While I was out walking tonight I found this long dead cut of Black Locust. Curiosity got the best of me and I just had to see what was left inside. Sawed it up and I was not disappointed! I ended up making a handle out of it. For now I'll put some Linseed Oil on it to keep it from getting worse. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled at yard sales for a rusty, pitted old hatchet needing a handle. I think it'll make a nice rustic tool to have around. 268142[/ATTACH]
Hey that's cool man! I made one from a black locust split as well....but I f-ed up the part where it goes into the hatchet head so I'll just have to do another one. But it was my first time using a pull knife and I'd say I learned a lot already! You can see the old broken handle in the first few pics. The hatchet was a cheap HarborFreight one I bought 20 years ago and never used and never taken care of. I've definitely learned about boiled linseed oil since then and take care of all my wooden handle tools now.
Nice job, looks great! What did you use to seal up the end when you attached the head to the handle? It almost looks like you used a hot glue gun (sorry, this is all new to me so I'm ill-informed on the right way of doing things)
Well, because I didn't get the shape right I tried to use an old partially used tube of 2-part epoxy....but it had dried up a bit and was kind of gummy.......so it never dried....so I just pulled the head off.......and I will make another handle and take my time on the part that really matters. God knows you don't want the head to come flying off ever.... And I didn't mess up that part a little bit.....I messed it up a LOT......so lesson learned the hard way.
I just pack it full of gorilla glue and sand off the extra. Is there a right way method of attaching the head? As long as it sets, I figure epoxy would work just fine. It doesnt look too bad to me. Given that the handle is still the right size, I would probably just clean the epoxy off (if necessary), jam a few pieces of metal in the top and fill up with more glue. I love the phrase "done is better than finished".
The handle is also a bit skinny at the bottom. A bit too aggressive on the sanding. I will do a better job on the next one. Still on the list, just down a bit atm.
Feel free to add project pics to this thread. Edged tool restorations It was a few pages back and hasn't been updated in a while. Lots of good work by members here restoring all sorts of old iron.
