Hafting an axe head to a stick.(FAIL)

(This was a failed attempt, but I will keep it to show that using simply leather thong, tightly bound, will not be adequate for a sturdy axe. I knew the outcome would not be the strongest design but i do these experiments to understand a subject with greater depth.)

Proper leather thong weaving technique is the key to this and other tight and strong hafting tasks.  

The axe head was cut from a diamond cutter tile cutting disk. Cut the axe head and the back end to suit your needs or style. Consider that you may want to strike the back of the head for some tasks. 

I put a pointy tip on the back of the head, but in retrospect, this may have been a poor choice; the pointy tip can be used for protection; an axe head would most likely get stuck if used on flesh, and I would loose the head or axe. In the middle section, you need a support design for the head when hafted to the handle - a simple cross section is standard as was chosen for this head. A dull rectangular pice of metal material on the top and bottom is used; long pieces of material will provide more support for a sturdy head mount when it is hafted to into a stick.

I carefully split the top of a stick. Then I soaked some rawhide. You don't need too much for this task.

Your wood handle should have a bulb of wood on the bottom so it won’t slide from your hand, and a bulb at the top (not added to handle shown bellow, divots were cut along the wood instead) so the head and lashing won’t slide off after use and loosening; a common issue with any axe.

Fit the the head into the slot in the wood and begin wrapping the leather thong. Small pieces of leather are used to cover contact points when metal may touch the wrap.

The key to hafting is thong weave technique. You will need a pointy awl and pliers.

Use as robust a leather for the thong as you have available. You may lengthin your babiche thong by slit and weave extending; this is making a slit at the connecting ends and sliding the end of the next thong through the last thongs slit end, then pulling through so both holes are holding.

Loop around the bottom of the head, then pas to the top and loop. Now, weave back down and push and weave the thong under the whole wrap at the bottom - pull as tight as you can and levy the bottom loops tight. Then pass the thong though the top looped thongs and do the same - pull tight. You will now have strips passing too and back from the top loops to the bottom - warp the end around those and levy the end tight to put a taught on those thongs; this taking advantage of the leverage, pulling and weaving through is the key to using thong to haft and make tight leather connections and wraps.

When the leather is then left to dry, the whole set up will be tight and sturdy. Keep in mind that these heads are never as fit and stationary for life as typical axe heads. You will have to redo the binding often through the life of an axe. There are some things that may be done to increase the hold time however: give generous material to the mounting arms of the steel head, flush the wood with the  border of the steel arms before wrapping your babiche. You may consider using steel pins that slide through centre slots on the mounting arms and through holes drilled in the centre of the wood handle to really keep the head stationary; this will weaken the mounting location of the wood were the head sits in the handle.