I lost both of my grandmas last winter. When my parents were cleaning out there sheds they found these hatchets and axes.
So after hours of watching you tube I rehung the boys axe. It’s an old Plumb with I think the original handle. I wire wheeled the head and left it kind of a rust blue. I then sanded the handle down and after hours of fitting the head I called it quits. I Burnt the handle and put a few coats of boiled linseed oil on the handle. Know I need to master the art of sharpening an axe. It’s been fun and can’t wait to do the next three.

Talus in AZ is the guy. Axe artiste.

"I lost both of my grandmas last winter.'

How did you manage to do that?

All those axes would be handy to have around a hunting camp. The roofers' axes aren't used in the trade much any more, but they are great around a hunting camp for splitting kindling, trimming branches when cutting firewood, and pounding in tent stakes, among other things....

Buddy of mine just picked up a broad axe for me to use around camp. Love working with them to make things out of logs like seats to sit on, carving, etc.....

Doggone it, I don't need another hobby right now.....

Bob

High Noon will probably check in and answer any of your questions.

He could write an encyclopedia entry on this subject.

BTW, it's good that you have these tools since you appreciate them.

They both passed away. Grandpas have been gone for years

It’s been a lot of fun. Now I need to find a double bit to restore

I lost my grandma in a Montgomery Wards one time

Nice old axes

Good Lord, I apologize. I misread your post.
I thought you meant that you lost both of your grandma's axes. I have made a fool out of myself.

Sorry.

ps Beautiful work on those axes. I am a big time tool guy and have lots of antique adzes and broad axes, and slicks with which I build log cabins.

Sorry for misreading your post. Beautiful work on the axes.

No problem.

Nice work, I have a double bit, that sharp backside keeps me nervous.

I have a bunch of axe heads and other tools that need refurbishing and rehafted that came with my house.

My plan was to knock the rust off using Polyzag and maybe repaint. Now I have to rethink it.






No doubt. I would never have thought of foofing one up that way. That's nice.

Navel jelly is reported to remove rust.

Purdy.
Don't you want to use the loose belt technique on an ax?
To get a convex profile to the edge?

Had to tune up and oil the hatchet today.
Left it on the Adirondack chair arm last night after Delimbing and the night mist rusted the edge.

I keep used differential oil around for the tools.
I sort of like the smell...

win7stw;
Good evening to you sir, thanks for sharing the axe photos and condolences on the passing of your grandmothers.

The old Plumb are well made heads for sure and you did a good job restoring it and handling too by the look of it.

Should you head down the axe rabbit hole with both feet, then this might be a good resource for you.

http://www.yesteryearstools.com/Yesteryears%20Tools/Home.html

One of the projects that I've been chipping away at in my first attempt at retirement is cleaning up and rehandling a lifetime collection of various axe heads.

Here's three just out of 3-5 days in a vinegar soak.


The top one has been semi-sharpened and the edge polished. It's a Berghaus made for the Swedish sports store somewhere in Sweden. The bottom two makers aren't known at this point.

Here's another batch in various stages after the vinegar soak.



In that batch as well as the Berghaus is a Walters - old time Canadian axe company, a Hultafors Bruks and few others with no maker's mark.

Here's a trio of rehandled axes, the top one is a 3½ lb Hultafors Bruks which to your question about sharpening, has the original handle and factory hollow ground face. The hollow grind has led me down another separate rabbit hole, but I'm not done testing whether I can see any difference between hollow ground and convex.

For a few years I've been reworking old drywall and roofing hammers into tomahawks as well. Here's a couple which I've done up and made up the handle from a chunk of hickory on the top one and maple on the bottom one.



Lastly, this is more or less what rides in the pickup with me when I'm headed up on a firewood collection day so I do use some of them, though the cutting axes do get used less than the splitters and the double bit axes which I use for some splitting as well.



The bush ones get the blaze orange because I'm old and lose things......

Anyways while I'm not an expert by any stretch, I do fool with axes, hatchets and tomahawks for sure.

All the best to you this fall, good luck on your axe projects and good luck on your hunts this fall.

Dwayne

Dwayne that is a very nice collection. I will check out the link you provided. I used vinegar on an old Coleman lantern to remove rust and was very pleased with the results. I’ll try it on some axe heads after seeing yours.

Do you use a belt sander for sharpening or do it by hand?

Not worth a damn for me

win7stw;
Good evening sir, thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.

For convex grinds I'll start with either a flat disc sander or sometimes a 5" angle grinder with an abrasive disc on it, usually 80grit. The disc sander is a mandrel on a 1/3 HP 1725 rpm electric motor and it's an 8" disc. Again usually I'll start with 80 grit and go finer.

Then for the final polish I've got a fair selection of cloth wheels that I'll run different polishing compounds on, increasingly finer.

For the hollow grind, I've been meaning to build myself a bench belt sander and really and truly need to get on that. In the mean time, I've run a 10" wood wheel on the electric motor with emery cloth or abrasive cloth put onto it with a friction fit.

While the theory is good on the wood wheel, abrasive cloth combo, the lap joint I've done makes for too much vibration really so it's tough to hold it steady enough to get a really nice hollow grind.

I've also got a boron nitride grinding wheel on another grinder - sharp on anything that cuts is a bit of a sickness with me sir - but the boron nitride wheel is at it's best on fine wood chisels really and for minor reshaping knives, but for axes I'm not really satisfied with the job.

Whenever we're grinding anything that's been heat treated, we're always being cautious not to change the color of the steel at all as that will degrade the temper and thus it's ability to hold an edge.

Grind and dip is the order of the day or actually sometimes when using the angle grinder for major reshaping I'll just let the hose run onto the head as I'm grinding. It absolutely is messy that way, but the cutting edge's temper is preserved.

On the vinegar, most guys say leave it at least 3 days and I've left them for 5 without any cosmetic ill effects or structural breakdowns that I've been able to ascertain.

Hopefully that was useful and made some sense. If you've got more questions and you think I can help, by all means give me a shout and I'll do my best to find an answer.

All the best again.

Dwayne

I have employed vinegar to remove rust on all sorts of things. Gun parts, gas tanks, files, knives and, yes, axes. The gas tank for the pup motor on my Cat was scaled with rust. After sitting for two days, full of cleaning vinegar, it was bare, grey metal inside. GD

Yep love em. Very nice pieces...

I have the axe and hammer bug myself. I inherited several blacksmith made axe heads and adzes. I since have brought home a few of my own. I just put a new handle on a gandy dancer, railroad spike maul. It is a crazy thing to get hooked on, but I can't pass up a deal.

Just bought this Gransfor Bruks American Felling Axe to keep in my hunting rig a few weeks back. Made in Sweden these are suppose to be good ones.

Google “electrolytic rust removal” to remove just the rust and not sound material.

I have heard of burning the handles on tools before coating them with linseed oil, but I never understood why the burning. Please explain. Thanks!

Son took some Orange hand cleaner, and took a LOT of rust off some of my tools - hand cleaner, and a rag, a little elbow grease.

"I have heard of burning the handles on tools before coating them with linseed oil, but I never understood why the burning. Please explain. Thanks!"


It's what the younger crowd does to the axe handles to make them look like they are actually used.

The beginning and the end of easy rust removal.

I had a mother in law that was a real battle axe. Sharp tongued.

I like the way it looks. A guy was selling some hatchets on the classifieds here that’s were I got the idea. These will be used when they are done

In the process of making a tank. Scored some Griswold and Wagner ware cast iron pans that need to be stripped and seasoned.

Great thread topic.

Keep the pics coming.


BC30cal,

I know you mentioned roofing hatchet, what’s the bottle opener hatchets for?

I have a Tormek wet sharpener, and it is pretty easy to get an exact edge on a axe or knife. I have the smaller T4 unit and for me it was the right size.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fEvE6FHYr4


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESW3wy0PI18

BigDave39355;
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope the day's as nice and cool in your part of the world as it is here just across the medicine line and all other vagaries of life are aligned more or less as they should be.

The "bottle opener" or "gut hook" on the tomahawks varies widely/wildly on my creations sir. The 3 in the middle are reworked roofing hatchets, the right one a relatively rare Mann Hunter's Pride and the left one a Swedish Frost hatchet that I am trying a longer handle on to see how it works.



Honestly I did one with a wee bit of a protrusion on it for a customer and then his buddy saw it and asked if I could make it bigger on his......

When I was younger I fooled a tad with grinding knives and as mentioned have a bench belt grinder in my mind that should work, just need to fabricobble it up and see how far off correct those plans are.

Anyways no two ended up alike as I'd see in my head what I wanted it to look like and feel like and then grind until I got there.

Admittedly with tomahawk heads it takes a bit more imagination as to how it's going to feel in the hand as adding the handle can change the balance much more than adding say scales on a full tang knife, you know?

The top one in the last photo is my newest one actually as I gave my usual truck tomahawk to our youngest daughter's partner this summer since he didn't have one and they were taking up backpack camping.

It might work okay with a ferro rod? That just occurred to me and I'll have to try that now!

Thanks for the question sir and for allowing me to do some thinking on it this morning.

All the best to you all and good luck on your hunts.

Dwayne

the 2 small ones on the left I bet are Plumb axes. I have the same Plumb axe heads but with fiberglass handles

It's nice to see old, neglected tools restored to their former glory.
It flies in the face of today's attitude of "throw it away and buy a new one."

So did I and she was too strong with undue influence on my wife, so now I am divorced and they can tell someone else what the f**k to do. I retired also and don't have anyone to tell me what the f**k they want done. Soon as I get done siding my house I'll be hunting , fishing, and swing the dbl bit axe again. Lifes great if you don't let others f**k it up for you. MB

A flame spreader on a propane torch helps to remove the whiskers on the haft making it smooth prior to BLO.

The two small hatchets are True temper

“fabricobble”


Good one!

I say Plumb cause I got 3 of them with the exact same head but with fiberglass handles

My mother in law was a tyrant but I outlasted her. She witnessed the Attack on Pearl Harbor

Metal Rescue from Home Depot is great stuff. I did a motorcycle gas tank and it looks new inside 2 years later. I did a few rusty tools too and then plasti dipped the handles. It is safe for paint and it didn't bother the rubber tool handles. All it takes is a 24 hour soak.

I found an old old axe at a yard sale. Had "E Borden" carved into the handle.

It was touch and go with my MIL for a couple years but my wife realized she could just jump in her car and go home. She was really hell on my wife. You would think that as an only daughter with 4 sons it would be different. I never cared what my MIL had to say, just went on with whatever I was doing. My wife seemed to think she needed to referee between us.
Anyway, when she died she was cremated since we knew it worked for witches.

For the rust, somebody on another forum pointed me to Evaporust for rust removal. You can buy it lots of places, I got it at Harbor Freight. I used it to derust some lower unit parts for my son's boat motor that he neglected to put oil in for several years and it worked slick as snot... just put it in a container that will hold your parts, pour it over, and follow directions for time... rinse it off with water when enough rust has been removed... worked perfectly and now the motor is back together and ready to g back in the water...
I find it harder sometimes to remove the paint than the rust. As far as sharpening, I often use a file to clean up the edges, especially if they have dings or need to have the bevel reformed. Then I work down with a block and different grits of sandpaper or a set of stones I have from coarse to very fine- depending on how sharp an edge I really want on the axe. I've found that a really razor sharp edge doesn't really work well on some types of axes, but does on others. Splitting kindling with a small camp axe works great with a razor sharp edge, but splitting wood doesn't require that level of sharpness IMO... others may have different experiences...

My son got me into the high end, hand forged axes and I've looked at them many times at Sportsman's shows, on line, and other places. They are beautiful and I would love to have one, but I just can't swallow the price tag for an axe that will be picked up by some of my camp mates and handled like a sledge hammer instead of the fine tool it is... however, I have looked at the old Plumb and other collectible axe heads at Antique shows and other places and it is jaw dropping what the asking prices are for some of them now.... makes me wish I had picked up every one I saw laying around at garage sales and flea markets when I was young...

Bob

Check out Vintsgeaxeworks on Instagram. Worth the visit.

BC30cal,


Thanks for the info.

Battle axe count?

I like an axe better as a keepsake than chopping with one. I split firewood with a maul.

wabigoon;
Good afternoon to you my friend, I hope this last Tuesday in August finds you and your fine family well.

If I was the admitting sort, I'd say that it never occurred to me to attempt splitting firewood with anything other than a maul until I was watching a youtube channel of a chap from the Island who does a lot of arbor work around Nanaimo, as well as tutorials on chainsaw sharpening.

One of his sicknesses as well appears to be axes and he'll split some pretty big wood with an axe.

Honestly wabigoon, I pulled out the two double bits I have to play with it as I didn't really think it would work that well AND ONCE AGAIN - I was wrong!

Here's the proviso however, of the 2 different double bits I have, one which is sharpened with the cheeks ever so slightly different is markedly better at it. Odd that, but there it is.

Anyways I cracked the handle on the one I liked - it was old and on the way out like me wabigoon - but I had the devil's own time finding anything resembling a double bit handle up here for less than what I considered an absurd price.

Finally a local Home Hardware brought in something I thought should work and thankfully it does.

Lastly I'll add that I attempt to purchase Made in USA handles, so that leaves the Can Tire ones out as they're made in China. Putting an off shore handle on a fine old Swedish or Canuck made axe is just not done - well by me anyways sir.

There's my story wabigoon, but should add that I still bring a 6lb Maul, an 8lb Maul and two splitting wedges along wood cutting as it really depends upon how far up the tree, what type of tree and even where on the mountain the tree was growing as to what splits best.

Hope that made some sense sir.

All the best to you all.

Dwayne

Thank you Dwayne.

Rehung this guy today. Handle grain is terrible but didn’t want to wait for a new one.