Making An Ax Handle

DiResta Axe Handle
jimmydiresta
This guy is just nuts. The amount of work he puts into making an ax handle boggles my mind. I suppose it could have been done in a couple of hours, but you would need to be really good at using the tools, especially that band saw. I've never seen anyone use a bandsaw like that, well, except for maybe 'Uncle' Steve Blady. We stopped by to see him at his furniture factory when we went 'home' to Grand Rapids to visit Gramma (or maybe it was just someone from Gramma's generation. Gramma may have already passed away by then). He cut a couple of model pieces of furniture out of some scraps of wood he had lying around. It didn't take him but a few seconds. As I recall, one was a four legged chair and the other was a four legged table with four, stout, curvy legs. I hung onto them for a long time. A bunch of model furniture would have been cool, but I never did anything about that. They never rose to the level of display, they were just something I had. I think that was pert near 60 years ago. I don't know what happened to them, but I clearly remember 'Uncle' Steve whipping them out on his bandsaw. Funny how the mind works.

On my ax handle, I tried drilling it for the lag screw with a 12 inch long, quarter inch diameter drill bit. It went in about eight inches before it just quit. It's like it has run into a steel bar, it just won't drill anymore. I suspect it got overheated, lost it's temper, and lost it's edge. Osmany is bringing the long 5/16" diameter drill bit home tonight, so we can try that one tomorrow. We don't do anything quickly around here. Median time to project completion averages right around a year, and that's only the projects that get completed.

I need the larger drill bit because the lag screw I've got just won't go in more than about four inches. It's a lumber construction screw, designed to be machine driven into softwood, not hardwood like an ax handle. I only got as far as I did with a liberal application of wax. Unfortunately, it was from a scented candle, so now that whole corner of the garage smells like sweet essence of whatever it is.

P.S. I'm glad to see Jimmy still has all his fingers. Uncle Steve still had all of his.

Video via Jack.

Update five hours later. Video suggestion from California Bob:

Styx - Too Much Time On My Hands
STYX