So a while ago I set out to find myself a kindling maul, and didn't have much luck locally. I did however find two old rusty axe heads behind the barrel stove in Gramp Jones' garage (my wife's grandfather who passed away 2 years ago). Gramp spent his whole life in and around wood, whether cutting for firewood or lumber, or running the old circular saw mill that ran off of a 1940's flat head Dodge engine. When I first went into the woods to bring in firewood about 12 years ago with Gramp and my Father-in-law, Gramp, who was 70 then, could throw 5 rounds into the power trailer with the wood hook for every three I landed, and his arm didn't hurt for a week after using the hook all day either.
After finding the heads, I set out to find some short handles, but of course all the short handles are too small to fit the eye snug. When I stopped at the local apple growers CoOp (Scotian Gold), they mentioned that they have a local craftsman who makes handles locally, but not to expect any sort of quick turn around. So I showed the clerk a handle style I liked on one of the in stock axes, gave hime some measurements, and I let the two heads with them, and figured I'd see what resulted.
I picked them up yesterday and was super pleased to see what the result was - the man had custom shaped and fitted two hand drawn handles, wire wrapped the handle below the head to make a guard, soaked them in linseed oil, and sharpened the axes - all for $36. This man, who is in his 70's, and does this to keep himself active, has made my day.
The heads weigh about 3 1/2 lbs, and the handles are 20 inches long. I have no idea how well they will work, as I'm not used to a short handle, and the heads are probably an inch shorter from blade to poll than when they were first forged, so they aren't really stable when striking the log if you aren't dead on straight, but I love the idea of being able to give one to my father-in-law for Christmas, and have one here, simply because we know they were Gramps tool.
Here's some pics
After finding the heads, I set out to find some short handles, but of course all the short handles are too small to fit the eye snug. When I stopped at the local apple growers CoOp (Scotian Gold), they mentioned that they have a local craftsman who makes handles locally, but not to expect any sort of quick turn around. So I showed the clerk a handle style I liked on one of the in stock axes, gave hime some measurements, and I let the two heads with them, and figured I'd see what resulted.
I picked them up yesterday and was super pleased to see what the result was - the man had custom shaped and fitted two hand drawn handles, wire wrapped the handle below the head to make a guard, soaked them in linseed oil, and sharpened the axes - all for $36. This man, who is in his 70's, and does this to keep himself active, has made my day.
The heads weigh about 3 1/2 lbs, and the handles are 20 inches long. I have no idea how well they will work, as I'm not used to a short handle, and the heads are probably an inch shorter from blade to poll than when they were first forged, so they aren't really stable when striking the log if you aren't dead on straight, but I love the idea of being able to give one to my father-in-law for Christmas, and have one here, simply because we know they were Gramps tool.
Here's some pics
