Boys axe handle out of Osage/hedge??

[sdc]

Hey all, I have a cheap boys axe that the handle bit the bullet on. I have some unusable bow staves in Osage that are cured and laying around. I haven't been able to dig up any past post of such a handle and wondered if anyone has tried it?

 

[Solphilos]

Osage does make an excellent bow, I would think that the strength and flexibility it lends to this would also make a nice axe handle, and a beautiful one at that.

I've seen a few tomahawks handled in Osage as well, but I'll let someone with more axe experience chime in.

 

[walkabout]

As stated by Sol it has all the characters that make it resilient for such a purpose,
around these parts the osage is just as stong as most axe heads, its a beast to chop thru without a good file a whetstone and extra large bowl of wheaties for breakfast.

 

[sdc]

Thanks for the quick replies! I had a feeling with it being such a resilient bow wood, that the same traits would be good as tool handles. Should be just a liitle easier than filleting a selfbow also

Walkabout, I've not gone that traditional processing Osage, I prefer to use the internal combustion axe for that!!

 

[GreyOne]

if you can carve a seasoned osage blank into a decent handle, you probably don't need an axe !

 

[sdc]

if you can carve a seasoned osage blank into a decent handle, you probably don't need an axe !

Yea that no kidding, no doubt that is hard stuff!
Those little curls from my draw knife sure make great kindling to!!

 

[walkabout]

Yea that no kidding, no doubt that is hard stuff!
Those little curls from my draw knife sure make great kindling to!!

HMMMMM, an osage feather stick VS' brillo pad! now thats a match i would pay to see.

 

[doodle lee squat]

In the early days of European entrance to and trading in the Mississippi river valley, Indian Peoples traded in Osage Orange blanks for bows, tomahawks, and axe handles even before the Europeans arrived to establish posts.

The iron trade goods of the east and Europe were readily fitted to the wood which was not so widely dispersed as it is now. I know most of the trees now found east of the Mississippi came via depression era goobermint efforts to "help" along with kudzu and the pestilent floribunda rose. The wood is great for such purposes as handles and bows.

doodle

 

[Trail Dust]

if you can carve a seasoned osage blank into a decent handle, you probably don't need an axe !

There is some truth to that!

Osage (I use a LOT of it) was very commonly used as tool handles in the past...among other things. Many of my vintage wood working tools have osage handles (they turn almost black because osage is so photosensitive).

I have used scrap osage for making durable hatchet handles. Seems anything long enough and fit for axe handles, I would turn into matching billets for bow construction (axe handles are cheap compared to matching osage billets). However, if you have lots osage around your neck of the woods (I don't), I would certainly make an axe handle out of it. I once used a nice, straight, knot-free piece of osage to make a wiping stick (some call it a ramrod) for one of my smoothbore muzzleloaders. It lasted for years under constant use.

BTW, I work osage with *dull* cutting tools. Sharp tools will often "tear" the osage grain apart rather than shave it off. Rasps and scrapers will do the rest. I learned this 'dull tool' trick from John Strunk, one of the authors of 'The Traditional Bowyer's Bible.'

 

[Bax 40]

Osage makes a very good ax handles, one of the best custom axes from Reeves in Oklahoma can be ordered with osage!


Larry

 

[GreyOne]

There is some truth to that!

Osage (I use a LOT of it) was very commonly used as tool handles in the past...among other things. Many of my vintage wood working tools have osage handles (they turn almost black because osage is so photosensitive).

I have used scrap osage for making durable hatchet handles. Seems anything long enough and fit for axe handles, I would turn into matching billets for bow construction (axe handles are cheap compared to matching osage billets). However, if you have lots osage around your neck of the woods (I don't), I would certainly make an axe handle out of it. I once used a nice, straight, knot-free piece of osage to make a wiping stick (some call it a ramrod) for one of my smoothbore muzzleloaders. It lasted for years under constant use.

BTW, I work osage with *dull* cutting tools. Sharp tools will often "tear" the osage grain apart rather than shave it off. Rasps and scrapers will do the rest. I learned this 'dull tool' trick from John Strunk, one of the authors of 'The Traditional Bowyer's Bible.'

Got a big chunk of Bodark that my Grandfather had when I was 4-5 years old. It was dark brown then, gotten darker in the sixty years since. It is too tough to cut with a skill saw or a table saw, the just flat stall out on it. ;(

i think it might be possible to split it- going to try that someday- I would love to have some knife scales from it.

 

[Vintagebushcraft]

Living in Kansas we have a lot of hedge trees. I've carved bows and axe handles out of them. However it is so hard to find a perfectly straight piece you learn to live with some very strange shapes if you want to use it. My last axe handle turned out great but was curvy and twisty. I used it for a couple months and then gave it to a buddy who is terrible to tools and he hasn't broke it yet. The stuff will last a long time. Just be careful when splitting. I dont know how to describe it but it splits off almost in strands and can take pieces you wanted to keep with it. Not as predictable as say pine. Kind of weird to work with.

 

[sdc]

Yip, I live in KS and have allot of it available and as stated up top have some cull pieces that have air cured.

My biggest issue hasn't been finding straight pieces as much as finding the piece you want only to get it down to a nice ring and find wood wasp larva very frustrating!