I am amazed at the versatility present in the natural materials you work with. Lime, charcoal, animals etc.... A totally new world of knowledge & skills to learn. Thanks Steven!
I want to try to communicate a lot of that understanding so that people understand the potential that is everywhere. It's a totally different way of looking at the world. Resourcescape.
Ya Steven you are a breath of fresh air. You have special kitchen Rocks which just makes me laugh and next thing i know your teaching me how to make glue from cottage cheese. Using stuff that is already around me is one of my favorite things in the world. Its kind of like those recipe you grow to love mostly because you don't have to go out and buy a bunch of exotic ingredients that won't get used up for anything else.
Agree with all the points you’ve made on material texture, thickness and esthetics - I’ve used narrow band of thin waxed jute twine on mine and it seem to blends in really well with the hickory handle
Love it! Hard core and very functional. Not a fan of pretty looking leather wrap or even worse, 550 cord. Those options may look cool but do very little to protect from breaking it splitting. It must be rawhide week. Oxbow and logcabinlooms both just did rawhide videos. Everyone's was very different and I got awesome tips from each. Thx
I think cord wraps can do the job okay if tight, but they are usually too thick and disruptive to working near the head. I've seen someone on youtube use thin seine twine with super glue and that looked okay. Hard to beat rawhide though for functionality, low tech and class.
Nick Spittler, I liked Ross very much and watched his painting shows and taped them. But Bob Ross spent his service time mainly in Alaska in the Airforce no where I have I seen he was in Vietnam or ever claimed to be and I'm for sure he was not a Combat veteran ! A old Vietnam Combat Veteran
I permanently mounted the head of my Cold Steel Riflemans Hawk using a product called Magic Wrap. It's thinner than tennis wrap goop and far more durable. I don't throw it and due to our disabilities it just works for kindling and firewood. Magic Wrap stretches and compresses as you wrap, up to 3 times it's length. Just wrapped the end and used a long pipe to set the handle. We have beat the hell out of this thing and that head has never moved a millimeter or even tried to get loose. It is a multi purpose emergency household tool, pipe leaks etc. It's self adhesive. The tool ain't pretty or historically accurate but we're still using the same handle and it's 10 years old. We're gonna use this method on the next ones to modify them and make them look better 😁😁
I feel like it wrote a book that walked your reader Thru your life and the come up to where u are now mentally ect we would be compelled to read it. I don’t know man , I like you , I like your gritty characteristics , you remind me of someone I knew in a past life. Anyways mad respect looking forward to it all even the stuff I’m not into. Thanks for doing what u do.
We are #23 in the world for robust broadband deployment. Latvia has better for less... I love rawhide collars for the same reasons you mention. My splitting axe has been through 4, 4-1/2 cords, and my rawhide collar is still museum quality. I find rawhide hard to abuse. Many coats of boiled linseed oil before and after, and I don't even see many scuff marks. I think rawhide withstands impact and provides protection, better than any material I've stumbled across. I'm interested to see what the hide glue adds.
Great feedback. I've been wondering how the linseed oil will affect it. For something we can make ourselves from nothing I doubt it can be beat. It's synonymous with toughness for a reason. I've had thin stuff tear, but at a certain point it's a pretty tough customer. Glad to see there is someone else that uses it. makes sense, but uncommon for some reason. I guess the material seems inaccessible for a lot of people.
Hey if you hate this idea I understand! I'm a month and a half into my dreadlocks and they look like a frizzy mess? Could you do a video on your dreadlocks. Care starting upkeep stuff like that ?
I can't help you. I never did much. I've had them for about 35 or more years. Mine just sort of grew, but my hair is curly and naturally gathers into locks. I just pull them apart every once in a while so I don't end up with a unilock. I think some hair does or doesn't want to do it.
What are your thoughts of using clear gorilla tape for a wrap? Question: if the tape is used, could the tape suffocate or smother the taped portion of the handle? I did put a generous amount of boiled linseed oil a week or so ago. Thank you for your time
I'm not familiar with clear gorilla tape. Tapes are fine for a quick fix. They work as far as compression goes, but they lack both shock absorption and toughness, so they tear a lot. The other issue is what the tape glue is going to do over time. Duct tape gets sticky and nasty, then it ossifies into some tough horrid material. I haven't used gorilla tape enough to know. I wouldn't worry about sweating or breathing or anything as long as you aren't getting the handle soaking wet over and over.
Yeah, probably not :) I'm unfortunately not a very good archer. I've made a lot of arrows, but there are a lot of people better at it than me. I think I had so many friends that were really into archery that I just concentrated on other stuff.
After watching this video and thinking about it I have a suggestion/experiment. Groundhog hide. Groundhog hide is noted for its toughness. In the NC mountains it is very well known that you get a groundhog hide and cut it into a circular cord and use it for boot laces. They stay tied and will never break. It's said that you only need one set of laces for life. So, I am on the lookout for a road kill groundhog, saw one a week ago but didn't have this in my mind yet. Skinned, fleshed, dehaired and dried like rawhide and go from there.
They limit the options for adding wedges as needed. This head worked loose on the council axe pretty fast, and all I could do was cram extra wedges in the narrow space next to the main wedge until I took it out. I also like to be able to cross wedge. I think it does more to spread the eye front to back than parallel wedges do. Some people think it's a bad idea or that it is unnecessary to add any secondary metal wedges if you just hang the axe "properly" in the first place. In my experience, axe handles work loose eventually with use and changes in weather.
A lot of people toss out sandpaper as soon as it's slightly used. It's a mentality thing. Convenience above all else. The solution to most human problems is people that are more aware and less narcissistic. We are trained from day one to be selfish brats, with the highest purpose being service to ourselves and slavishness to our whims and convenience.
@@SkillCult OMG brother! Words of wisdom! For sure... I believe in service to others especially handicapped...which in my opinion are most people these days... but I will not be a slave to they're spoiled ness... as I pay my taxes lol ... we simply HAVE TO CHANGE! Most of our lifestyles are not sustainable. And we are destroying our own mother earth! The funny thing is that this lifestyle is actually easier to me ... and I have much more peace, less stress and actually enjoy most of the work I do....
I'm loving the rawhide handle guards. I've got three leg skins off that roadkill doe dehairing right now and I can hardly wait to try a "leg-tube" handle guard. The squirrel has worked fine so far, but is probably too thin.
I think those are going to work great and less sewing. Maybe a little thin, but easy to put on and easy to change. You can also put one one with the hair, then carefully scrape the hair off with a sharp knife. That's how African Djembe's are made.
Great video, I'll definitely have to try it out. I'm a non-hunter (nothing against it- I just have enough on my plate that I don't need an extra activity added to the heap).... so was wondering: Do you think a natural pitch-based glue might work instead of hide glue? I'm sure I can procure a piece of rawhide and some sinew from friends, but probably not the hide glue
I think the glue is optional altogether. If you can get any rawhide, you can cook up a micro batch of glue though. I think you can just forgoe it though as long as it's very tight and not tapered in a way that it can actually slide off.
how do you think raw hide they sell for dog chews would work? Thinking about trying it out for grins. I imagine it would be dried out or cooked and probably be to brittle but I can't get my hands on anything else for a while unless I decide to shell out for a single bend from online
I don't know. I guess it's an interesting experiment. I'm sure someone else is trying it. I will probably be pretty thick. I guess you'd learn something anyway... hopefully something useful.
I'm butchering one of my goats this weekend -- planning to salt the hide until I figure out what to do with it. Any suggestions on the tanning? I live in a pine forest. There's no oak bark in sight.
Pine barks are used sometimes. You might need quite a bit of it. Not sure what the tannin content is. There's probably other useable tanning materials nearby somewhere. There usually are. Got sumac?
I don't have sumac on my land. I'll ask around though. I do have a huge amount of pine bark though. Mounds of the stuff left over from hewing timbers. I was going to burn it. This is probably a stupid question, but if I tan the hide with pine bark, will the leather be sticky?
Great News! I'm precisely the kind of dude you talked about in one of your videos, rather new to axes, not much practical knowledge, most of the axmanship I "know" beeing tips from Ray Mears videos, ie not "crap" in itself, but not hands-on experience. As far as practical experience goes, enough splitting with shitty hardware store ones, to know that's what NOT to buy... In that regard your videos seem about the most informative I've yet to see... Wranglerstar's video sold me on the idea of the Husqvarna as a cheap, capable, packable axe, but your videos seems quite informed, well reasonned, in fact, moreso than his. Thinking about it, your view of handles as a way to accelerate the head, but not something to push with into the cut seems rather physically sound... Now I'm wondering between rehandeling a yard sale oldie and buying this axe kit sold in axe form, wich would "save" me the trouble of getting my hands on a decent hickory blank for a handle. Not so common here in France (and sadly, traditional, local handlemaking essences like cornouiller aren't easy to find either) Also, If I may inquire, I've gotten myself into restoring and rehandling a really ancient, pre-industrial axe head that has been in the familly for probably some centuries, for medieval historical reenactment purposes (why not split wood for the fire with historically correct tools, after all, it's ll mostly be light use, a few times a year, so I won't ruin it more using it than by letting it rust away) The fact is that's rather different from most of the axes i've seen in use today, it's quite heavy, steel edge sandwiched between an iron piece that forms the "cheeks" of the blade and makes a round socket (that odly, is larger at the base than at the top of the eye, contrary of pickaxe handles) The head sorts of looks like the two non hewing axes that can be seen on that early XIIIth stained glass, upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Chartres_-_Vitrail_-_Charpentier.jpg wich is about perfect for me period wise, and precisely what got me thinking that I might be golden restoring this instead of using any modern, non period hatchet. Considering my ancestors had a "similar" one, this style seems to have endured quite long, yet, round socket sort of implies round handle (maybe wrongly) , wich do strike me as odd, there must be some trick to get good edge allignment... (Also, it seems bound to be even more clublike than the hatchet you roasted in one of your vids ) So far I've not found any archaeological publication that could inform me as to the shape of the handle, nor more "recent" still handled one, so I'm a bit in the dark... I wonder if there's any source of knowledge on this type of vintage and it's use I could tap into, if you know any, you could point me to, I'd be glad! Hope I did not bore you with the long text, have a nice day! Ps: I Loled at the hemp rant on the linseed oil vid, many a pot smoker tend to wildly believe it's good for everything and goes on a hemp crusade instead of admitting that it's just what it is, nice, but not the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything! (wich, as you most assuredly know, is 42)
Yeah, the hemp thing is somewhere between funny and infuriating lol/grrr... That is super weird about the eye being wider at the bottom. I'm not sure what to make of that. I'd consider posting it on axe junkies facebook page. There are a lot of axe obsessed guys over there that may know something about an obscure period axe like that. I think you're describing a simple wrapped eye axe, which was the norm everywhere for a long time. They save on steel and are easy to make. Now they are usually only seen on tomahawks. Don't use hickory. Use a native wood. Can you get ash? Or find out what the traditional handle material was in France. Hickory isn't the only game in town. There is a lot of poor to mediocre axe content, but there is more good stuff all the time and hopefully we'll raise the bar with the cordwood challenge so that people won't really be able to get away with posting very mediocre or bad content. By simply providing contrast, people will know bad content when they see it. The whole internet axe scene seems like it's still in it's infancy, but evolving rapidly. Unfortunately, a lot of people have used the growing interest in axes as a way to rack up views while they could barely chop their way out of a paper bag lol. The cordwood challenge is a challenge to people to cut their wood with an axe, but the subtext is a challenge (or maybe a threat lol) to that mentality by providing contrast and gradually raising the bar so people have to step up their game, or face up to a more informed viewer base. I better stop before I say something someone else will regret lol. Good luck with figuring that handle thing out. Sounds interesting!
This looks like a great solution. I’m new to all of this, and wondering if someone could lead me to a proper place I could purchase some rawhide stock for this? I’m not really in a position to yield my own as I have no idea how to start, bad reason but I want to wrap my axe handle with this technique. Thanks in advance.
might get flamed for this question, but for those of us who don't have access to resources to make rawhide, would a "pet store" slab of it work for this project?
With sideways torque yeah. Wood handles are relatively weak, but nothing I've touched has the same working qualities and you can make new ones yourself.
Not necessarily. I talk about how I cracked this handle in the review on this council tool boy's axe. It was an accident trying to pull the stuck axe out in a weird situation. The handle is thinner in the sideways dimension, so you have to be careful, but it is still an effective lever. I use axes and hatchets as levers, but you may have to break a few to figure out their limitations. The longer the handle, the more torque you have and it's tempting to pry stuff apart, but definitely dangerous. If you can managae to work within the limitations of the wood though, you can get away with it to an extent. Definitely be very cautious.
hey Steven I love your channel man its amazing! I was trying to find a good first axe to invest in and been struggling in this small town I live in. I went out to some yard sales and found a couple of axe heads in poor condition. been wanting to restore them and was wondering if you can make a video on this process. I have seen lots of videos on RUclips but nothing satisfies me and I feel you are the one who can point me in the right direction with this process.
Hey, thanks. I probably won't, just because there are so many already and I think my time is better spent on other stuff. I'm not sure what to recommend video wise, but I know there is a ton of restoration stuff out there. I'm not even sure I'm the best person to do it. maybe eventually as part of another project or something.
Just for people that dont have access to rawhide from scratch you can go buy a rawhide dogs chew bone about anywhere soak it and untie the ends and flatten it out and there you go
Have you actually put that rawhide guard to the test man? I made one for my 4lb Sanvik, I do a lot of hard out axe work, did'nt last too long, after a few overstrikes the rawhide started breaking up pretty bad! I really think your better option is some good 8/9 oz leather, thats been my experience anyway, I do enjoy watching your videos anyway, Cheers, Mike from Waikato NZ..
I wore that axe out until the head was about to fall off, but I'm not in the habit of bashing up my handles much, so I'm not sure how much stress it was under. I can't recall ever having one fail in a major way though. what kind of rawhide did you use? I know a guy commented that he had one on his maul through two seasons of firewood splitting and said it looked like new. but people use axes differently too.
Thanks for the reply, no to be fair I just used a piece of doggy chew rawhide.I have since met a guy in nz who doe's deerskin products. I bought some deer leather and rawhide from him, both really good quality!and I like the idea of using deerskin. The rawhide was quite thin and I used some to back a bow I was making. Sounds like you might be into bowmaking too! and probably knifemaking? I' m just learning knifemaking and have just completed my first knife ( and leather sheath ) which I'm also learning. I'm going to try rawhide handlebrace again,this time I'II follow your instructions more closely, that stitch looks a bit hard tho! Thanks for your vids youtube has been an absolute Godsend for me..
See Oxbow farm's comment above. He's about to try that. I don't have any whole legs to try now. That skin is thin, but that may be good, and it's densely fibered. Should work well I think.
woah, hold on, WHERE is this piece of rawhide you are talking about???? Do you mean, this is where it is GOING TO BE? Ha,ha, you seem to even be touching the aleged rawhide! Am I blind, or are you in denial? Maybe just show one axe WITH it on; and then another axe WITHOUT the rawhide, so I (we?) can see the difference!
It's just thin, plus it's oiled. You can see the wood grain through it. Pretty cool. I think thicker than. that is better, but it will still offer protection.
OOOOooohhh, I C. OK, then I guess an apology is in order. I was prit-ty hard on you, cuz I really want to know this stuff; Sorry. BTW, I love the Idea of rocks in the kitchen!! In return, I will share an Idea I think you may like; take a 1" to 1 1/2 " branch of the princess tree( Paulownia tomentosa) which has a natural cavity in the middle, like a pith. Cut to 24" to30" long, and use it to blow on your fire when getting it going. Keeps your face and lungs away from the smoke and flames. It may need to be reamed at the section where the brnches grow, but it is only a small section. Enjoy!
I am amazed at the versatility present in the natural materials you work with.
Lime, charcoal, animals etc.... A totally new world of knowledge & skills to learn.
Thanks Steven!
I want to try to communicate a lot of that understanding so that people understand the potential that is everywhere. It's a totally different way of looking at the world. Resourcescape.
I had no idea about that potential until I found your channel.
Thank you for opening that door!
Ya Steven you are a breath of fresh air. You have special kitchen Rocks which just makes me laugh and next thing i know your teaching me how to make glue from cottage cheese. Using stuff that is already around me is one of my favorite things in the world. Its kind of like those recipe you grow to love mostly because you don't have to go out and buy a bunch of exotic ingredients that won't get used up for anything else.
+SkillCult now that I know your name is Stephen, are you Steve Tall from bladeforums?
+clancy6969 sorry, Steven I mean!
Agree with all the points you’ve made on material texture, thickness and esthetics - I’ve used narrow band of thin waxed jute twine on mine and it seem to blends in really well with the hickory handle
"handy multi-purpose kitchen rock"
Everyone needs one...
Where can I buy a multi-purpose kitchen rock?
lol, we have a sale this week, 49.99, but wait there's more, you also get this bonus multipurpose shop rock!
Amazon.com, affiliate link 👍🏻
Walk in the park.
Love it! Hard core and very functional. Not a fan of pretty looking leather wrap or even worse, 550 cord. Those options may look cool but do very little to protect from breaking it splitting. It must be rawhide week. Oxbow and logcabinlooms both just did rawhide videos. Everyone's was very different and I got awesome tips from each. Thx
I think cord wraps can do the job okay if tight, but they are usually too thick and disruptive to working near the head. I've seen someone on youtube use thin seine twine with super glue and that looked okay. Hard to beat rawhide though for functionality, low tech and class.
Great video mate looking forward to the next one .ill have to start saving sinew from now on , Your book arrived yesterday !
Oh, good to hear. It has all the deer uses stuff in it.
As usual great subject, knowledge and editing. You have a certain Bob Ross quality to your vids. Thanks again.
had to look up bob ross. hair!
Yeah I grew up watching his show on PBS. It was calming and had subtle comedy within.
Outdoor Longhair Bob Ross was a Vietnam War combat veteran, he needed calm! Good comparison BTW!
Nick Spittler,
I liked Ross very much and watched his painting shows and taped them.
But Bob Ross spent his service time mainly in Alaska in the Airforce no where I have I seen he was in Vietnam or ever claimed to be and I'm for sure he was not a Combat veteran !
A old Vietnam Combat Veteran
Excellent-plenty good tips😬👍🏻
Can't wait for part 2. Great homesteading channel.
working on it now!
Great video 👍🏻💯
I permanently mounted the head of my Cold Steel Riflemans Hawk using a product called Magic Wrap. It's thinner than tennis wrap goop and far more durable. I don't throw it and due to our disabilities it just works for kindling and firewood. Magic Wrap stretches and compresses as you wrap, up to 3 times it's length. Just wrapped the end and used a long pipe to set the handle. We have beat the hell out of this thing and that head has never moved a millimeter or even tried to get loose. It is a multi purpose emergency household tool, pipe leaks etc. It's self adhesive. The tool ain't pretty or historically accurate but we're still using the same handle and it's 10 years old. We're gonna use this method on the next ones to modify them and make them look better 😁😁
This is great,i just leather wrapped my handle and I don’t like the thickness or lacing
Great vid, as always. Very informative. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, sir.
- Davi
Thank you Davi.
I feel like it wrote a book that walked your reader Thru your life and the come up to where u are now mentally ect we would be compelled to read it. I don’t know man , I like you , I like your gritty characteristics , you remind me of someone I knew in a past life. Anyways mad respect looking forward to it all even the stuff I’m not into. Thanks for doing what u do.
Very interesting and educational!
Linseed oil and pine tar (1:1) makes the best finish
We are #23 in the world for robust broadband deployment. Latvia has better for less...
I love rawhide collars for the same reasons you mention. My splitting axe has been through 4, 4-1/2 cords, and my rawhide collar is still museum quality. I find rawhide hard to abuse.
Many coats of boiled linseed oil before and after, and I don't even see many scuff marks. I think rawhide withstands impact and provides protection, better than any material I've stumbled across.
I'm interested to see what the hide glue adds.
Great feedback. I've been wondering how the linseed oil will affect it. For something we can make ourselves from nothing I doubt it can be beat. It's synonymous with toughness for a reason. I've had thin stuff tear, but at a certain point it's a pretty tough customer. Glad to see there is someone else that uses it. makes sense, but uncommon for some reason. I guess the material seems inaccessible for a lot of people.
Thanks, nice video! I use rawhide collar protection on my axes as well.
There is nothig better. I think.
Cool! They are really nice.
Hey if you hate this idea I understand! I'm a month and a half into my dreadlocks and they look like a frizzy mess? Could you do a video on your dreadlocks. Care starting upkeep stuff like that ?
I can't help you. I never did much. I've had them for about 35 or more years. Mine just sort of grew, but my hair is curly and naturally gathers into locks. I just pull them apart every once in a while so I don't end up with a unilock. I think some hair does or doesn't want to do it.
hey, I learned a subcutaneous stitch in mortuary school!
Great stitch. I've used if for buckskin clothing quite a bit. They use it with oiltan skins for clothing like lederhosen.
What are your thoughts of using clear gorilla tape for a wrap? Question: if the tape is used, could the tape suffocate or smother the taped portion of the handle? I did put a generous amount of boiled linseed oil a week or so ago. Thank you for your time
FYI by smothering or suffocating I mean being a man made material (wrap) instead of using natural materials.
I'm not familiar with clear gorilla tape. Tapes are fine for a quick fix. They work as far as compression goes, but they lack both shock absorption and toughness, so they tear a lot. The other issue is what the tape glue is going to do over time. Duct tape gets sticky and nasty, then it ossifies into some tough horrid material. I haven't used gorilla tape enough to know. I wouldn't worry about sweating or breathing or anything as long as you aren't getting the handle soaking wet over and over.
I've been using weed whacker line and duct tape. But this is so much more attractive
I want to see some arrow making and shooting videos.
Also I would like to see you harvest of sinew.
I demand it! 😉
Happy trails friend
Luke
Yeah, probably not :) I'm unfortunately not a very good archer. I've made a lot of arrows, but there are a lot of people better at it than me. I think I had so many friends that were really into archery that I just concentrated on other stuff.
SkillCult
Gotcha, would like to see your set up in your camper sometime as well.
After watching this video and thinking about it I have a suggestion/experiment. Groundhog hide. Groundhog hide is noted for its toughness. In the NC mountains it is very well known that you get a groundhog hide and cut it into a circular cord and use it for boot laces. They stay tied and will never break. It's said that you only need one set of laces for life. So, I am on the lookout for a road kill groundhog, saw one a week ago but didn't have this in my mind yet. Skinned, fleshed, dehaired and dried like rawhide and go from there.
I recall reading about that in the Foxfire books. Sounds good!
Great video. Why are the aluminum wedges not good? I have a new Council Tool Hudson Bay axe and it has the same wedge?
They limit the options for adding wedges as needed. This head worked loose on the council axe pretty fast, and all I could do was cram extra wedges in the narrow space next to the main wedge until I took it out. I also like to be able to cross wedge. I think it does more to spread the eye front to back than parallel wedges do. Some people think it's a bad idea or that it is unnecessary to add any secondary metal wedges if you just hang the axe "properly" in the first place. In my experience, axe handles work loose eventually with use and changes in weather.
Good stuff, Edholm, good stuff.
Thanks B, thanks.
One thing I know is scraping really saves on sandpaper ... and waste ... and I'm all about keeping it out of the landfill!
A lot of people toss out sandpaper as soon as it's slightly used. It's a mentality thing. Convenience above all else. The solution to most human problems is people that are more aware and less narcissistic. We are trained from day one to be selfish brats, with the highest purpose being service to ourselves and slavishness to our whims and convenience.
@@SkillCult OMG brother! Words of wisdom! For sure... I believe in service to others especially handicapped...which in my opinion are most people these days... but I will not be a slave to they're spoiled ness... as I pay my taxes lol ... we simply HAVE TO CHANGE! Most of our lifestyles are not sustainable. And we are destroying our own mother earth! The funny thing is that this lifestyle is actually easier to me ... and I have much more peace, less stress and actually enjoy most of the work I do....
Can you wrap rawhide strip similar to the sinew ?
I'm sure you could,but it would be rough to handle and you would have to fix the end down somehow.
I'm loving the rawhide handle guards. I've got three leg skins off that roadkill doe dehairing right now and I can hardly wait to try a "leg-tube" handle guard. The squirrel has worked fine so far, but is probably too thin.
I think those are going to work great and less sewing. Maybe a little thin, but easy to put on and easy to change. You can also put one one with the hair, then carefully scrape the hair off with a sharp knife. That's how African Djembe's are made.
Great video, I'll definitely have to try it out. I'm a non-hunter (nothing against it- I just have enough on my plate that I don't need an extra activity added to the heap).... so was wondering: Do you think a natural pitch-based glue might work instead of hide glue? I'm sure I can procure a piece of rawhide and some sinew from friends, but probably not the hide glue
I think the glue is optional altogether. If you can get any rawhide, you can cook up a micro batch of glue though. I think you can just forgoe it though as long as it's very tight and not tapered in a way that it can actually slide off.
how do you think raw hide they sell for dog chews would work? Thinking about trying it out for grins. I imagine it would be dried out or cooked and probably be to brittle but I can't get my hands on anything else for a while unless I decide to shell out for a single bend from online
I don't know. I guess it's an interesting experiment. I'm sure someone else is trying it. I will probably be pretty thick. I guess you'd learn something anyway... hopefully something useful.
Compression is extremely powerful on my wood.
That sounds like a personal problem lol
This is why I really come here.... comments like this give me hope for humanity.... add to a great video just ices the cake
What (or who) happened at 10:35 ?
thays what dog bones are made from right? could i use a dog bone and soak it to unravel it and use it this way?
Someone did report back that a dog chew worked for them, so it may. Let me know if you try it, lots of people ask.
I'm butchering one of my goats this weekend -- planning to salt the hide until I figure out what to do with it. Any suggestions on the tanning? I live in a pine forest. There's no oak bark in sight.
Pine barks are used sometimes. You might need quite a bit of it. Not sure what the tannin content is. There's probably other useable tanning materials nearby somewhere. There usually are. Got sumac?
I don't have sumac on my land. I'll ask around though. I do have a huge amount of pine bark though. Mounds of the stuff left over from hewing timbers. I was going to burn it. This is probably a stupid question, but if I tan the hide with pine bark, will the leather be sticky?
No, shouldn't be. Pine, fir, larch, spruce have all been used a lot.
Old rained on bark may not have much tannin left though, so that is an issue.
Dang. It's been rained on a bunch. I'll have to skin more logs. Thanks for the info!
Did you finish your thinning and tuning up of the 26" Husqvarna axe handle?
No, that project got sidelined during the firewood cutting season. I'll get back to it, hopefully this summer once the cordwood challenge is over.
Great News!
I'm precisely the kind of dude you talked about in one of your videos, rather new to axes, not much practical knowledge, most of the axmanship I "know" beeing tips from Ray Mears videos, ie not "crap" in itself, but not hands-on experience.
As far as practical experience goes, enough splitting with shitty hardware store ones, to know that's what NOT to buy...
In that regard your videos seem about the most informative I've yet to see...
Wranglerstar's video sold me on the idea of the Husqvarna as a cheap, capable, packable axe, but your videos seems quite informed, well reasonned, in fact, moreso than his.
Thinking about it, your view of handles as a way to accelerate the head, but not something to push with into the cut seems rather physically sound...
Now I'm wondering between rehandeling a yard sale oldie and buying this axe kit sold in axe form, wich would "save" me the trouble of getting my hands on a decent hickory blank for a handle.
Not so common here in France (and sadly, traditional, local handlemaking essences like cornouiller aren't easy to find either)
Also, If I may inquire, I've gotten myself into restoring and rehandling a really ancient, pre-industrial axe head that has been in the familly for probably some centuries, for medieval historical reenactment purposes (why not split wood for the fire with historically correct tools, after all, it's ll mostly be light use, a few times a year, so I won't ruin it more using it than by letting it rust away)
The fact is that's rather different from most of the axes i've seen in use today, it's quite heavy, steel edge sandwiched between an iron piece that forms the "cheeks" of the blade and makes a round socket (that odly, is larger at the base than at the top of the eye, contrary of pickaxe handles)
The head sorts of looks like the two non hewing axes that can be seen on that early XIIIth stained glass,
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Chartres_-_Vitrail_-_Charpentier.jpg
wich is about perfect for me period wise, and precisely what got me thinking that I might be golden restoring this instead of using any modern, non period hatchet.
Considering my ancestors had a "similar" one, this style seems to have endured quite long, yet, round socket sort of implies round handle (maybe wrongly) , wich do strike me as odd, there must be some trick to get good edge allignment...
(Also, it seems bound to be even more clublike than the hatchet you roasted in one of your vids )
So far I've not found any archaeological publication that could inform me as to the shape of the handle, nor more "recent" still handled one, so I'm a bit in the dark...
I wonder if there's any source of knowledge on this type of vintage and it's use I could tap into, if you know any, you could point me to, I'd be glad!
Hope I did not bore you with the long text, have a nice day!
Ps: I Loled at the hemp rant on the linseed oil vid, many a pot smoker tend to wildly believe it's good for everything and goes on a hemp crusade instead of admitting that it's just what it is, nice, but not the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything!
(wich, as you most assuredly know, is 42)
Yeah, the hemp thing is somewhere between funny and infuriating lol/grrr...
That is super weird about the eye being wider at the bottom. I'm not sure what to make of that. I'd consider posting it on axe junkies facebook page. There are a lot of axe obsessed guys over there that may know something about an obscure period axe like that. I think you're describing a simple wrapped eye axe, which was the norm everywhere for a long time. They save on steel and are easy to make. Now they are usually only seen on tomahawks. Don't use hickory. Use a native wood. Can you get ash? Or find out what the traditional handle material was in France. Hickory isn't the only game in town.
There is a lot of poor to mediocre axe content, but there is more good stuff all the time and hopefully we'll raise the bar with the cordwood challenge so that people won't really be able to get away with posting very mediocre or bad content. By simply providing contrast, people will know bad content when they see it. The whole internet axe scene seems like it's still in it's infancy, but evolving rapidly. Unfortunately, a lot of people have used the growing interest in axes as a way to rack up views while they could barely chop their way out of a paper bag lol. The cordwood challenge is a challenge to people to cut their wood with an axe, but the subtext is a challenge (or maybe a threat lol) to that mentality by providing contrast and gradually raising the bar so people have to step up their game, or face up to a more informed viewer base. I better stop before I say something someone else will regret lol. Good luck with figuring that handle thing out. Sounds interesting!
This looks like a great solution. I’m new to all of this, and wondering if someone could lead me to a proper place I could purchase some rawhide stock for this? I’m not really in a position to yield my own as I have no idea how to start, bad reason but I want to wrap my axe handle with this technique. Thanks in advance.
People have said that rawhide chew toys work.
SkillCult awesome. I’ll check that out
This might be a dumb question but could you re-use a "rawhide bone"
People have said they work. Haven't tried it myself.
multi-purpose kitchen rock! got a favorite one?
Not that one...
who is the maker of the small hatchet in this video? Ive watched several of your vids and always liked that hatchet?
It's a no name garage sale hatchet. I modified it to that shape.
What happens if the water is too hot
it cooks, shrinks and hardens. sometimes that is done on purpose in a controlled way, but typically not good.
might get flamed for this question, but for those of us who don't have access to resources to make rawhide, would a "pet store" slab of it work for this project?
A lot of people mentioned that. One guy reported back that it works, so probably worth a try.
is cracking like that a common issue with wooden handles?
With sideways torque yeah. Wood handles are relatively weak, but nothing I've touched has the same working qualities and you can make new ones yourself.
so i should probably just avoid levering the handle altogether then
Not necessarily. I talk about how I cracked this handle in the review on this council tool boy's axe. It was an accident trying to pull the stuck axe out in a weird situation. The handle is thinner in the sideways dimension, so you have to be careful, but it is still an effective lever. I use axes and hatchets as levers, but you may have to break a few to figure out their limitations. The longer the handle, the more torque you have and it's tempting to pry stuff apart, but definitely dangerous. If you can managae to work within the limitations of the wood though, you can get away with it to an extent. Definitely be very cautious.
hey Steven I love your channel man its amazing! I was trying to find a good first axe to invest in and been struggling in this small town I live in. I went out to some yard sales and found a couple of axe heads in poor condition. been wanting to restore them and was wondering if you can make a video on this process. I have seen lots of videos on RUclips but nothing satisfies me and I feel you are the one who can point me in the right direction with this process.
Hey, thanks. I probably won't, just because there are so many already and I think my time is better spent on other stuff. I'm not sure what to recommend video wise, but I know there is a ton of restoration stuff out there. I'm not even sure I'm the best person to do it. maybe eventually as part of another project or something.
SkillCult sounds good man looking forward to your next video as I catch up on your others
Just for people that dont have access to rawhide from scratch you can go buy a rawhide dogs chew bone about anywhere soak it and untie the ends and flatten it out and there you go
Have you actually put that rawhide guard to the test man? I made one for my 4lb Sanvik, I do a lot of hard out axe work, did'nt last too long, after a few overstrikes the rawhide started breaking up pretty bad! I really think your better option is some good 8/9 oz leather, thats been my experience anyway, I do enjoy watching your videos anyway, Cheers, Mike from Waikato NZ..
I wore that axe out until the head was about to fall off, but I'm not in the habit of bashing up my handles much, so I'm not sure how much stress it was under. I can't recall ever having one fail in a major way though. what kind of rawhide did you use? I know a guy commented that he had one on his maul through two seasons of firewood splitting and said it looked like new. but people use axes differently too.
Thanks for the reply, no to be fair I just used a piece of doggy chew rawhide.I have since met a guy in nz who doe's deerskin products. I bought some deer leather and rawhide from him, both really good quality!and I like the idea of using deerskin. The rawhide was quite thin and I used some to back a bow I was making. Sounds like you might be into bowmaking too! and probably knifemaking? I' m just learning knifemaking and have just completed my first knife ( and leather sheath ) which I'm also learning. I'm going to try rawhide handlebrace again,this time I'II follow your instructions more closely, that stitch looks a bit hard tho! Thanks for your vids youtube has been an absolute Godsend for me..
Don't forget twine wrapping soaked with epoxy.
The only thing that's really missing in my life is a multi purpose kitchen rock. I'm going to get me one
They are on sale at the creek, buy none and get as many as you want :)
What a contrast from you don’t need an over strike video 🤣
I liked hearing both sides though. I’m going with the hit the front of the log method.
How about legs of animals turned into raw hide then pulled over the handle to dry and shrink. No sewing required.
See Oxbow farm's comment above. He's about to try that. I don't have any whole legs to try now. That skin is thin, but that may be good, and it's densely fibered. Should work well I think.
sinew is just fun to say. "sinew"
I had a girlfriend once that always said sewin. I'm not sure she every got it right.
Ha ha
You talk too much... . Luckily you know what you're talking about! Primitive and equally scientific. I appreciate your approach on the subject matter.
I like that rock.
wait, did you steal a soy sauce dish from a chinese restaurant
I didn't steal it, but it totally is a soy sauce dish lol. It's from a thrift store. I have a bunch of them. Pretty handy :)
woah, hold on, WHERE is this piece of rawhide you are talking about???? Do you mean, this is where it is GOING TO BE? Ha,ha, you seem to even be touching the aleged rawhide! Am I blind, or are you in denial? Maybe just show one axe WITH it on; and then another axe WITHOUT the rawhide, so I (we?) can see the difference!
It's just thin, plus it's oiled. You can see the wood grain through it. Pretty cool. I think thicker than. that is better, but it will still offer protection.
OOOOooohhh, I C. OK, then I guess an apology is in order. I was prit-ty hard on you, cuz I really want to know this stuff; Sorry. BTW, I love the Idea of rocks in the kitchen!! In return, I will share an Idea I think you may like; take a 1" to 1 1/2 " branch of the princess tree( Paulownia tomentosa) which has a natural cavity in the middle, like a pith. Cut to 24" to30" long, and use it to blow on your fire when getting it going. Keeps your face and lungs away from the smoke and flames. It may need to be reamed at the section where the brnches grow, but it is only a small section. Enjoy!
No worries. Yeah, my friend calls that an easy blow. I've made them out of other stuff. Super handy.
Came to learn about making a rawhide collar for my axe, unfortunately this dude just mansplains ad nauseam
We're not big on dummy versions around here. I think we'll be okay without you though.
@@SkillCult lol