How to Grow Axe Heads onto a Handle

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

How to Grow Axe Heads onto a handle by splitting a branch or pressing between two branches that will grow into each other. This is the ancient method and also the best for solid connections from wood to stone. The wood swells as it grows encapsulating objets inside of it.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

An Axe Head positioned in just the right spot where the wood can converge and fuse,an exelent situation occurs. An Axe Head fused in this manner will not loosen or release from the handle that encapsulsates it.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.


Once positioned the tree can take as long as 8 to 10 years to grow closed the gaps and produce a perfect work of nature.The end product is well worth the effort, awsome,exelent and forgotten by man, this skill of woodlore,I struggle to make a comeback.


Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

[crashdive123]

That's very interesting, but I got to say that if I need and axe now, waiting 8 to 10 years for the handle to form around the head........well let's just say my honey do list will not wait that long.

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

That's very interesting, but I got to say that if I need and axe now, waiting 8 to 10 years for the handle to form around the head........well let's just say my honey do list will not wait that long.

When this was being done, your Grandfather would have started five axes for you, you would start axes for your grand children ,Your elders would have provided that for you. Thanks for bringing up that point. nessesary said. Something that good realy is worth waiting that long for. the wood fuses tight like concrete grabs rebar.

[Pict]

OK, this might be basic but if you're axe head is growing into the tree how do you cut down the tree to get it back? Mac

[crashdive123]

With the saw that you grew out of crystals.

[tacmedic]

I had never thought of something like that. Very cool. I am curious if you have any sources that cite this type of thing being done, or if it is something that you thought of?

[Gray Wolf]

I think it is something that he thought of while testing some psychedelic mushrooms!

[Gray Wolf]

But seriously:

This is the ancient method

Who's ancient method????

and also the best for solid connections from wood to stone.

Where did you get that fact from????

[Pict]

I've heard of this method and seen it illustrated in books before. It is a very old method. It always struck me as odd given the long time it would take to handle the axe compared to the relatively short lifespan of a stone axehead.Mac

[crashdive123]

....but it kind of makes sense in times long, long ago. Erunkiswldrnssurvival - care to give a bit more detailed background, or do you want us to keep guessing?

[bulrush]

OK, this might be basic but if you're axe head is growing into the tree how do you cut down the tree to get it back? Mac

You make your first axe using another method, then make this higher quality axe later. Then when this "grown" axe is done, you cut off the branch it was grown on.

[klkak]

I may have said this in another thread. The old ways are kinda cool but the reason we don't use them any more is we as humans have progressed and developed more efficient and durable tools. It's good that folks are posting ways of making tools from natural materials but come on. Eight years to make an axe. That would do no good if your life were hanging in the balance and you needed a tool right now. Now if someone on here with the knowledge were to illustrate how to make a field expedient stone axe. We could all benefit from it. IMHO!

[crashdive123]

Another thing to consider about growing your axe handle around your axe. Knap the edge before you place it in the tree. It would really suck big time to mess up putting the edge on after 10 years and have to start all over again.

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

I had never thought of something like that. Very cool. I am curious if you have any sources that cite this type of thing being done, or if it is something that you thought of?

The Cherokee used this and other techniques. it takes time to see results mastering the skill, would take a lifetime.

[Jericho117]

It's a neat little trick, but with survival purposes it would simply be a consumption of materials and tools, not to mention the time it would take. But I think it's amazing I never knew you could do that.

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

....but it kind of makes sense in times long, long ago. Erunkiswldrnssurvival - care to give a bit more detailed background, or do you want us to keep guessing?

heres a few , Because of the stone axes used for this purpose chip tiny pieces every time the blade is struck the axe maintains a sharp edge.Second the Axes of this Genera were used primarily for de-boneing Mammoths and other Bison or Caribu like animals. The axe lasts for years. Pressure was thier primary wood "Cutting" method. either split or snapped wood was not cut with Axes. So you see to partly Cherish the animal and to do the most important work of divideing up the hunt , The axes of this nature were a functioning tool of cerimony and tradition, and it helps demonstrate that nature helped to teach them to survive.

[zaebra]

i wonder, could this technique be used with a modern metal axe head in a similar fashion?

if you greased up the axe head so that it would be resistant to moisture and then fed a tree through the hole, in a year or two (a blink of the eye compared to this one!), the tree would have swelled to the point where it fits. i'd think this would only work with round-hole axes (like splitting axes), not oval-holed ones (like hatchets). what do you guys think?

still, very cool technique, if a little impractical. i can see the spiritual-ish value of such a technique more than the practical value, as someone would appreciate a gift far more if you said "i've been growing this for the last ten years" instead of "here, this took me half an hour to whittle". as a tradition, it has merit. as a survival tool, not so much.

just my .02!

[crashdive123]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeell, was it the Cherokee or the caveman?

[trax]

Or Cherokee cavemen?

[Pict]

You make your first axe using another method, then make this higher quality axe later. Then when this "grown" axe is done, you cut off the branch it was grown on.

Seriously, you've got enough time there to train a beaver. I was just kidding around.

I have heard of this method though. I recall a book on American Indians (maybe it was primitive man) when I was a kid that illustrated it but just with drawings. Mac