Snath and Blade Attachment Innovations

Some photos of steel snaths and various blade-attaching hardware, made by Larry Barefield of Atlanta, Georgia.
Text and Photos ©2007 Larry Barefield.

Thank you, Larry, for sharing photos of your experimenting process!

I thought you might like to see some pictures of a snath that I just completed. It's made of 1 inch 0.028 wall 4130 steel with silver soldered joints. It weighs, without the blade, about 1 3/4 pounds. The blade connection allows for hafting angle and horizontal balance. The blade mounting method requires at least one hole (and I tapped it 1/4-20) for mounting. It's difficult to do because the blade/shank is hard; just requires a easy hand on the tap handle and lots of tapping fluid. I'll sand and paint it and put some bicycle handle bar tape on the grips; which incidentally can be used behind or in front of the handle.

I guess you could call it my soul snath. I'm an urban rat... live in downtown Atlanta. And, while I have access to saplings (actually have some drying) I wanted to confirm angles that suited me best. The steel seemed to be the best way to go.

I have attached a few more pictures of a snath that I made. I really like it but I already want to improve it.

Here are a few pictures of a snath that I made for a 28 inch blade.

The "kick back" I made by mitering the tube and silver soldering it together. Works great. Had to miter the socket as well to get the correct hafting angle. I have tried bending the tubing and that doesn't work so well without some pretty sophisticated equipment. I was successful (but lucky) with the other one I made but messed up a couple of pieces of tubing afterward.

The grips are for bicycle handlebars and have a "bulb" on the lower side. I did as you suggested and turned the grips in 10 degrees. I like it. Will have to paint it soon.

I added a "knee joint" to my snath. Works great. It will probably work with blades from ~15 to 39 inches. However, the same socket will not work with all blades.