Collins 5lb Legitimus --What was it painted with originally? (red)

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Should I send it out to get powder coated? Does anyone have a color name, number or anything I could match? What did they paint axe heads with when they were new at the factory? This was red, but I guess either blue or red would be fine. Once I find out what type of paint was used, I'm sure I can find it in red. Thanks.
 
Powder coating usually involves an oven...I wouldn't do that for fear of dropping the hardness. Enamel paint should work well, but any coating including powdercoating will get worn off an axe head.
 
You might check out DuraCoat. I think it would hold up pretty well although nothing is going to hold up well.
I coated a cz82 with it and the stuff is tough as nails. Lots of colors to choose from. To answer the original question led paint would be my guess
 
I would not polish up the head removing any character and patina then paint the head, and fresh paint and patina doesn't usually look all that great and wears off anyways.
What I would do is find something close to the original color and paint and accent stripe of this color on the handle, just give a touch of homage to its original paint.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I would not polish up the head removing any character and patina then paint the head, and fresh paint and patina doesn't usually look all that great and wears off anyways.
What I would do is find something close to the original color and paint and accent stripe of this color on the handle, just give a touch of homage to its original paint.
Click to expand...

Back story on the axe: It's an old 5# Legitimus (red, not blue) that was her (wife's) grandfather's. After he passed her dad took it and used (and abused) it. I borrowed it a while back and there was a massive crack and hunk of metal missing from the top of the poll (and the haft was cracked). Her grandfather was a tool & die maker and all of his tools (that her dad hasn't touched) are all the best of the best and in perfect, well maintained/cared for condition... so I can't imagine he would have bashed the poll with a hand sledge (or similar).

I welded up the metal and fixed the axe as best I could (used 100% CO2 for best penetration). I was able to save the Collins logo and everything --but what was left of the poll was/is pretty mushroomed. I dipped the part of the head that I needed to weld in vinegar so between that, the new metal and a small amount of cleaning (die grinder with mostly scotch brite pads to clean up a little splatter)... I was hoping to start over with the axe. Meaning clean it, paint it with whatever is most similar to what Collins put on it originally, put a haft on it and then give it back to her father --knowing he'll give it right back to me. Which means it'll look great when I give it to him, but then I'll use it (and not bash it with a sledge) so the patina will eventually come back, and the haft will darken with age like it was, etc. Or I've got so many other axes I may just make a wall hangar out of out... Who knows.


TL;DR: Patina is gone/ruined, I want to paint it, looking for something as close to factory so that when axe is used patina will re-develop as it did when the axe was new.


Thanks.
 
In that case, I would go with fire engine red because it's " THE " Iconic red color used on axes and tool boxes back in the day. It may not be an exact perfect match for what Collins specifically used, but won't look wrong at all.
 
i have a collins with red on it, it's just a few shades darker than fire truck, it's like Venetian red or something similar
 
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