Project Information
This is a wooden ice axe I just finished in anticipation of an upcoming trip to the Adirondack High Peaks. I'm not going to put my life on the line with it, but it can take a beating and it can certainly hold my weight (i made a prototype, shown below, and couldn't break it with my hands when the axe was held in a vice.
It's made from a pair of bent laminations, with the pick set into a curved daddo between the layers. I soaked, boiled, bent, and dried the strips, then epoxied them. First time with laminations. after boiling, there was 1/4" of spring back. after the glue up, zero spring back.
The steel pick, from Furnace Industries (who makes the only technically rated wood ice axe), has an unusually long stem on it. With the epoxy, this alone made for a fairly strong axe. For added assurance against shear stress, I pinned the pick stem on the inside with screws and more epoxy. They are hidden in the finished product.
The 'finger rests' help prevent your hand from sliding down the shaft; the upper one for when you need to choke up one it. These are both pinned with nails to give them extra strength.
Overall design copied from the venerable Petzl Quark axe.
Walnut with ash/cherry/ash center band. Home made Danish oil finish.
If i post a follow up in mid february, you'll know it didn't break on the mountain and kill me.
It's made from a pair of bent laminations, with the pick set into a curved daddo between the layers. I soaked, boiled, bent, and dried the strips, then epoxied them. First time with laminations. after boiling, there was 1/4" of spring back. after the glue up, zero spring back.
The steel pick, from Furnace Industries (who makes the only technically rated wood ice axe), has an unusually long stem on it. With the epoxy, this alone made for a fairly strong axe. For added assurance against shear stress, I pinned the pick stem on the inside with screws and more epoxy. They are hidden in the finished product.
The 'finger rests' help prevent your hand from sliding down the shaft; the upper one for when you need to choke up one it. These are both pinned with nails to give them extra strength.
Overall design copied from the venerable Petzl Quark axe.
Walnut with ash/cherry/ash center band. Home made Danish oil finish.
If i post a follow up in mid february, you'll know it didn't break on the mountain and kill me.