COTS Project Thread

Square_peg said:
The swell looks good to me. I like an abrupt swell like that.
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chuxwan said:
Dude, what is that axe? That's perfect handle work, too! Glad to see someone doing it right :thumbup::thumbup:
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Thanks! That axe is one I cut from a larger, unmarked head that no one bid on at the auction site. Here is a before and after of the handle and the head when I cut it.

handlework by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

noname_large_cutandground2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
 
Very nice! I cut down an old Trojan head last year, I wish I had taken pics before selling it off, now I don't have access to the equipment anymore. What do you use to make the cut?
 
Getting impatient waiting on my handles and have been tossing around the idea of tearing one out of another axe where neither the handle nor head meet standards - decided it needed to happen. The head is ok, just had been used and the bit is a little thick now, and I'd rather work on something else than thin it down and get it more to where I'd like it. The handle on the other hand, even after plenty of work originally, is just way below my criteria for myself today and luckily, was so thick that it had a good stick hidden somewhere within. On the advise of some of you all I got myself a rasp so that I could attempt to mimic the swell on my old handle pattern. I just can't get the hook leading into the swell with a larger tool and the rasp started looking like a must have if I was really going to get an old fashioned feel. So I tore the handle out of the Black King it was in, and got to work thinning and shaping. A few things I wanted to duplicate from the old one; obviously the swell, but also the fully blended shoulders, and the more oval (rather than egg) cross section of the handle.

Here is a before and after .... or more of an after and before. :( The Black King at the bottom and the stick now hung with the Craftsman seen earlier on in this thread.
heartwoodhandle_beforeafter by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

Here it is "before" as compared to my old pattern stick.
heartwoodhandle_vintagecomp by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

There it is finished with the oldie, my rasp and the craftsman head with freshly worked bit - not sharp but pretty well set.
heartwoodhandle_finished by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

Looks like I could have given it even a little more hook, but it feels great, it feels right. There are just some design differences in these handles - the "bend" in the old handle is later. Better pics tomorrow.
 
cityofthesouth said:
There it is finished with the oldie, my rasp and the craftsman head with freshly worked bit - not sharp but pretty well set.
heartwoodhandle_finished by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
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That is really nice shaping. This picture is quite impressive as well.

I've got a handle slimmed down, head set but not wedged and have been avoiding exactly what you have done so well here.

Appreciated your narrative.
 
Agent_H said:
That is really nice shaping. This picture is quite impressive as well.

I've got a handle slimmed down, head set but not wedged and have been avoiding exactly what you have done so well here.

Appreciated your narrative.
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Thanks. The half round rasp really made it easy and I feel like I have much more control with the rasp vs my belt sander. So I would say go for it!
 
cityofthesouth,

I found your use of walnut hulls interesting. Its been some time ago now, but I remember rusting traps every year. Then they got boiled in walnut hulls followed by wax. The finish has much of the same look as your axes.
 
Thanks @garry3 - it was purely accidental experimentation but seems to work pretty well.

This cut up Keen Kutter has been seen in other threads but uh, well someone used my handle to split wood as much as the head and so I thought that 19 inch handle would make something interesting. Really, the way I had to end up cutting the head to get around the damage makes it hang really "open" which doesn't lend itself well to a longer handle - the whole geometry is kinda goofy really. It was easy to over strike. It's not really fair to compare it to the Gransfors because the head alone weighs almost as much as the entire Small Forest Axe but I brought it out for size comparison purposes. Annoyingly I lost about 3/4 of an inch of handle up top trying to get the head down to tight wood - HH reduced the tongue too much width-wise. I really wanted to keep every inch I could but no dice. It's about 18-1/2 inches now.

19inch_keenkutter_gransfors by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

19inch_keenkutter by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

19inch_keenkutter_wedge by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
 
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Couple new projects brought in last week. The flattening hammer appears to be homemade and the eye doesn't appear to have any taper at all - doesn't really matter much given its purpose. Collins Legitimus 3-1/2lb trade axe that is interesting but I have to say, feels strange. The handle is thick and the whole thing has an overall huge presence in the hand. The eye is far too big for any typical handle and HH says that a pickaroon stick will fit it. Of course all the weight is bit heavy and the walls of the eye are so thick that it feels a little unwieldy to me. I will have to use it a bit before I get a new stick on it and get it back to its owner.

Forgot to post pics of my spoke shave! It's been a great addition.

collins_tradeaxe by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

collins_tradeaxe_spokeshave by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

collins_tradeaxe_rear by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

collins_tradeaxe_eye by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

I think all of those wedges are metal!!!! So I can see yellow and red paint. Was it painted at some point by someone other than Collins? Maybe. I can't picture Collins driving 4 metal wedges in random places like that.

And these pics are courtesy of my shiny new camera! They probably don't look much different from my other pics but it took FAR less work to make them look decent.
 
AAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAA! ...... no :disturbed:

collins_trade_newhandlefit1 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

collins_trade_newhandlefit2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

collins_trade_removed2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

There is maybe a 1/2 inch of shoulder that I could move it down onto, but I just can't picture this working. This is a pickaroon handle. No way the wedges were original, so I have to assume it was rehandled and also painted at some point. The handle is neatly stamped on the bottom "1964".
 
COTS,
When I hang a head, I like to see about 1/16" space all the way around the top of the eye when the axe is seated, and ready to wedge. "By looking at the picks", I think if you lower the head the 1/2" that haft will work perfectly.
 
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