Toy Splitter Ax From Cardboard

The wood splitting ax is one of my favourite tool because the results are quite realistics and it is very funny to see that at first people think it is real! :-)

The handle is obtained rolling brown wrapping paper to form a cylinder of about 35 mm diameter and 450 mm length. The brown of the paper is very similar to the color of some woods used for real handles, so there is no need to paint.

Depending on the thickness of the paper it would be necessary to roll 2 or 3 layers to obtain a sufficient stiffness. I used some hot glue to fix the layers together.

I also made 2 oval caps to glue at each end of the cylinder in order to close the handle and give it the anathomic section. Then I folded the paper of the handle cut in three section over the cap and glued everything together to close each end with the same paper.

Cut two pieces of corrugated cardboard with the shape of the ax that you prefer. I designed my own shape but if you want to be more realistic you can copy a real one.

Glue the two pieces of corrugated cardboard together only on the blade sector stopping where the handle should be accommodated. Then fold while squeezing a little bit the corrugated in order to give it the smooth oval shape of the handle.

Fold and glue the two cardboard flaps of the ax to the handle and cut the exceeding material.

To hide the junction between the two flaps you can stick on it some paper of the same color to even the surface.

To make the ax look more realistic it is necessary to paint it.

Before painting I flattened with my fingers the corrugated on the cutting edge to simulate the sharpening angle and I used this curved line as limit for the black color.

I used black watercolor without water to have more coverage of the cardboard, and then without cleaning the brush I used white on the cutting edge to simulate the steel grey.

For the final touch I used a silver permanent ink marker on the grey to make the blade shine.

Done! :-)