax (the ax handle is passed through the cone-shaped eye from top to bottom), loosening does not occur, since during operation the loads are directed towards the expanding end of the ax handle and the ax is only mounted more tightly.

In every country house there are a number of necessary tools for various works. An ax is required to build a house, chop wood or butcher meat. You can buy it at the store or make your own. The purchased tool may be inconvenient or unreliable, and this is not safe. The tool, made by hand, is particularly convenient and reliable. Before you make an ax handle with your own hands at home, you need to know what an ax looks like, what parts it consists of, and decide on its purpose.

Types of axes

The tool is usually classified according to the type of handle.

In addition to the main axes, there are tools designed for special work. These include: cleaver, carpentry, large carpentry, sculptural ax, as well as figured tools and an ax for concave surfaces.

Self-made ax

Components of an ax: an ax handle, a metal sheet and wedges. How easy and convenient it will be to work with the tool depends on the length and shape of its handle, called an ax handle. Let's see how to do it right and right size. To do this, you need to select the material and extrude the workpiece according to the template.

homemade product impregnate protective agent, this will help protect the ax from rotting. Impregnation is done in several layers of drying oil or linseed oil. Each subsequent layer must be completely saturated. Coating products with varnishes and paints is not recommended. They will give the handle a sliding effect, and the ax will constantly begin to slip during operation. Sometimes a bright dye is added to the impregnation. The handle of the tool acquires a bright color, which is good when work is carried out in overgrown areas. The ax will always be visible and will not be lost.

Choosing a metal nozzle

It is impossible to forge metal tightly with your own hands, so they buy it at a hardware store. Tips for choosing a stabbing part:

A high-quality blade should be solid, without nicks, chips and dents.
Metal is marked according to GOST.
The ends of the butt should be perpendicular to the blade.
The eyelet must be cone-shaped.

Attachment of an ax on an ax handle

The process is carried out in several stages, such as fitting, planting and wedging.

It is possible to eliminate the cracks that will occur when fitting a metal sheet using epoxy resin. It is poured into the cuts before driving the wedges. The resin will dry in a day. And only then you can saw off the protruding part.

Blade sharpening and hardening

Performance tools depend on a sharp blade. Therefore, you need to know how to sharpen an ax correctly. For each type of work, its own blade processing angle is selected.

Sharpening is done on an electric grinding wheel, smoothly moving the blade along the circle at an angle of 45 degrees. To quality cutting edge has not deteriorated, the blade must not be allowed to overheat. To do this, a container with water is installed near the grinder. The blade is periodically lowered into it for cooling. At the end of the work, the blade is polished. To do this, use a whetstone or sandpaper.

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, which 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 indispensable assistant when performing many tasks such as:

Tree felling. Whether it's carpentry work or simple firewood for the winter - taiga ax help to 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 precision, a forged ax with a long blade will remain the best option. 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;
Special angle of inclination of the ax handle – reduces hand fatigue, increases overall coefficient usefulness during operation.

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 resin. 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

How to make a good, reliable ax with your own hands at home?

By remaking an ordinary ax, you can give it special properties necessary for work. Such an ax will last much longer and better than a regular store. A hunter in the taiga cannot do without a reliable ax, which should be as versatile as possible. There are many axes on sale: from large and medium construction and carpentry to small axes suitable for various household needs. But the taiga ax must have special properties, which can be given an ordinary ax by redoing it.

An ax with soft and slightly hardened steel should be preferred to an ax with a “dryish” steel. When chipping the blade, this drawback can be easily eliminated by steeper sharpening. The shape of the sharpening should be parabolic, but not razor and not straight (Fig. 1). An ax with such a sharpening does not jam in wood, it splits firewood well, it becomes less dull. With sufficient sharpness, such a blade is quite suitable for carpentry. Much in the understanding of rationality is given by the forms of old Russian axes, as well as the axes of lumberjacks of the Carpathians, North America, in which the upper edge of the blade never forms an angle of more than 90 ° with the axis of the ax handle. All commercially available axes have a wide blade and a protruding upper edge (Fig. 2). The shaded part sharply reduces the efficiency of the ax, since at the moment of impact this part tends to unbend the ax handle, creating in it. unnecessary vibration, and thereby dampens the impact force. To eliminate this shortcoming, the shaded part is removed. The easiest way to do this is to drill a series of adjoining holes along the cut line, and remove the hardened part with an abrasive.
The straight blade of the ax must be changed to a convex one (Fig. 3), if the width of the hardening of the blade allows. The straight edge is designed only for carpentry, and when such a blade cuts, while simultaneously touching the entire edge and hitting the tree at a right angle, it has a weak penetrating ability. Each point of the convex edge enters the wood under acute angle(Fig. 3), a cutting effect occurs, as a result of which the penetrating power of such a blade increases dramatically. Despite the fact that the weight of the ax will decrease after processing, its efficiency will increase. The author proposes two variants of axes (see Fig. 4 and photo). One of them is lightweight, designed for running hunts, small trips, and also for commercial hunting with a saw. The total weight of such an ax is 800-1000 g, the length of the ax handle is 40-60 cm. The other is heavy, for commercial hunting and long-distance trips, during which significant work has to be done. Its weight is 1000-1400 g, the length of the ax handle is 55-65 cm. The choice of the length of the ax handle is determined by the quality of the wood, the height and strength of the hunter.
Of course, axes hand-crafted by blacksmiths are better both in terms of steel and in terms of angle and balance, but there is one very capricious detail - a wooden ax handle. This part must be made using special technology. Making an ax handle, wedge and landing of an ax is much longer and more difficult than forging an ax (even, probably, Damascus). Checking how well the ax handle and landing is made is much more difficult than checking the quality of the ax itself. In addition, the ax handle requires special daily care and certain conditions of detention. If all the points are not met, then the result is always the same: Either the ax flies off, or the ax handle breaks. Having properly prepared the ax, you can begin to manufacture the ax handle. It must be thin. The smaller its weight relative to the weight of the ax, the stronger the blow. The ax handle must be flexible: a hard ax handle “dries” the hand. In cross section, it has an ovoid, but flattened shape with a sharper anterior and rounded posterior edges. It is best to make an ax from the butt of ash, maple, elm. You can also use curly fine-layered birch. The most suitable butt thickness for harvesting ax handles is 35-40 cm. The raw butt should be split, then dried with sealed ends.

An ax handle with a longitudinal arrangement of layers (Fig. 5) is stronger. In front of the ax attachment, the center of gravity is found on the ax handle (Fig. 6). Usually this point (C) is located at the base of the lug. Then determine the middle line of the ax AB, passing through the middle of the butt and the top of the edge of the blade. This line is the tangent along which the ax will move when struck.

If you place the blade at point B perpendicular to the midline AB on the plane, then the end of the ax handle will have to touch the same plane at point C. middle line ax handle (PR), point P is located on this line and is 3.5-4 cm away from the NE plane. The cutting of the ax handle is clear from fig. 5, where the shaded parts of the workpiece must be cut off. The distance from the lower edge of the eye (point K) to the point of maximum bending of the ax handle (point O) is 10-11 cm. At point O, the hand holds the ax during carpentry work. In this place, the circumference of the ax handle is 12-13 cm, and the thinnest place at the end of the ax handle is 9-10 cm. Finally, the thickness is adjusted according to the hand. The ax ends with a thickening in the form of a “fungus” that fixes the hand (it is clearly visible in the photo). Such an ax handle is indispensable in cold and rain, when gloves or mittens are on the hands. "Fungus" allows you to relax your hands at the time of work. The strength and accuracy of the blows of a “relaxed” ax cannot be compared with the blows of an ax that you have to hold tightly, being afraid to let it go. On the blank for the "fungus", a thickening is provided in advance; it is processed last in order to exclude chips when the ax is mounted. Getting to the nozzle, you need to place the workpiece. When adjusting the ax handle, you should constantly check the landing angle by applying the ax to the plane (in Fig. 6 this is the NE line). In the ax handle, adjusted to two-thirds of the eye depth, a wedge cut is made to the same depth (Fig. 6), after which the seat is finally adjusted. Before driving the wedge, it is useful to dry the ax handle with the mounted ax for two to three days.
Immediately after fitting (or after drying), the ax is removed from the handle, the fitted parts are liberally smeared with BF-2 glue, and the ax is finally mounted. Glue is also applied to a pre-prepared wedge made of hardwood (ash, maple, elm, apple, pear) and the wedge is hammered. To prevent the wedge from breaking when driving, it is made short. To completely dry the glue, the ax must be dried for a day on a battery or by the stove. Finally, the handle is processed by hand, skinned and impregnated with drying oil or linseed oil.

The finished ax remains sharpened. An ax will save a lot of effort and time if its blade is always sharply sharpened. It is useful for this to have plywood cut to the size of the breast pocket, glued on both sides with waterproof sandpaper - coarse and micron. Such plywood is enough for the whole season, if the ax does not require serious regrinding.