As per subject. If I raise the pick-axe up high, as you do when giving it wellie, the head will slide back down the handle and hit my fingers. With a sledge hammer, the solution is simple enough, soak it in water, but with the pick-axe I have no container wide enough to accommodate the head (no bath, for example - only a shower, and the tray isn't deep enough for water to fully cover the pick-axe head)
An suggestions?
If holding the implement vertically head down and banging it against rock/concrete doesn't help I'm not sure what would. Maybe the handle doesn't fit the aperture in the head properly all round? You could try shaping the handle with eg a spokeshave?
I remain interested in others' answers.
If the handle sticks out proud at the head end tap it a few times on a hard surface to get the head more secure.
In practice, use a Kangol type implement instead?
Before you do that, slide the head up the shaft a bit and make a couple of saw cuts in to the shaft, maybe an inch or so ?
That might allow you a bit of slack when you try to hammer the head back to the end of the shaft
When its home, find yourself a couple of wedges made of hardwood (scrap garden furniture is often a good source) and hammer them in to the cuts.
If its possible to do so, then fill the slot with some PVA glue first
Coats the wedges with PVA first anyway.
or ...you can still buy ready made steel wedges specially designed made for this sort of thing - all on eBay
Having said all of that ... if the shaft / handle is NOT the original, its possible that you will never be able to fix it in this way
or possibly even a Kango ?
very possible!
A jubilee clip to stop the head sliding down would save your fingers should the chosen fix fail.
duct tape a plastic bag or some polythene sheet around the head as a makeshift container, then use ethylene-glycol type anti-freeze instead of water, as it dries out it leaves "gunge" behind in the grain, so doesn't come loose again
A few which may or may not be useful.
Plant trough or animal feed trough ? If it has drain holes in line with large plastic bag, if no plant trough just use large tough plastic bag . Know anyone who has a child’s paddling pool they no longer want.
Dig pit in garden line with plastic sheet ,fill with water . Of course you made need the pickaxe to dig the hole so we have a similar situation to “There is a hole in my bucket dear Liza” scenario. Find a ditch or river to hang it in , preferably next to a pub so you have a drink while you wait.
GH
Many thanks for all the suggestions. Some really useful ones there. I'd forgotten about steel wedges - I may have some somewhere, if not, plenty on Amazon or Ebay.
Soaking in antifreeze sounds promising - must check the garage to see if I have any, although down in far west Cornwall we seldom have need of it.
I've unearthed a longish plant trough from the bowels of the shed that I'd forgotten about. Brilliant suggestion.
Thank you all muchly!
Anyone know an accepted name for the poor-man's henpecker for weakish concrete. Where a double pointed pick axe has one pick wanged into a 6 foot or so length of scaffold pole? Gives enough "heft" compared to just swinging a pick axe at concrete.
I don't quite follow! You don't need to soak the metal part of the pickaxe - just the tapered end of the handle over which the head fits. Surely you've got a jug or something wide enough to accommodate that?! Once it has swollen, re-fit the head, and bash the end of the handle against a hard surface so that the head is good and tight.
Forgive the ignorance, but is soaking really a solution (sic!) to this problem? Once it starts to dry out you are back to square one.
As mentioned elsewhere, I'd go for the hammer wedges if you can get them in a size suitable for a pick-axe handle.
Pick axes sit below (towards the operator) the widest part of the handle, and are held from flying off by the widest part of the handle. The OP's problem is the head falling down the handle to his hands. I see no useful function for a wedge in this situation.
The wedge can stop the head coming down from the widest part of the handle, like making the widest part of the handle wider by soaking it in water or antifreeze and has the advantage that the widest part of the handle doesnt dry out and shrink over time
I have seen one where there was a decent thickness metal strap with a bend at each end, inside the hole in the head which stopped the head sliding down too
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