Ok so I broke out my wall hanger throwing tomahawk and had fun with it. Problem is that the head, though hammered onto the shaft, comes unattached and slides off of the handle. Any ideas to keep them as one? Neat little woods tool too, gotta make a scabbard for it too. Any good plans for one? Thanks!

Need pix and more info.

For what ever reason I cannot upload digital pics. Anyway I bought this from Arrowhead Forge about 15 years ago or more, and it is of traditional tomahawk construction.

If the shaft is wood,you can soak it in water to get it to swell.
If its fiberglass or any other material,epoxy will take care of it.

If the top of the handle is visible through the top of the tomohawk head, they make thin steel wedges you hammer in from the top to keep hammer handles in place. I am sure that would work for a tomohawk, too...

Otherwise, I woud go with the 5 minute epoxy route.

Thing is... if you ever break off the handle, it will be a real dirty whore to get out of the head... you would have to drill and chisel it all out...

Yeah, I have the head of the tomahawk soaking now. Epoxy I want to hold off on as I thought the same thing, plus I know the natives never had 5 minute epoxy but theirs stayed on.

Most throwing t-hawks are made that way so the handles can be easily replaced.

I'd recommend the stake through the top method.

+1 As long as there is a firm enough fit that the head and handle dont come apart during normal handling and throwing then its good enough. If you need a woods tool then get a woods tool................a throwing 'hawk is just that......a THROWING 'hawk. They are made to be thrown and back in the day were often used for scalping. Not really made for any other use.

I was having problems with the head coming loose during impact on rotten tree stumps. Did the head soak and drying so I need to test is soon.

Soaking the head won't fix it. When it swells the fibers are crushed against the eye, and when it dries out it shrinks and falls out.

You could wedge it with a sawn wooden wedge or re-haft it.

I have a large collection of throwers that I've been using for a number of years. I've had to put new shafts on at least four of them.

You will need to hammer in some sort of wedge from the top (as Indy said) so that it will spread the shaft and keep the head in place. Most hardware stores sell these wedges but I couldn't find any for sale without buying the handle. I found that the large square masonry nails will work just as well. I used about three or four evenly spaced along the slotted top of the handle, like this: -- /-/-/-/-- (where the slashes represent the masonry nails and the dashes represent the slotted handle)

Still holding up to this day. Hope this helps.