Hi there. Does anyone here know how to make a fiberglass axe handle? I have a client who wants me to make him a “tactical tomahawk” and he has specifically asked for a fiberglass handle. My google searches have turned up no results. Any help that you can provide would be appreciated.
Multiposts are not needed. I got to read this 3 times.
The guy you need to talk to is Joe King. He is not at the space currently. He does fiberglass with boats. He is a very good. Anyone have contact information?
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How big of a handle? Is this a prop or for real use? What’s your experience with composites? How much effort do you want to spend on this?
You want to search on “micarta”. Ex (part 1 of 3):
the customer wants the handle to be about 14 inches long for a fully functioning hatchet. i have very little experience in composites, i was mostly trying to figure out if this would end up needing to be an industrial process, or if it could be done by hand
It can be done by hand… it’s not particularly difficult, but we don’t really have the tools to do it (mostly a vacuum pump) and doing it well requires a fair amount of practice and experience. You’d probably be better off buying one online.
i’ve spent the past week looking for one. no one seems to sell synthetic handles for hatchets or tomahawks. all of them seem to be integrated into the head. also doesn’t the arts and crafts room have a vacuum pump? or is that not strong enough?
Dasco sells them for axes and looks to have a small one, but it’s straight and probably not shaped like you’d want for a hatchet.
Edit: Here’s a link to their site: http://www.dascopro.com/replacement-handles
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I didn’t know about CA’s pump.
There’s probably good reason for the integrated head /handle. Designing for composites requires different types of connection / fasteners than typical metal or wood construction. On an axe, typically a wedge would be driven into a the handle to expand the handle into the head. This would not work on carbon/ Kevlar/ fiberglass.
You would need to glue, through bolt, or integrate the handle into the head. The easiest of those three is generally to integrate the two pieces together. Through bolting without proper preparation often leads to fraying, tearing, and the part tearing itself apart at the bolting site. Same for gluing. Glue tends to cause stress risers and offer fracture points unless properly planned for.
The Dasco handle comes with epoxy to set it into the head.
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Dasco won’t work. i checked with him and he said “i want to it look all tactical and shit” when i asked for examples, he indicated that he wanted that curve at the bottom of the handle.
would welding a long bolt or rod to the head, then just wrapping it in fiberglass work?
Potentially yes…
What’s your budget?
client is paying for materials, so i would need to figure out how much i would need first, present him with the bill, then he gives me a check (or cash or something) i make it, then bill him for work
the other idea was to effectively cut out an outline of the axe, then epoxy on some micarta scales, grind them into a better shape, then wrap around once or twice with fiberglass to smooth things out; maybe use the vacuum pump to smooth everything out
Gerber’s is built knife-like (imagine that!), where the composite handle is basically a covering for the steel backbone…
This one looks similar, with one-piece handle/blade, and a covering of another material (ABS Rubber, they say).
https://www.medievalcollectibles.com/p-34745-tactical-survival-tomahawk.aspx
Have you looked into man made materials like G10, G11, red board, Phenolic. These are all fiber reinforced. Something worth looking into.