I've always liked the painted handle axes of traditional Canadian lumberjacks.  Used to identify their preferred axe at the beginning of the working day and easier to spot when left on the forest floor.  They actually inspired me to start making the painted handle hammers - as a more usable tool for regular life in the United Kingdom!

We're lucky enough to have a wood burner at home and its our preferred source of heat during the winter.  That means splitting logs and kindling so axes are an important tool for me.

I've been wanting to do an axe project for awhile but I've struggled to find the right axe as a starting point.  Ideally I'd have liked to use an axe manufactured here in the UK, but that has proved challenging at a price point that I was comfortable with.  I also wanted to make the leather sheath myself - to make it a uniquely Tinker and Fix product as much as possible.

This project starts with a Trekking Axe hand forged by Hultafors of Sweden.  It has a 55cm Hickory handle and an 900gram axe head, making it ideal for clearing branches in the garden.  Can be used as a light log splitting axe as well as it being possible to split kindling by holding the handle towards the head.

The leather sheath is hand made using a good quality vegetable tan leather, which can be dyed to a variety of colours.  I don't like to waste any material from a hide so that means working with the odd surface scratch or branding marks.  I've recently changed the design of the sheaths, which you can see on the Black and Saddle tan lists.  Each of the sheaths is made bespoke to the axe head so get in touch as we can offer some different colour contrast stitching etc with this new design.  If you prefer the older design shown with the multi coloured banded axe then that's not an issue either.

As with the hammers - always happy to do custom colours for you.  Just get in touch via [email protected]

The paint on the handle will wear with use and form it's own unique patterns.  

We are holding stock of this axe without painted handles at the moment to allow for any custom requests.  If you would like to order the axe in the colour combination shown in any of the images thats not an issue either.

We also have one with some really nice grain.  We usually don't paint these but any combination of leather and thread is possible.

You must be 18 years or older to purchase this bladed item.

Your age will be verified automatically where possible.  More information about these checks can be found here.

We recommend that you purchase this item via a Paypal Account or Credit Card as this further helps with your 18+ age verification.

As of the 4^th April 2022, this item legally requires age verification upon delivery in addition to the age verification upon purchase.  We have included a ‘bladed postage fee’ into our retail price for all bladed items. You can read more about this here.