Buggy axle ax

Raymond Richard

Raymond Richard

Joined
Jun 17, 2001
Messages
5,705
A few months ago I went to a friend place to demo part of a really old barn foundation. Anyway one of the things I found in the old concrete was a piece of buggy axle along with a hundred pounds or more of various forms of wrought iron. Wasn't real sure what to do with the axle thinking there wouldn't be enough carbon for it to harden. Long story short I went ahead and forged a ax head out of it. I was able to harden it up in water and here's a few pictures of what I got. The head is 5 1/4" with a 3 1/4" cutting edge. The handle is just over 11" out of curly maple. It weighs just under 20oz. The two horse shoes were also found in the wall. Bottom picture was taken shortly after forging and the rest of the axle is there with it.

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I love the grooves in the head!!!
I bet you could get top dollar for that on Ebay


How do you "carve" the handle?
Lathe?
By hand?
I was thinking of carving some handles for some hatchet heads I have
I have been experimenting with white oak..............
 
:) Beautiful work!!! The handle is georgeous!...but why did you choose to make the haft so short?
 
My gosh that is the nicest hawk I have ever seen bar none. That is really more a piece of fine art than just a tool. Great use of old found material. The handle is incredible, I really like the sense of proportion in your work.
 
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