I recently purchased a Rinaldi Milano Axe from @FortyTwoBlades shop Baryonyx Knife Co. He made a new handle in a 25" length to compliment the stock handle in 15" length. Funny thing is the custom handle fit far better than the stock handle the axe ships with. In fact, I was unable, or maybe I should say uncomfortable, trying to fit the shorter stock handle back into the axe head. The fit seemed so forced that I felt I could damage the original handle. This is how far it went without trying to finish pounding it in. Using a marking gauge and takeoffs from the better fitting custom handle, I began sanding the taper near the top. You can see in this picture the use of a leather strap to prevent marring the handle when tightened in the vise. The stock handle is pictured on the left. It had a much sharper taper where my fingers curled around the handle. I decided to use a drum sander on my drill press to knock it down to a more rounded finish. This picture shows the area along the ridge of the handle where material was removed. Next I hand finished the sanding to get a finer finish to it. I just pulled the paper back and forth like a shoe shine boy. Ready for insertion. The head dropped into place just by repeatedly dropping the axe handle on its top until I got a friction fit at the top. It will take a mallet striking the handle from below to remove the head. A nice superior custom fit and better shaped handle for my grip. A truly custom axe that I've made my own, with a little help from Benjamin aka @FortyTwoBlades .
@The Warrior -- as I recall from some of your other posts you are a big guy. You might find this handle to be on the thin side for your hands like I did. If you flatten that edge using any number of devices, e.g. spoke shave, electric sander, hand sand it, or even take a good whittling knife to it, I think it will significantly improve the feel in your hand. Also, I usually handle my axe with a good pair of leather gloves, even in the heat of the summer. The thicker feel of my gloves also made the grip far more comfortable to me.
Yeah--like may manufacturers they seat the heads at the factory using a hydraulic press, so while it's a very secure fit it's not as good as tuning it up by hand.
I was kind of expecting brute force versus some type of a press. I nested the head on the jaws of my vise and drove the handle out with a sledge hammer. But I did take care to put a block of wood on the end of the handle. Originally I tried a rubber mallet but it just didn't have enough "kick-in-the-ass" to get it done.
Yeah--a firm wooden or hard plastic mallet works much better than rubber! Rubber tends to absorb too much of the blow.
