Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Restored Axes, Mallets, Etc

I've posted before about restoring vintage axes for everyday use, as wall hangers and presentation pieces, costume props, etc. I also enjoy making mallets and the occasional odd piece like these fish pacifiers. Here are some pics of works in progress and various finished pieces. We are fortunate to have a several exotic woods that have been imported for landscaping use due to their drought tolerance -- Indian Rosewood (forbidden from import otherwise), Acacias, Eucalyptus, Olive, Silky Oak; and native Mesquites and Ironwood. They are beautiful, distinctive woods and I try to salvage as many as possible from landfill. Some are gorgeous as "hearthside" axes, used mainly for splitting kindling while sitting on the hearth, and looking good otherwise; others are wall-hangers only. For a general purpose axe, there is no wood better than American Hickory, and I always hand shape axe hafts from this specie for general purpose work. I've been thinking about an [bleep] online shop, and will post a link if I go that route. Right now I'm just posting these on Instagram, giving as gifts, etc.

















Hmm. OK, I guess it is not allowed to reference certain large Web-based shops that begin with an E. Noted.

Cool stuff Talus! Lookin’ good!

Tsy

Very nice work. I admire this kind of craftsmanship in restoration of classic tools.

Keep up the good work.

Cooler than cool!

How do you keep an axe from rusting?

Not a fan of the polished heads, no slight on your work, just not my thing.

A bucket of sand and oil.

Beautiful wood.

tag

What about wax?

Thanks everyone!

A light coat of oil or paste wax or carnauba wax. If kept under roof it is usually not a problem. Most general purpose axes get scrubbed by the wood they chop.

That is beautiful! Great work.
That first one is a broad axe.

I use these antique tools for building log cabins. I have an adze made in England in 1880 that I am quite fond of. Also I have some antique English slicks that I use.

Have you ever made a handle out of dogwood? I have used dogwood for several slick and chisel handles it works pretty well.

Most I do are not polished, just cleaned, corrected, profiled, and sharpened. Most older axes have some damage that should be corrected. These pics are the photos that were handy, and are mostly of wall-hangers and presentation pieces.

Do you have a brass pin going through the hewing hatchet?

Nice work.

Yes, several of these have brass pins. I frequently use 1/4 or 1/8 roll pins; the brass pin yields a special look though.

Valsdad -- many thanks!

I would love to do an adze! Dogwood is not available here, but it is very dense and frequently used for mallet heads back east. It would be cool to see a dogwood axe handle!

Talus,
Is there any good supplies of desert ironwood in your area.

I use it for making knife scales and handgun grips but have hard time finding decent stock around here.

W. Bill

Not better than the usual suppliers of knife scale and similar blanks. Do you have the equipment to turn ironwood logs into usable scales? If so, you could get lucky once in a while with the local mills. One that comes to mind is Sonora Woodworks. I don't have much ironwood, and very little is suitable for scales.

I like the pin, I might try that on one. A copper pin would look cool. I have 2 heads in a box that have the hole.