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A4 checklist with all illustrated steps. Tick the boxes on paper as you go.

FeatherSticks · Tools

How to Replace an Axe Handle: Hang an Axe Head Step by Step

A cracked handle is not the end of a good axe head. Here is how to hang a new one.

Quick facts

Time
2–4 hours, plus a day for the oil
Difficulty
Medium – patience matters more than strength
Best for
Cracked, loose or overstruck wooden axe handles
You need
Saw, drill, rasp or knife, mallet, wedge, linseed oil

What you need

  • Fine-toothed saw and a drill with wood bits
  • Hardwood drift and a wooden mallet
  • Rasp, spokeshave or a sharp carving knife
  • Vise or solid blocks, safety glasses, work gloves
  • New hickory or ash handle with a dry hardwood wedge
  • Optional steel cross wedge
  • Linseed oil, rags and a metal can with a lid
  • Axe file and stone for the edge afterwards

Step by step

  1. Inspect and decide

    1 Inspect and decide

    Look for cracks at or below the head, a head that moves and chewed wood from overstrikes. If any of these show, stop using the axe until it has a new handle.

  2. Remove the old handle

    2 Remove the old handle

    Saw the handle off just below the head, drill a few holes into the wood in the eye, then drive the stub out through the wide top of the eye. Wear eye protection.

  3. Choose a new handle

    3 Choose a new handle

    Pick hickory or ash with straight grain and growth rings in line with the bit, in the same length as the old handle and with a tongue slightly larger than the eye.

  4. Fit the tongue to the eye

    4 Fit the tongue to the eye

    Test-fit, find the shiny pressure marks and take them down with rasp or knife, a little at a time, until the head slides most of the way on by hand.

  5. Seat the head and wedge it

    5 Seat the head and wedge it

    Rap the handle end on a block until the head is fully seated, then drive a dry hardwood wedge into the kerf with a mallet. A steel cross wedge is optional.

  6. Trim, oil, check, sharpen

    6 Trim, oil, check, sharpen

    Saw off the excess 3–5 mm above the eye, oil the wood with linseed oil, check that the bit lines up with the handle and sharpen before the first use.

Common mistakes

  • Carrying on with a cracked handle or a head that moves, even "just for this log".
  • Heating the head to burn the old wood out of the eye.
  • Choosing a handle with growth rings across the eye or with run-out near the shoulder.
  • Shaving too much off the tongue so the head drops onto the shoulder by hand.
  • Hammering on the head instead of tapping the handle end to seat it.
  • Soaking a loose head in water and treating that as the repair.
  • Leaving linseed-oil rags crumpled up instead of drying them flat outdoors or keeping them under water.