How to Grow Axe Heads onto a Handle

[tsitenha]

Gray Wolf,

"Ötzi the Iceman died by himself, yet we know what he ate, carried, wore, his tools, his weapons, that he was in a fight with at least two people, won, but died a few days to a week later. and he was from 3300 BC.
Isn't history amazing.... "

Ok what was his language, religious beliefs, cultural distinction?
Aboriginals seldom had written legacies to leave behind oral traditions were the norm.
As we have seen with residential schools once the the culture is gone so is most of the learning, not all is explained by the sciences.

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

Here is a the "Ocala Home" Magazine (fall 2008).. It depicts a paint brush with grass for bristles, and a hammer with roots growing out of it to form a handle.

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[crashdive123]

While it is a cool drawing it has nothing to do with growing a handle for a tool, but rather a metaphor for going green. http://www.ocalahomemagazine.com/

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

Gray Wolf,

"Ötzi the Iceman died by himself, yet we know what he ate, carried, wore, his tools, his weapons, that he was in a fight with at least two people, won, but died a few days to a week later. and he was from 3300 BC.
Isn't history amazing.... "

Ok what was his language, religious beliefs, cultural distinction?
Aboriginals seldom had written legacies to leave behind oral traditions were the norm.
As we have seen with residential schools once the the culture is gone so is most of the learning, not all is explained by the sciences.

I wonder how the axe that Otzi had was constructed they didnt realy talk about that.

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

While it is a cool drawing it has nothing to do with growing a handle for a tool, but rather a metaphor for going green. http://www.ocalahomemagazine.com/

ok, perhaps you said right. but the implied simularity, is well... simular. thanks for the link Crash!

[tsitenha]

The ax was made from fairly pure copper, poured molten into a mold and shaped. Surprised a lot of people with its relative modern technology per say.
Short form: Copper has the ability to harden as it slowly cools off and work hardens further as it is used, not terribly hard but very abrasive.
By adding zinc or tin; bronze or brass alloys were later achieved.
Opposite to iron which hardens with rapid cooling in water for example often it is too brittle to do specific task. By decreasing/or managing the carbon content and tempering the ore steel is produce. Short form of course

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

This is what I am going to try , three years from now i will know how well it worked.

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And it is set into a split in the wood just below a branch.

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[Pict]

It seems to me that instead of actually splitting the green wood until the head can be forced in that it might be less damaging to the tree to rather bore an oblong hole through it large enough to just barely fit the axe head. That would leave the wood immediately above and below the head relatively untouched. Looking at that photo it seems that one side or the other could very well die or at least take a very long time to heal up that long split above and below the stone.

I would imagine that in order to maximize the regrowth/healing of the tree that the bark should be split vertically and then held open and undamaged while the inner wood was bored out. This would allow the vertical split in the living cambium to have very little distance to heal, as the vascular bundles in the cambium run up and down the wood splitting it vertically would cut very few of them. I would also try to start such a project at the end of winter before the sap starts to run in the tree allowing it to scab over as soon as it does.

It also seems like a good tactic to use a larger section of green wood and shape the outside of the handle down to the proper proportions once it is healed, cut, and seasoned. Shaving down the outside of such a handle would be no big deal even with stone tools.

I don't think this exercise has much to recommend itself to wilderness survival but it is an interesting experiment in stone age methods. Mac

Edited to Add: As a kid growing up in PA we would make formidable war clubs by taking a green stick and boring a hole (with an auger) in it just large enough to force a railroad spike through. They had a hammer head on one side and a sharpened chisel spike on the other. We never thought of leaving one on a living tree but come to think of it, it probably would have worked as long as the spike was painted with that black stuff they use to seal wounds in trees. Of course by the time they would have been ready we would have been beyond the years when we walked around with rail spikes in our belts for "protection". Yes, my childhood was a fusion of "Stand By Me" and "Lord of the Flies".

[crashdive123]

To prevent that branch from dying you may want to put some wound dressing on it and close it up a bit with grafting tape. Granted that would not be in keeping with the primative methods, but it may give you success with the project.

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

I am trying to figure out the methods that have positive results, as I mentioned the weapons book may have not fully explained how the axe head was placed then grown into the handle, i'll try different trees and see what happens

[tsitenha]

Wouldn't binding the split at bottom of the stone head keep the limb from further splitting and maybe minimize the injury; also binding the top of the split kind of force the limb to repair itself.
Adding a little pine gum, pitch to the expose parts help with re-healing and insect control?

[Gray Wolf]

I wonder how the axe that Otzi had was constructed they didnt realy talk about that.

Yes they did. In detail. Also see tsitenha's post #86. They even know how his clothes were woven and what materials were used.

[crashdive123]

Wouldn't binding the split at bottom of the stone head keep the limb from further splitting and maybe minimize the injury; also binding the top of the split kind of force the limb to repair itself.
Adding a little pine gum, pitch to the expose parts help with re-healing and insect control?

I would think so. That was the point I was trying to make. Sorry if it wasn't clear.

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

possibly so, binding above and below prior to splitting may make a difference, I will try that. thanks

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

this is another attempt at getting it right, i just pushed these into the living wood without splitting it. these bones are for cutting wood.


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[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

I still havent found a good photo of an axe mounted in this manner . But i will keep looking

[Gray Wolf]

this is another attempt at getting it right, i just pushed these into the living wood without splitting it. these bones are for cutting wood.
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Those are minute (mī-nūt') compared to the other one you posted. With these tiny ones, you could have split the branch just under the size of the bone, and pushed them through the branch until a small part came through the other side and then you would not have to worry about killing it. Same as what the book said.

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

Until I master a suitible technique, I'll stick to this trusted method of hafting an Axe....

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[Gray Wolf]

Maybe it's the shadow in the picture, but that edge looks mighty thick. You could crush walnuts with that, but chop down a small tree????

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

Maybe it's the shadow in the picture, but that edge looks mighty thick. You could crush walnuts with that, but chop down a small tree????

Yea that axe head was not too good, It did however manage to chip back to a sharp edge during normal use (self sharpening) Because of the direction of the grain pattern in the stone when it chips it leaves a sharp cutting edge. that axe cut pretty good and was also in poor condition.