The ax is actually very important tool. Of course, if you are a real carpenter, you should definitely know how to make an ax that is perfect for certain tasks. Professional carpenters usually use several axes at once. Nevertheless, this type the instrument is also necessary for people living outside the city, or simply for city residents who occasionally travel to their summer cottages. After all, the bathhouse needs to be heated with wood, and you can chop it only with an axe. And so that no misunderstandings arise in the process, and the tool does not let you down, you should know all the subtleties of how to make an ax with your own hands, as well as how to prepare it for work. The ax itself can be completely different in shape. But the ax must be properly mounted, wedged, and sharpened at a certain angle.
Choosing the cutting part of the ax
When you are faced with a choice in the process of purchasing a piercing part, be sure to pay attention to the metal from which it is made. There must be a GOST inscription confirming implementation in accordance with the norms and requirements. You should be wary if you see a sign like: OST, MRTU, TU. In this case, the metal production technology could be changed by the manufacturer. If we talk about choosing a good Soviet ax, then it is better to buy it on the regular market.
You can test the quality of an ax the old-fashioned way, by striking the blade of one against the blade of another. If one of the products is made poorly, then it will be on it that marks from the impact will remain. Also, if you hang the ax, you can knock on it and listen to the sound. He will be characteristic.
Please note that if the blade is good, there should be no dents or flaws; the eye should be cone-shaped; also the eye and blade must be coaxial; and there must also be at least a small thickness of the butt, and its ends must be perpendicular to the blade.
If you were unable to find a product that meets all standards. You can make a good ax yourself. Even if some misunderstandings are discovered in the purchased product over time, they can be eliminated by sharpening the burrs, boring the lugs, and giving the butt a symmetrical shape.
Select a workpiece. Make an ax handle
Based on your height and strength, you should choose the length of the axe. The quality of the wood is also very important. For example, for lightweight products weighing up to one kg, the length of the handles is 40-60 cm. If we talk about a heavy ax - up to one and a half kilograms in weight, the length of the handle will be 55-65 cm.
Approach the question of how to do wooden ax, should be correct. For example, not every tree is suitable for its handle. Most suitable options– the root part of the birch, as well as its growths; maple or oak, ash and other types of wood. It is very important to dry the preparations well, and always in natural conditions and for a considerable time.
You choose a tool template in advance, and your template should be outlined on the workpiece. The end part of the handle should be thick so that the master can brake with his hand if the ax slips. Excess wood (beyond the contour) should be removed with a knife, an ax with a perfectly sharpened blade, or other similar tools. After this, you need to make sure that the actions are correct. For fitting, place the ax on the ax handle using a mallet. Make sure that these parts fit very tightly together. After that you can begin further cleaning. To scrape, you should use glass, and to grind, use fine-grained sandpaper. Knowing how to make an ax out of wood is already half the battle. But that's not all.
“Planting” the ax on the handle
This process can be done, for example, in this way:
- The top of the ax is adjusted in accordance with the eye. Unnecessary wood should be removed with a knife.
- The ax handle should be placed horizontally on a flat, hard surface, and the ax should be placed on top. On the handle you need to mark with a pencil the place to which it needs to be inserted. Having divided the segment in two, you should put a second mark.
- Use a vice to clamp the ax handle so that the wider end is positioned upward. Use a hacksaw to cut to the 2nd mark directly under the wedge.
- The wedge can be from a store, or it can also be made from wood by hand. Its thickness can be 5-10 mm, the length is the same as the depth of the cut, and the width is equal to the eye of an ax.
- You need to put a board on the table, and put an ax on it, upside down. The ax should be put on the ax handle, tapping it on the board. Next, you should turn it over and tap it with the handle while inserting it. This should be turned over and tapped several times in a row. As a result, the ax handle should fit into the eyelet.
- After this, the ax handle must be placed vertically, and a wedge must be inserted into the cut and hammered in with a mallet.
- Oil should be applied to the ax handle, the excess will drain off, and the tool will be left to dry. After everything, use a rag to wipe the ax and handle.
In addition, you can watch a video on how to make an ax, with the help of which the essence of making the tool will be clearer to you.
Sharpening an ax blade
This issue is very important so that working with the tool does not cause inconvenience and hassle. In accordance with GOST, the sharpening angle should be from twenty to thirty degrees. If you are a professional carpenter, then sharpening should be done at an angle of thirty-five degrees.
Upon completion of the work done with an ax, it is recommended to put a cover on the blade. Be careful!
Undoubtedly, people who live in a private house or often go on hikes need such indispensable tool like an axe. To purchase it, you just need to go to the market.
If you have questions about the quality of the purchased ax, you can make it yourself. Moreover, this can be done very easily if you use the instructions and tips for making it.
Classification of axes
Axes come in the following types:
- Carpentry. Light, small axes must be equipped with sharp blade. Designed for trimming and precise work with a tree.
- Carpentry universal. Axes of different weights. They don't have a big handle. They are used for imprecise wood processing.
- Lumberjack's axe. Used for cutting wood, it has a wide blade and a long handle.
- Ice ax Used in mountaineering. It consists of a spike, a head, a blade and a handle sharpened at the base. Outwardly it looks like a pickaxe.
- Cleaver. A cone-shaped ax with a lot of weight. The shape and weight help to split hard wood.
- Kuznechny. With such an ax it is possible to chop off metal materials. They apply the ax to the place where they need to chop off and hit the butt with a hammer.
- Potes. It is used to trim wood. For efficient operation, the ax has a rounded blade.
- Povarskaya. An ax with a short handle and a heavy, sharp cutting surface.
- Paznik. Used for cutting grooves using an edge on the blade. The cutting part is perpendicular to the ax handle.
- Firefighter. An ax with a metal handle that is insulated to withstand a voltage of 1000W. Its peculiarity is that there is a spike on the butt, which is used to cut a passage through the rubble.
- Assault firefighter. A massive ax with a long handle. In case of fire, it is used to break down heavy structures.
- Tourist. A small ax with a short shaft. It happens in combination with a knife or saw. For safety, it comes with a cover.
- Tsalda. The ax blade, shaped like a sickle, is used to clear small bushes from the area.
Self-production
The order of work is as follows:
Work on cutting out an ax handle
Before starting work, it is necessary to make transverse cuts at the top and bottom of the beam. The depth of the cuts should not reach the line of the ax by 2-3 mm. Use a chisel to remove the excess layer of wood. Use a rasp to cut out places where corners and transitions are needed. Finally, the ax handle is sanded using sandpaper.
Choosing the piercing part
You can’t make a metal sheet at home, so you need to know what to look for when choosing it in a construction market:
- ideally, steel should be marked according to GOST;
- the eye should have the shape of a cone;
- the blade should not have dents, bends or nicks;
- If you look at the butt, its ends should be perpendicular to the blade.
Placing an ax on an ax handle
This can be done by performing these simple operations:
- Transverse and longitudinal cuts are made on the ax handle in the upper part.
- Cut 5 wedges from hardwood.
- Gauze soaked in resin is wound over the ax handle to fit more tightly into the eyelet.
- Hammer the ax handle into the eye of the ax.
- Drive wedges into the cuts.
- After drying, the protruding parts of the wedges are cut off.
Blade sharpening
Good functionality of the ax will be ensured correct sharpening blades. Depending on the type of work performed, you should choose the sharpening angle.
For example, a taiga ax is sharpened at an angle of 25-30 degrees. If you need to cut fresh wood, you need to sharpen at an angle of 25 degrees.
If a sharpening wheel is used, the butt should be held at an angle of 45 degrees. All movements are performed smoothly, without jerking.
As you can see, having a small set of tools and instructions for making an ax in your arsenal, it is not at all difficult to make it to your size and needs.
Look video instructions for making a taiga ax with your own hands:
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 serve much longer and is of better quality than a regular store-bought one. A hunter in the taiga cannot do without a reliable ax, which should be as universal as possible. There are many axes on sale: from large and medium-sized construction and carpentry axes to small hatchets suitable for various household needs. But a taiga ax must have special properties that can be given to an ordinary ax by remaking it. 
An ax with “dry” steel should be preferred to an ax with soft and weakly hardened steel. When the blade chips, this defect can be easily eliminated by sharpening it sharper. The sharpening shape should be parabolic, but not razor-like or straight (Fig. 1). An ax with this sharpening does not jam in the wood, splits wood well, and is less dull. If sharp enough, such a blade is quite suitable for carpentry work. Much in the understanding of rationality is given by the shapes of old Russian axes, as well as the axes of the 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 axe. All commercially available axes have a wide blade and a protruding top edge (Fig. 2). The shaded part sharply reduces the efficiency of the axe, since at the moment of impact this part tends to straighten the axe, creating a hole 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 touching 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 hardening width of the blade allows. A straight edge is designed only for carpentry work, and when such a blade cuts, it simultaneously touches the entire edge and hits the wood at a right angle, and has poor penetrating power. Each point of the convex edge enters the wood at an acute angle (Fig. 3), a cutting effect occurs, as a result of which the penetrating ability of such a blade increases sharply. Despite the fact that the weight of the ax will decrease after processing, its efficiency will increase. The author offers two options for axes (see Fig. 4 and photo). One of them is lightweight, designed for running hunts, short 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 is 40-60 cm. The other is heavy, for commercial hunting and long trips, during which significant work has to be done. Its weight is 1000-1400 g, the length of the ax is 55-65 cm. The choice of the length of the ax is determined by the quality of the wood, the height and strength of the hunter.
Of course, axes made by hand by blacksmiths are better in terms of steel, angle and balance, but there is one very capricious detail - wooden ax handle. This part must be made according to special technology. Making an ax handle, a wedge and the fit of an ax is much longer and more difficult than forging an ax (even, probably, a Damascus one). Checking how well the ax handle and fit are made is much more difficult than checking the quality of the ax itself. In addition, the ax handle requires special daily care and certain maintenance conditions. If all the points are not fulfilled, 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 making the ax handle. It should be thin. The smaller its weight relative to the weight of the ax, the stronger the blow. The ax handle should be flexible: a rigid ax handle “dries out” your hand. In cross-section, it has an ovoid but flattened shape with a sharper front and rounded rear edges. It is best to make an ax handle from the butt part of ash, maple, or elm. You can also use thin-grained birch. The most suitable thickness of the butt for preparing ax handles is 35-40 cm. The raw butt must be split, then dried with the ends sealed. 
An ax handle with longitudinal layers (Fig. 5) is stronger. Before attaching the ax to the ax handle, find the center of gravity (Fig. 6). Typically this point (C) is located at the base of the eyelet. Then determine the center 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 upon impact. 
If you place the blade at point B perpendicular to the midline AB on a plane, then the end of the ax will have to touch the same plane at point C. This is done 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 is 12-13 cm, and the thinnest place at the end of the ax is 9-10 cm. The final thickness is adjusted according to the hand. The ax handle ends in a “fungus-shaped” thickening that fixes the hand (clearly visible in the photo). This ax handle is indispensable in the cold and rain, when you have gloves or mittens on your hands. The “fungus” allows you to relax your hands while working. 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, for fear of letting go of it. On the workpiece for the “fungus”, thickening is provided in advance; it is processed last to prevent chipping when attaching the ax. When starting 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 line NE). In the ax handle, adjusted to two-thirds of the depth of the eye, a cut is made to the same depth under the wedge (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 ax handle, the fitted parts are generously lubricated with BF-2 glue and the ax is finally mounted. Glue is also applied to a pre-prepared wedge made of hard wood (ash, maple, elm, apple, pear) and the wedge is driven in. To prevent the wedge from breaking when driving, it is made short. For the glue to dry completely, the ax needs to be dried for 24 hours on a radiator or near a stove. Finally, the ax handle is processed by hand, sanded and impregnated with drying oil or linseed oil. 
The finished ax remains to be sharpened. An ax will save a lot of effort and time if its blade is always sharpened. For this purpose, it is useful to have with you plywood cut to the size of your chest pocket, pasted on both sides with waterproof sandpaper - coarse and micron. This plywood is enough for a whole season, unless the ax requires serious sharpening.
Hi all! This summer I went on a 5-week trek in the Alps with some friends. The time spent left a lot of positive impressions. But during this trip I discovered that I had forgotten one very important tool - an axe. After a long day in the mountains, it's nice to sit by the fire and drink beer. But in order to start a fire without an ax, we had to spend a lot of time looking for small branches that could be broken by hand.
Therefore, as soon as I arrived home, I had the idea to make a tourist hatchet, in which, like a knife, a saw is hidden and there is a beer opener.
In this master class I will tell you how you can make such an ax yourself.
Ax design
The design of this ax consists of three parts.
Ax blade
The shape of the blade was borrowed from the tomahawk, an ax used by Native Americans and European colonists. But you can change its shape by adding some spikes or a hammer on the butt. The ax blade will be glued to the handle and secured with rivets.opener
First, as an opener, I wanted to make a suitable hole in the blade. As a result of test drilling, it was found that a regular drill It's impossible to make a hole, so I changed the type of opener. Both options can be seen in the image. New type will be made in the form of a specially shaped hook.Saw
I wanted the ax to come with a saw and thought it would be nice if it could be hidden like a jackknife. From the handle and it can be unfolded using the finger groove. The saw will be hidden between two pads. The shape of the metal part of the handle will allow the saw to be locked in both open and folded positions.Once the design was chosen, I tried it on a circular saw blade to get the dimensions to fit.
Materials and tools
This ax is made from a used circular saw and hardwood that I had. I only had to purchase a folding saw blade. It was already hardened, so it did not need heat treatment.
Materials:
- Old circular saw blade.
- Hardwood timber (approximately 50 x 40 x 300 mm).
- Epoxy resin.
- Large nails for use as rivets.
- Folding saw blade (I used 200mm).
- Bolt, nut and washer.
Tools:
- Angle grinder (don't forget about safety equipment!).
- Rasp.
- File.
- Sandpaper.
- Drill.
Let's make sparks!
I transferred the outline of the ax and the metal part of the handle onto circular saw and cut them out using an angle grinder with a thin cutting wheel. Then using grinding wheel, corner grinding machine and files I completed the formation of the elements. The final shape of the metal part of the handle can be given later.
Making the handle
You can glue the template to wooden blank and cut out two overlays. I took advantage of mine milling machine with CNC.
Drilling hardened steel
I didn't have a carbide drill bit, so I wasn't sure how the process will begin working with a hardened axe. I came across a video where it was said that you can use a sharpened concrete drill bit to drill hardened metal. That's what I did, and everything worked out pretty well.
Adding an opener
This is probably the most irreplaceable part of the ax! Whenever I go camping, my friends and I usually have a couple of beers around the campfire in the evening. Opening them with stones and tree branches is very inconvenient. So I thought this detail would come in handy. I transferred the outline of a regular bottle opener onto the ax blade and cut a recess into it. Works great :)
Drilling the handle
Next, I drilled holes in the handle and checked that everything fit. The metal part of the handle should act as a spring that will fix the saw blade. If it is too elastic, it can be made thinner. First I used the metal part of the handle as a template to make the holes. Then I fastened the two pads together with clamps and then drilled them out. through hole. This way all the corresponding holes were in one line.
To connect the parts of the ax without gluing, I used bolts. This way you can check whether all the parts of the ax fit and whether the saw folds correctly.
Blade sharpening
Once the blade's bevel outline was traced, I used an angle grinder with a sanding disc for a rough finish. Then, for finer work, a file and grinding machine(use water to cool the blade). The final sharpening was done using grinding wheel sharpening machine.
I'm not an expert at sharpening an ax blade, so you can do this another way.
The ax will primarily be used to split wood into smaller pieces, so I did a little testing of its functionality.
Gluing and riveting
He is the real “king” of carpenter’s tools. He is a true salvation for those who are lost in the forest. He - faithful assistant, if you need to chop firewood for a bathhouse, 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 on any country farm.
The only difficulty that a business person may have is buying a good, high-quality ax. More and more often you are convinced that it is much easier and more reliable to build an ax handle with your own hands. So let's look at the entire manufacturing process, starting from preparing the ax 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 strict sequence. First, the handle of the tool, called the ax handle, is made. When the length and shape of the handle are chosen correctly, the instrument literally “burns”, demonstrating high performance and ease of use.
Try taking a stick with a regular one round and install an iron base. You will quickly get tired, because holding such a tool for a long time puts a lot of stress on your hand. It’s another matter when the ax handle has a curved shape, the tail part is widened and slightly bent down. Thanks to this design, the axes are firmly held in the hands even with strong blows.
A 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 ax itself (8). The number 10 indicates sharpening. Prepare the material and cut out the first template
Since you and I need to make an ax handle from wood, we will take this material as a basis. The best proven structures are those made from birch and oak, ash and maple.
A wooden ax can be made at any time of the year, but it is better to prepare the material for it in the fall, even before frost sets in. 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 given by your grandfather was broken with your own hands on an impenetrable log, you can take fresh wood. This option will still be temporary, because after drying the volume of wood decreases. The ax head will begin to wobble and hold less tightly.
For workpiece good template Drawings of the future product are desirable.
When you have a cardboard template, it is much easier to transfer the contours of the designed product onto wood. The basis is a ready-made ax handle that you feel comfortable working with. It is traced with a simple pencil on cardboard and cut out.
Preparing timber for work From the blank block to the careful hewing of the ax
- Before making an axe, you need to cut a block out of dried wood. Keep in mind that the length of the piece of wood should exceed the planned size of the finished product by about 10 cm. As for the width in front (placed on the canvas), ideally it exceeds the diameter of the metal eye by 2-3 mm.
- Place the finished template on the block and transfer its contours. Leave an allowance of 1 cm in front, and 9 cm in the tail part of the workpiece. Before you place the ax on the ax handle, you will strike more than a dozen blows on the handle. An allowance in the “tail” is needed to avoid splitting. When final assembly will be finished, you can cut it off without any problems.
- Let's begin the main part of the work with the ax handle. In the upper and lower parts of the block, transverse cuts are made with a depth not reaching 0.2 cm from the contours. A chisel is used to chip away excess wood along the cuts; the final cut is made with a rasp.
- Use a regular file or rasp to round corners and create smooth curves and transitions. Sandpaper will help with the final sanding.
- It’s too early to install the steel sheet - the wood is impregnated with good quality waterproof composition. Will do linseed oil, drying oil has excellent properties. Apply a small amount of the substance to the ax handle and let it dry. Then the next layer is applied. The procedure is repeated until the instrument you personally made no longer absorbs it.
- The biggest mistake is to cover up wooden base varnish or oil paint. However, nothing prevents you from adding a little dye to the drying oil (red, yellow). A bright instrument will never get lost in thick grass.
How did our ancestors choose the canvas for the ax?
Several hundred years have passed, but the method of buying good linen has not changed. Our ancestors knew how to make an ax out of wood and what kind of metal base to use. They always paid attention to:
- Steel quality. By the way, today this issue is resolved simply. Look for the GOST badge on the product - this will be an indicator of excellent quality. No OST and TU!
- Blade. An ideal blade has no cracks or dents, and is very smooth.
- 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 place an ax on an ax handle (video)
When the blade has been chosen, a completely logical question arises: how to properly place an ax on an ax handle and achieve a “dead” fastening? Start by drawing 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 placed the butt to the end, outline the contours of the eye on it - the center lines will be a guide. To trim the landing part of the ax, use a knife or plane. 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 install the blade using hammer blows. Do this accurately, with effort, but without unnecessary pressure. You don't want your blows to crack the wood, right? As soon as the end goes beyond the boundaries, we check the strength of the fit and see how the canvas sits. It shouldn't slide off.
Knock out a wedge with a wedge or wedging method
You can strengthen the fastening of the metal part if you wedge it. To do this, a small wedge made of hard wood, such as oak, is driven into the end. Because of this, the dimensions of the landing part increase, and it is fixed “tightly”.
Some craftsmen use not one, but two or even five wedges. But as practice shows, even one additional fixation sometimes 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 for use. Only in this case will the product perform its main function.
To work with freshly cut wood, the sharpening angle is the ideal instrument is 20 degrees, dry wood - from 25 to 30 degrees. The width of the chamfer is equally important.
Sharpening an ax by hand How to properly sharpen an ax on a regular electric sharpener
Prepare in advance a container in which you will cool the metal. 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 optimal angle sharpening, regardless of the type of tool and its features.
- To sharpen the axe, it moves smoothly along the circle. The chamfer is ground and the sharpening angle is sharpened.
- The final sharpening of the ax is always performed with a special sharpening stone. From time to time it needs to be moistened with water to cool the metal.
- If it is not possible to sharpen the hatchet with a block, it is replaced with a piece of plywood, which is covered with sandpaper.
Don’t forget that working with a sharp tool is always pleasant, while a dull ax means more additional and completely unnecessary effort, quick fatigue and not the best good result. After the work on manufacturing and sharpening the ax is completed, a cover is put on the blade. This will extend the life of the product, and it will not need to be sharpened as often. The case is made of leather, birch bark, or any other suitable material.
Case for ax There is an opinion that the tool can be stored stuck in a log. This is a big misconception. Consisting of strong steel and an ax made by hand, the ax becomes an “extension” of the master’s hands. Try chopping wood homemade instrument– and you will no longer want to return to store-bought products.
