Where To Store An Axe


Erdbeereis

Erdbeereis

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Where should I store my axe to make sure the handle doesn't expand/contract?
In the garage or inside?

Also, how should I take care of the leather sheath?

Thanks,

Erd
 
well, mine are all in the garage - or the shed.

and the leather would probably thank you for any good leather treatment. I like Dr. Marten's Wonder Balsalm...but there are lots of good choices.
 
You should be good keeping it out of the house. Expansion and contraction arent going to damage your axe handle (within reason). The changes from winter to summer arent extreme enough.
If you are worried about taking extra good care of your axe handle, its certainly not a bad idea at all to keep it inside and at a constantly warm temperature, as with any wooden item.

Any good leather polish, even the kind you would use on your dress shoes is fine for the sheath. Make sure you use some kind of oil (linseed oil is very popular) to protect your axe handle from drying out or becoming moist with water, and keep the axe head sharp and free of rust by polishing it and giving it an occasional coating with any good machine oil.

Here is a video by Ray Mears, a world famous career bushcrafter, of very high repute.

Ray Mears / Looking After Your Axe - YouTube
 
I store mine inside my house most of the time sometimes leave it in the garage but mostly inside. For the leather sheath I use this leather conditioner/polish for mine to keep it looking like new!
 
I sleep with mine under my pillow. I have several lesser favorites in my bedroom closet. There is one in the shop at the moment. I have one in the go bag in the trunk of the car. I don't worry about the handles on any of them. If you're worried about yours, submerge the whole head in a bucket of boiled linseed oil (handle pointing straight up) for a few days. Then apply several coats to the handle as per the directions on the can. After treating it in this way, I wouldn't sleep with it under my pillow.
 
Thanks guys, I think I'll keep it in the house.

Can I use normal linseed oil instead of boiled linseed oil?

Erd
 
Erdbeereis said:
Can I use normal linseed oil instead of boiled linseed oil?

Erd
Click to expand...

Yes you can, but it take much, much longer to dry. I oil mine with olive oil, because we already have it in the house anyway. Just did a new tomahawk, soaked it with 3 coats about half an hour apart. That was in the evening, and by morning here was no residue to get on my hands or my gear.

Looker
 
I have no wife to complain about my axes in the house :59:so mine are safe and sound at the top of my stairway.... double bits keeping guard over the family:18:
 
I keep my axe either on the floor next to my bed or laying on my pile 'o gear in the corner of my bedroom.
 
generally mine stay in the garage/shop...sometimes they live stuck in a stump and are forgotten about for weeks at a time...I like the ritual of cleaning them up...keeps me from smoking.
 
I used to stand mine up in corners with the blades pointing in, inside the house. Then I heard laying them flat was the best way to prevent warping, so now they reside under the bed, out of reach of toes.
 
I dry the handles as much as I can, and put the Iron on after that, so every place the axe will sit, it can only soak up more humidity, but not dry out so much that it gets loose

use very dry handles, most problems come from wet wood and drying in the eye of the axe
 
Mine are everywhere. Upstairs, basement, just not out side...except for my cheapy throwing hawks..they live outside. I oil handles every now and then. A little gun oil on the steel. Axes don't complain much.
 
Well, if you have synthetic handled Fiskars style axes, or all steel Estwing, storage is a lot easier. Store them in a place you can check on them and maintain them as needed. Don't store them for long periods out in the weather, extreme dryness, or wet is really hard on wood handles. Assuming you have other wooden handled tools, store them the same way, keeping safety in mind.
 
Mine are kept (stored) in the wood shed where they belong head down on the dirt floor so the wood in the head eye won't dry out and shrink loose. I use them enough so they don't rust and handles are natural hand oiled. The 3 I use are between 30 and +- 50 years old
 
I am trying to figure out what I want to do, I have had one handle break because of the wood stove in the basement. I have been putting them in the shed lately but I hate rust. I guess I could oil the heads.
 
roadwarrior said:
I am trying to figure out what I want to do, I have had one handle break because of the wood stove in the basement. I have been putting them in the shed lately but I hate rust. I guess I could oil the heads.
Click to expand...

If you put them in the shed and are not going to use them now and then get a spray can of Krylon Crystal Clear acrylic to spray on head, it won't hurt anything when you use the axe(s) again. If your shed doesn't have a dirt floor put axe(s) head down in a bucket of sand, the natural air moisture will keep sand damp enough to keep eye socket wood from drying and shrinking.
 
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