Beat Chemical Axe 1927 Resto (pic heavy)

C

CedarEater

Joined
Aug 31, 2012
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390
I haven't been posting much lately but I have been lurking and have a couple projects in various stages. This one I just finished.

I found it at an estate sale awhile back for $7 dollars. I probably overpaid since I found it heavily mushroomed with one side of the eye mildly deformed and in need of rehafting. The haft was in much worse condition than it looks in the pics below. What drew me to this axe was that its a larger single bit (the largest I own) that said Sager Chemical Axe 1927 and a bit that showed no signs of grinding nor sharpening for that matter. It also had a nice black patina on it without much red rust that required very little wire cup brush work. I am always up for a challenge so I picked it up.

This is what it looked like when I purchased it.




I removed the haft and peened out as much of the mushrooming as I felt comfortable with. I also pounded the eye back into an acceptable shape before hitting it with a flap disk on a grinder to get rid of the rest of the mushrooming. Breaking out the grinder is much more aggressive than my norm of doing all mushrooming clean up work by hand with a file but I felt like using the grinder this time so thats what I did. I did lose the Sager portion of the stamp by taking down all of the mushrooming but I managed to save the Chemical Axe 1927 portion of the stamp so I am happy with that.


I left the bit profile alone on this one and just elected to clean up the edge with the file and sharpen it.



I have been intrigued by straight haft single bits for awhile now. I like my California framing hammer to have a straight handle so i figured a larger single bit would be a good selection for a straight haft. This haft is a Tennessee Hickory straight single bit haft thats 34.5" long after all is said and done. It was fire hardened and selected for its wonderful grain orientation.



Aggressive thinning of the bit revealed that this haft is heartwood on one side and spalted sapwood on the other side with a little wrap around on each end. It makes for a rather striking haft that looks completely different on each side....it didn't look at all like this when it was a firehardened fat club.



And the swell pics for those that enjoy that sorta thing.



I am looking forward to swinging this axe in the not to distatant future. It feels real good to bring this one back to life and I hope this thin straight haft gives it a little extra life.



And two more pics for good measure.

 
You did a real nice job on this! I also see that 'reading' grain in selecting a haft is not a problem for you either.
 
That's a real looker now. You don't see that many Sager single bits so it's a worthy project for restoration.
 
That's a fantastic refurb...very well done! And if my later 50s Sager is any indication, that steel should be fantastic as well.
 
Great job:thumbup: I also would like to try a straight handle on a single bit.

CedarEater said:
. . .
I also pounded the eye back into an acceptable shape
. . .
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How did you get the eye back in shape? I have two heads with deformed eyes that I think are worth putting handles on. The blades on these need to be straightened as well. Thanks
 
rjdankert said:
How did you get the eye back in shape? I have two heads with deformed eyes that I think are worth putting handles on. The blades on these need to be straightened as well. Thanks
Click to expand...

To start I left the haft in the eye and layed the head flat on a maple stump, deformed side up. I then hit the deformation with a smooth faced hammer just to see what would happen. As I noticed the deformation beginning to flatten out slightly I got encouraged and motivated to strike it a little harder with something a bit heavier. I happen to have a 6lb railroad spike hammer that has no haft so I just held that in hand and worked on the deformation with it until I felt good about the looks of the eye. After removing the haft I realized there was still more work to get the eye back to good shape. This time I layed it on my makeshift railroad track anvil and hit it again with the 6lb RR spike hammer while praying that the other wall of the eye wouldn't cave in. I got lucky and it worked out well.
 
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Nice job Cedar, I am sure it will serve you well. It's a funny thing but I just can't get used to seeing an axe with a straight handle. It is not something we are familiar with down here in Australia and the same goes with double bit axes, not something I have ever used though I have seen a few.
 
ICS said:
Nice job Cedar, I am sure it will serve you well. It's a funny thing but I just can't get used to seeing an axe with a straight handle. It is not something we are familiar with down here in Australia and the same goes with double bit axes, not something I have ever used though I have seen a few.
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The proponents of straight hafts claim increased accuracy over curved hafts. My double bits tend to strike quite accurately for me.
 
That would be an interesting discussion to have at some time, I have never seen a straight handled axe win a world wood chopping title and that I can assure you is all about accuracy. Matter of fact I have never seen a straight handle in an arena anywhere. Maybe It is something I might try so I can make a comparison myself, thanks for the info.
 
Thanks rj its a shame I wasn't a member of the forum back then. Some very interesting points of view there based on experience as opposed to science. In my view, and all things being considered, the truth always lies somewhere in between and we need to be open minded and sometimes think outside the square. There are no doubt people on this forum that know what they are talking about due to their experience and practical application, there are no doubt those that also jump in with the so called science of it all but one thing is for sure, regardless of the science or people's views, things may simply evolve and that can be based on one or the other.
 
I finally got the chance to sink it into a piece of wood today.

It feels good and hits hard. I can hardly wait to actually put it to work some day.
 
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