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Apex Pick Handle......


oneguy

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Looking to replace my 18" Apex handle with a 24" and was on their website, went to order up the 24" @ $26+ and upon checkout they wanted $22 to ship...lol  NOT GONNA HAPPEN!!!!

Really didn't want to head to local hardware and start "sizing" axe handles then having to sand, etc. for a tight fit...blah blah, etc.  Anyone know of an online dealer that might sell a handle for something reasonable?  $50 for a 2 foot handle ain't happening.  Long shot I know....but thought I'd try?

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I have a company near me in a small town that may have just what you want. I will check with them on Monday and let you know about them.

Are you wanting wood or fiberglass for the handle?

 

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I use the Link made sledge/maul handles when I make my own picks.  Ace hardware should carry them. Fitting them is pretty easy and takes me maybe 10 min. If you have a chop saw and table mounted belt sander, you're good.  Cut the end off where they slotted it for a wedge so you just have a straight handle shaft... Then sand to fit. Rotate the handle carefully while your sanding and keep checking until your close.  Pound it in the tube with some gorilla glue 2 part epoxy or similar, and pin it with a shovel rivet. 

This one or a similar one might work for you.

handle.jpg

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The name of the place is Hardcore Hammers in Hillsboro Illinois. I don't have there phone number but I think they have a web page.

https://www.hardcorehammers.com/

 

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Thanks guys....  Tried to delete my OP but couldn't.  After posting I realized that most likely, in order to save some $, I'm gonna have to do a custom job myself like Wes posted above.  Just so happens I have a brand new mall handle laying around the shop I can hack up......

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True Value hardware has a good selection of handles, did you try your local one? (If you have one…)

 

Edit:

…Besides Ace as WesD said above!

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Shipping costs have gone up dramatically during the pandemic, which in turn raises the price of everything in the supply chain. Simple economics 101 for yet another issue everyone wants to politicize these days.

It makes shipping low value/high bulk items uneconomical, and painful when you have to do it anyway. Try ordering some large styrofoam blocks online to get the idea.

I had this issue forever in Alaska. Shipping Keene marlex dredge floats for example. Anything large and light gets “cubed” out for volume, and extra shipping charges apply. Large Coiltek coils, picks with long handles…. anything that makes the box large can make shipping cost exceed the profit a vendor is making on an item, and only answer is shipping surcharge.

In the old days it was so extreme, everything so high price due to shipping to Alaska, we had a nickname for it. The Alaska Gouge Factor. Complain about high price, answer always was shipping. It got way better the last couple decades, with prices in Anchorage not much different than Seattle. Even lower, as no sales tax. But going the other way fast now.

Its getting harder and harder to sustain free shipping on items. I am on west coast, and the price to ship a box doubles or more, once it goes east past the Mississippi. It’s affected my selling online. I used to just do free shipping. Now I’m back with eBay, mostly because I can sell the item for a base price. By plugging the dimensions and weight in, it calculates shipping for various methods, let’s buyer choose what they want to pay. If they are too far away it may be too much, so they don’t buy, but in such cases I’d not want to eat the shipping either, so it works out. If they want it bad enough, they pay the higher shipping. Their choice. eBay made me getting the resulting shipping label a one button process also, so once set up it’s really streamlined.

Just got the new higher shipping costs for USPS two days ago, so timely subject.

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I sold light fixtures online for a number of years and lost a few sales to Alaska due to shipping but also managed to make a few sales regardless of the costs.  Same for Canadian customers but usually my Canuk customers lived within 100 mi of the border and/or had relatives in the lower 48, ship to the relatives and the canuks haul it back over the border.  When I cut timber up on Chicagof Is. saw parts were expensive being on the island and when I returned home I had to send my crated up saws/tools to Seattle from Juneau on Foss Tug then by truck to Spokane and pick up there then to Idaho, PITA....spendy even back then.  Tuff all over on everything.....

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  • 1 year later...
On 1/9/2022 at 8:50 PM, WesD said:

I use the Link made sledge/maul handles when I make my own picks.  Ace hardware should carry them. Fitting them is pretty easy and takes me maybe 10 min. If you have a chop saw and table mounted belt sander, you're good.  Cut the end off where they slotted it for a wedge so you just have a straight handle shaft... Then sand to fit. Rotate the handle carefully while your sanding and keep checking until your close.  Pound it in the tube with some gorilla glue 2 part epoxy or similar, and pin it with a shovel rivet. 

This one or a similar one might work for you.

handle.jpg

Thanks for the great post Wes! I broke my Apex handle digging an irrigation trench laden with tree roots a couple weeks ago. Looks like Ace doesn't sell these anymore.

Does anybody know what size rivet we need for the apex pick? I guess I can grind off the old one and measure it when I remove the old handle.

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I have used a shovel handle ( need to pick a thin handle top ) to replace a 18'' handle to a 3 1/2 foot handle just using a bench grinder and a file to fine tune the shape to fit my pick. Used the same metal wedge for the new handle. I can stand to dig gold until it is out of the hole now. Shaping a new handle is much easier than it seems at first, give it a try. The long handled pick doesn't work every where but I have 9 picks of different length handles, 9 picks what the heck was I thinking?

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