A good pick axe or handle...

[NickfromWI]

So I have these two pick axes. Old. Dilapidated. In need of new handles.

I know I can buy new ones quick and easy-

But any idea of a place online where I could buy handles? All the stores I've been checking either have the wrong size or no replacement handles.

Failing that, got a suggestion on a good brand to buy online? I can't find anything with a wooden handle in LA.


love
nick

 

[atw]

Try Baileys online

 

[Al Smith]

Los Angeles California a city of nearly 4 million people has no wooden handles ???Hmm /Here's one of a zillion on the internet http://www.househandle.com/products-3.html#cotton

 

[CurSedVoyce]

True Value Hardware in Granada Hills.... Tell them I sent you.... Worked there as a kid

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Well dang... just looked them up and they are gone
Loved those guys

 

[woodworkingboy]

Wrong size? if you mean they are too large for the opening, shaving the wood down to get a good fit is pretty standard procedure for wooden handled implements, I've always thought..

 

[oldtimber]

House Handle In Missouri, 3rd gen family business and great folks to deal with.

 

[cory]

Where ya been, old timber??

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Wrong size? if you mean they are too large for the opening, shaving the wood down to get a good fit is pretty standard procedure for wooden handled implements, I've always thought..

Jay is right.. you get as close as you can and shape.. always has been that way.

 

[Page]

Wrong size? if you mean they are too large for the opening, shaving the wood down to get a good fit is pretty standard procedure for wooden handled implements, I've always thought..

yup, start whittling

 

[Pelorus]

Shouldn't have to do much whittling. Any pick I've seen just slips down onto the wooden handle from the handle (small) end and friction holds it in place when you swing the darn thing.

 

[NickfromWI]

Los Angeles California a city of nearly 4 million people has no wooden handles ???Hmm

Not that there aren't any- it's just that I can't find them. And there's also the limit that I'm not going out of my way. I'm only going to places a few blocks from where I happen to be passing by

I'll look into the options y'all listed!


love
nick

 

[NickfromWI]

Shouldn't have to do much whittling. Any pick I've seen just slips down onto the wooden handle from the handle (small) end and friction holds it in place when you swing the darn thing.

I wouldn't say it's quite that simple.

I've replaced handles before using two wedges. The handle should have a slot in the top. The wooden wedge goes in there, cut it flush, then put in the smaller metal wedges perpendicular to the wooden wedge.


love
nick

 

[Al Smith]

I think it might be a problem of communication here of exactly what a pick axe is .A picture would help .What most of us call a pick axe might not be exactly how you refer to it .

A miners pick would generally have a handle with no wedges as well as what's termed a mattock type .

Conversely what some refer to a pick axe is more or less like an adz with a pointed spike deal that usually takes a squared handle using wooden and steel wedges like a regular axe or a sledge hammer.Now of course the sledge and axes would use a different type of handle .

 

[stig]

Sounds like a Pulaski?

 

[NickfromWI]

Here are the two I'm working with






love
nick

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Find one that is close to that maddock head, shape it and cut your own slit in the top... The hardware stores also carry the wedges, both metal and wood in kits. Easy peasy. Might have to try to find a double bit axe handle. Might be closer to that shape.

 

[FireFighterZero]

A fire forester i know always pins his tool heads on after he changes the handle. He installs the new handle and then drills a hole through the head so he can drive a heavy nail through it. He then peens the ends over to make sure the head can never fly off. He does this now after watching a fire line cutting demonstration where the instructors Pulaski head flew off on the back swing and struck a female student in the face. She spent months getting surgery after surgery. It was a brand new Pulaski.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I wonder what THAT lawsuit yielded?

 

[oldtimber]

Where ya been, old timber??

It's all good my friend, just quiet. Happy new year to all......Bill

 

[FireFighterZero]

I wonder what THAT lawsuit yielded?

I never heard anything Butch. But we all agreed that it was a good idea to secure the tool heads somehow. I haven't got them all done here but am making headway.
I'm a safety guy. Sometimes my crew thinks it is over kill but I have read way too many accident and fatality reports.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Good for you, keep on keeping on!

 

[HolmenTree]

Shouldn't have to do much whittling. Any pick I've seen just slips down onto the wooden handle from the handle (small) end and friction holds it in place when you swing the darn thing.

That's how mine is designed also. No silly wedges, no worry about losing the head on the back swing and hitting a by-stander
My mattock or what ever you want to call it is my favorite wham bam tool .... especially whacking out surface roots while stump grinding.
The handle is new but the head I bought years ago at a antique shop in B.C. Can't verify if its true or not but I was told it helped build the Canadian railroad through the Rocky Mountains in the mid 1800s.

 

[stig]

It might be in here somewhere, then

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Yzo6Otpgj-E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[HolmenTree]

Thanks for posting that Stig!! Very cool.
Gordon Lightfoot still goes on tour every now and then.