Gransfors Bruks Axe

[matt yosten]

I am new to this forum and want to start off by saying Hi.
I apologize if I am not posting in the right area.
I just bought a Gransfors Bruks Axe and I want to treat the wood handle.
Its made of hickory and I want to give it a unique look but also protect it against the elements.
From the research I've done without a doubt there is people on this site that know what they're talking about.
So I am here to learn and gain some wood staining knowledge.
Can someone please give me some advice on what to use or what's proven.
I've read everything from boiled linseed to raw linseed, tung oil is the best, to motor oil.
Do this and don't do that....I guess it's an expensive piece of equipment and I don't want to screw it up.
If at all possible I'd like to keep it as organic as I possibly.
But living in the mountains I also know reliability is a must.
I look forward to any advice someone is willing to give.

Thanks in advance!


Matt

[John TenEyck]

Hi Matt and welcome. My advise is that you don't need to put anything on it if you keep the axe out of the weather when you are not using it. I have an ash handled splitting maul. The handle on it is more than 10 years old and still looks new except for some pine pitch and dings on it. I keep it inside when not using it. Simple as that. If you just have to put something on it for peace of mind, I'd use an oil/varnish mix, something like 1/3 tung oil, 1/3 your favorite varnish, 1/3 mineral spirits. Wipe on a generous coat, wait 15 minutes, then wipe off the excess. Do that a couple of times and call it good.

John

[Rich Engelhardt]

Treat it with oil - never use varnish.

A varnished handle will raise blisters on your hands when you use the tool.

This is one reason why boat oars (the handles) and canoe paddles should never be varnished.

Old wives tale or fact?
I really couldn't tell you for sure. I read about this probably 40 years ago in an outdoor magazine.

[John TenEyck]

Rich, I was told that, too. Don't know if it's true; I always managed to get blisters after a few hours of paddling even with an oiled handle, and I never use the splitting maul w/o gloves. So I guess the legend remains unsolved.

John

[Howard Acheson]

>>>> Old wives tale or fact?

You're correct Rich. Tool wood handles are traditionally coated with linseed oil (boiled or not makes no difference). Just don't create a smooth glossy finish. Your hands begin to slip and then sweat or get moist causing the tool handle to be gripped more tightly creating more sweat. The tighter and tighter gripping creates the blisters. My grandfather who was a carpenter in the days of wooden handled tools said that he had learned that from his father.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Howie,
Thanks!
I never really knew for sure if it was just an old wives tale or if there was some basis in fact for it.
I first read it in either Outdoor Life, Sports Afield or Boy's Life.

[Mike Holbrook]

Having spent thousands of hours in both whitewater and flatwater canoes and kayaks moving them over long miles with wood paddles, often in remote wilderness areas, I will say most wood paddles that people depend on are "varnished". All of the good custom hand made paddles I have used and seen used have something like a marine spar varnish on the greater part of the paddle. Something that is both sun and water resistant. Wood spending that much time wet will invariably suffer decay if not made water proof for most of its length. No one who plans to put their weight consistently over & behind a wooden paddle wants compromised wood. Unvarnished wood that is left to dry wet often develops a more slippery surface when re-wet than a varnished surface. It is also popular to finish the top ( T or palm) grip of a canoe paddle with something that leaves a tackier surface. Top grips are usually easy to replace.

I use WATCO, Decks Olje or West System products for tool handles, depending on what chance I think there is the handle will get wet and stay that way for a while. Both of my Gransfors mauls and my Gransfors small forest axe need new handles, because I let them get wet a few times with nothing more than BLOW on them, want happen again.

[Chuck Darney]

I used wood - WRC - paddles for my flatwater kayaks for years and never treated them at all. To the OP's question, If you're going to leave the axe outside I would suggest treating the head before treating the handle. Hickory is pretty tough stuff but metal will rust pretty quickly.

[Mike Holbrook]

My Ono flatwater kayak paddle like many of the better graphite and fiberglass paddles built in the last decade or two has finish on it. My Zyre racing, bent shaft, canoe paddle is also graphite and fiberglass that is finished. Graphite & fiberglass paddles are lighter, thinner and stronger than wood and have replaced wood as the preferable construction material for many paddle builders. Functioning surfaces and shafts are still usually finished, even though the basic construction materials contain water proof substances. Finished surfaces simply move through water better, less friction is more forward propulsion with less effort.

I have a custom Lutra wood paddle which may be the finest wooden paddle ever made, finished with a little fiberglass at the tip as are the three other palm grip Blackburn Designs flatwater canoe paddles I own. The old style Camp Paddle Co. Beavertail wood paddle I have is finished and reinforced with fiberglass edges. All the Dagger, Silver Creek...wood paddles I have seen, owned and used are finished and usually reinforced at the edges. Maybe there are some guys using unfinished paddles for whitewater or flatwater but in the forty + years I have paddled: flatwater lakes & rivers from Main to the coast & oceans of Florida, whitewater from the Gauley to the Chattahoochee...I can't recall seeing anyone using a paddle without any kind of finish on any of the trips I was on.

I found a grub hoe that got left in the woods, vines & brush grew over it for over a year. The hickory handle rotted and was useless but the relatively thin metal grub hoe head was fine and outlasted two more handles. I have worn out quite a few hickory & ash: axe, maul and sledge handles in my 65 years. I can't say that I have ever worn out an axe, maul or sledge head no matter how much rain and abuse I subjected it to.

I wonder how one might go about treating a Gransfors axe or maul head? Certainly the metal head is sprayed or painted with something to keep it from rusting during shipping. Surely the original shipping preservative, paint, wax... or any substance I am aware of applied to these much used surfaces rubs off during the first actual use. Renaissance wax is a great metal preservative that I use on many of my hand and stationary tools but I can't see it protecting an actual cutting/working surface for any length of time.