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.

Yeah, copper would be cool. Competition choppers are required to pin their heads, and axes built for that purpose have pin holes. This usually occurs down south, as in AUS and NZ. I find pin holes in axes from time to time, including some their owners have bored. I'll use pins for my personal axes/hatchets. Have also installed a pin on a 2-lb sledgehammer head. One of the pics above shows a mosaic pin, which is completely for looks. It's a costume piece on a rosewood stick. Lead singer for a viking-themed rock band bought it. Fun build.

Nice work.
I am very impressed that you have resisted the urge to stripe the haft with a propane torch.

If my axe handles touch fire, it's due to a screwup that devoted them to the wood stove. Not a fan.

Nice work Talus - I dig it. I have a passion for restoring (and using) old tools, but certainly not to your talent level.

As luck would have it, a number of hand planes, braces, drawknives, and other old tools have crossed my desk. Most were restored for my own use. I have a big wooden plane with a cast iron that was made in London almost 150 years ago. Wait -- that's one I restored for a friend. I'm just 'holding' it.

Nice work!

What's the best finish for the haft/handle?

For general purpose where a slight yellow discoloration makes no dif, boiled linseed oil. I usually use a mix of linseed oil, tung oil, and General Finishes Arm-R-Seal. These finishes won't hurt the axe head a bit, and will help prevent rust.

At least 30 years ago, straight across the street from the King County Fair was a garage sale with a bunch of ironwood logs. Some were up to a foot in diameter and all were about three feet long. They were dirt cheap and I bought all of them. I only have a few left. I find lots of carved pieces of coco bola at garage sales. A while back I found a sailfish that weighed about 30 pounds, paid 10 bucks for it.

Your ability to find exotic wood in Anchorage astonishes. Regarding the sailfish, I'll give you $20 for it

I use a mix of BLO and Pine Tar

We have Northern Dave with cars, all the drooling foods down there, all the prutty riffles, and shotguns.

NOW THIS!!

Very cool. 👍

You are an artiste. I have cleaned up and rehafted [is that a word?] a few old axes and enjoy the process. I was gifted w/ a huge old broadaxe that appears to be quite old and getting ready to clean it up. It has a handle w/ the proper curves/offset that looks like a big round tree branch and is very hard. It is too thick to reduce w/ rasps and I have been thinking about a drawknife. Any guidance as to hand tools or techniques would be appreciated. We were past due for a good axe thread


mike r

Check out vintageaxeworks on Instagram. He’s the man...

Many thanks! I wouldn't invest in a drawknife for one broadax. You can thin down some slabs near the top of the haft using a handsaw, then smooth it with the rasp. Or just be patient with the rasp. There is some learning curve to drawknives, and some woods that do not drawknife well, although hickory does drawknife well. You can also use a bandsaw or table saw to thin down the top of the haft for a few inches, but this may take a jig or clamp arrangement. Care should be taken to avoid kickback if using a table saw and fence. If you have a vice, you can stand the haft up and take some meat off the top with a Sawzall. If you have a belt grinder you can clamp down the grinder upside down, turn it on, and hold the haft against it to remove some bulk. But you have to remove equal amounts on both sides, or whatever the shape of the eye requires. Broadaxes have weird eyes sometimes.

Thanks for the reply, you saved me from buying another tool that I don't have the skills, or patience, to utilize. I have a couple of jap drawsaws that I will use. You are right about the odd eye shape. I will use it as a guide as to how much material to remove. My only power tools are a drill, dremel and a palm sander. The offset of the broad axe handle is a challenge.


mike r

Godog 57, that is a great site, thanks.


mike r

Huberd's Shoe Grease for handles works better than anything else I've used.

Hmmm. Interesting, Billy.

Drat! I have a draw plane, and a syth or two.

I have a great love for old tools. The photos show some great work. Have you ever found that ultra polishing can make the tool head resistant to rust? Just wondering. Be Well, RZ.

Talus......Thats some beautiful work there. I admire someone who can take old tools or other objects and turn them into art pieces. I would love to have a beautiful axe like those to hang on my wall by my front and back doors. They could serve a dual purpose, first as a beautiful eyecatcher and second as a equalizer if needed since I lost all my guns. Think about that, you wouldnt even have to register it!

Only because it usually leads to the axe being hung on the wall rather than used

The coolest thing is when someone asks me to 'retire' a special tool for a special person by making a presentation piece. Makes me feel very lucky.

Thank you!

Talus......The shed at my Moms house still has a lot of my Dad's old tools in it and some of my Grandfathers (who immigrated to US in1909 and settled in AZ in 1911) I know there are some old wood handled planes and possibly an axe or two. I'm going to go looking. I may find some treasure for you to try your hand at. If you dont mind what area re you in AZ? Maybe youre close by..

Some I need to work on.

Check out Awesome Restorations on YouTube. That guy and others like him do some really cool work. Lots of inspirational work on those channels.

These are some of my log building tools. The chisel at top is an antique English tool, probably 150 years old with the original handle. The chisel at the bottom was made by my blacksmith. It has a dogwood handle. Both are great chisels, hollow ground.
The slick was also made by my blacksmith, I also made a dogwood handle for the slick. This is one of the log builder's favorite tools, hollow ground of course.

The broad axe is also an antique from England. I love the looks of the broad axe, but, I have never used it. I got real good with the adze, and it does the same work as the broad axe so my beautiful broad axe has never gotten a workout from me.

Nice!

Phoenix. Drop me a PM.

I think the broadax would be giving you a workout

That's about when they start to get interesting right there. I've got a single bit just like that one hanging on the rack, and don't know who made it.

The broad axe will give you a workout and so does the adze. I hewed all the logs with the adze. It took about 25 minutes to do an 18 foot by 14 inch log.
I was a young buck, big and strong and in great shape. After 25 minutes with the adze I had to sit down and take a rest. My arms felt like rubber bands.

Simon Kenton,

I have two adzes. One I think is a railroad adze. The other a nicer one I picked up at a shop in Oklahoma. It was at a spring where Washington Irving camped on his prairie tour. I was demonstrating finger weaving and twining there that weekend for this old tyme festival gig.

Then all my work is just [bleep].

Ever encounter a Winchester brand?

Thanks to Jeff et al - I have thoroughly enjoyed this thread. BUT - even more enjoyable for me is to look up on our special wall where we display some true treasures from throughout our lifetime - where I can see, admire and appreciate the axe that Jeff recreated for us. I am touched by his work, and this man.

not trying to out do anybody but i have 7-or 8 draw knives ,4 spoke shaves ,3 broad axes ,adz ,wooden planes, and lots of axes,,,,horder or collector??

i buy most draw knives i can find and spoke shaves, i have seen hundreds of moulding planes when i was 17-18 working for Goodwill enterprises, probably most were thrown away , wish i had kept them but thats life.
Using draw knives, spoke shaves , adz's slicks, broad axes takes a lot of muscles that we do not normally use and it takes a lot of conditioning to build that muscle. also try banging a piece of hot metal on an anvil for 5 minutes.

Waybigoon that double bit axe is called a grubbing axe [ at least up in western Canada],
one with longer narrower blades would be a falling axe , much harder to find


Talus my biggest problem is finding good hickery handles that have the right head shape to fit some of the old tools.
norm

Definitely agree.

I know exactly what you mean...

Jeff just seeing this... I am glad you posted this stuff finally... I was fortunate enough to be a guest at Jeff's home last time I was in Phoenix..

he showed me his shop, and a couple of his finished production axes....to see all of this in person, was the biggest treat of all...
(and lets not forget he and his lovely wife's gracious Hosting..)..

Jeff is a very talented man...and a salt of the earth kinda guy...

Jeff, Merry Christmas, to you and your lovely wife Bunny.....

and thanks again for your hospitality and your friendship...

Heard of them seen on the internet, never had one on my bench.

Paul, Art, John, thank you. That means a lot to me.

I know exactly what you mean. There is not an acceptable axe haft sold by a big handle maker in the US that I know of. However, there are some good ones made by individuals. Check out Liam Hoffman of Hoffman Blacksmithing; Whiskey River Trading Company; Ryan Lambracht; Christopher Killinger. Possibly Owens Axe and Handle, don't know a lot about him.

Sometimes I buy handles from Beaver Tooth Handle company to use as blanks for a hickory haft. They have been acceptable for that purpose. No big axe companies I know of, including Gransfors Bruks and Hults Bruks, have handles worth a hoot (aesthetically; they are fine functionally). A guy even commissioned me to replace the handle on his brand new Gransfers Bruks. All the beautiful fawns foot (and other) hafts are being made in small shops by men and women dedicated to that craft.

Norm99, I get mine from house handles, those older axes rarely flt w/in the selection of eye size and I just get a larger size. They also sell wood and metal wedges. Lots of rasping and sanding will usually solve the problem. They offer a select and you can get them unfinished [no varnish].


mike r

I've never had a handle from anywhere slide right into my axe head without some fitting. Of course, a little is better than a lot

Some heads ready to hang;

A maple-hafted hewer for a guy who makes a lot of mantles;

My daily-driver ball peen with mesquite handle.

This is the double-bit axe from the cabin I grew up in. Retired it without ever removing it from the haft.

Maybe the only hatchet in the world hung on manzanita. It's the worst wood possible for a tool handle, except as a looker -- gorgeous.

A double-bit "saddle axe" on olive wood;

My own spokeshave and drawknife;

Another head ready.

This is acacia wood. Trying to show how beautiful some of these local woods are. In some cases I actually dug the wood out of a dumpster; in others a local backyard sawmill salvaged the wood, then cut pieces off in the process of making larger work like slab tables, countertops, or mantles.

I got all excited, yard sale, axe with a "W"< something on it. Of course I grabbed it, it may have been Western.

Where do the Plumb brand axes, and hatchets fit it?

Fit what?

Sorry, how do the Plumbs fit as to quality?

Beautiful work, Talus. You are a master of the craft.

Thank you Simon!

Plumbs are good axes, one of the famous American brands. The Plumb National is fairly valuable. Plumb probably made axes for some big hardware chains, which sold them under their store name. Dunno if they ever had a USFS or Mil contract, but it would not surprise me. Actually the last axe off my bench was a Plumb double bit.

I had a Plumb Scout hatchet, likely long gone.

Talus in Arizona;
Good afternoon sir, I hope the day's been an acceptable one thus far and this finds you and those who matter in your life well.

Thanks for sharing your craftsmanship with us, as a lifelong student of most things that cut, I appreciate your attention to detail.

If you or anyone else for that matter is interested in the history of some of the North American brands, here's the best resource I've found so far.

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

Thanks again and all the best to you as we head into official winter.

Dwayne

Thank you; have dug many a gem from Yesteryears.

I still have mine that my grandparents gave me for Christmas when I was 12 or 13. My mother used it to edge the sidewalk 😡 at some point when I went off to school so it was in pretty sad shape the next time I laid hands on it. I cleaned it up but it doesn’t come anywhere near Talus’s work. Not even close.

This is my adze. It is an antique but I don't know where it was made. As with most of these old tools, you buy the steel part and it is up to you to find the wood.
I bought the handle at a wonderful hardware store in n. Atlanta that sells all kinds of log building tools. I think it is hickory.
Believe me, this handle is sweat-cured. What a workout you get with an adze.



There are no markings on the adze except for this big X engraved on it. I don't know what that means.
I would love to learn the history of this adze. Could have been used to build log cabins here in North Carolina in 1830. Could have been in a shipyard in Maine in that same year. Who knows.

That is sweet!

An Adz gives a unique finish to logs, and it's my favorite tool for that purpose. The logs above show why ... lovely.

I would like to get in the time machine, and go back to the naval yards in England in 1530, when King Henry VIII was building his fleet.
Just imagine the slicks, the adzes and broad axes, the chisels that would have been in use. I'd like to pitch in and work there as an apprentice for a week or two.

Try to leave the Plague and Cholera there when you come back please.

They had some unique axes, too. I always thought a master shipwright had to really know wood.