Square_peg
Gold Member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2012
- Messages
- 13,824
I found this one at a flea market a couple months ago. It was rusty and pitted but the haft looked mostly sound aside from the nails used as wedges. There was no visible maker's mark.
Since this haft looked pretty good I decided to try and save it for re-use. One way to do this is to shave the haft below the axe head to allow the head to slide further down onto the haft. That may seem counter-intuitive but what it does is make the haft poke up through the eye. The two sides of the haft can then be trimmed, revealing the wedge(s) which can then be pulled. Thanks to forum member Steve Tall for showing us this method.
This is hard on a knife as the edge impacts the axe with each cut. But if you have a knife suited for this work then it's not a big deal. I shaved down the haft and then trimmed off the shavings with a box cutter blade.
As I trimmed away the haft I discovered the eye ridges. Some axe manufacturers used these to help keep the axe head fitted to the haft. 3 ridges on each side is how I've always found these.
With the ridges it was tough to get the head to slide down the haft but I got it down about an 1/8", enough to expose the nail heads and some fragments of the wood wedge after I had trimmed off the sides of the haft.
A flexible Japanese pull saw allowed me to cut close to the axe head without dulling the saw.
Even with the nails removed this haft was murder to get out of the eye. I had to beat it quite forcefully with a wide steel punch to knock it out. In retrospect I could have left this axe assembled as I found it and just sharpened it. The hang was plenty sound. But those nails were ugly.
Finally I had them separated and I managed to save the haft. I sanded the haft clean for refinishing with tung oil.
Next I went to work on the axe head. This thing is hard! It's one of the 3 hardest axes I've sharpened. This really surprised me on a no-name axe. But I realize that the pitting may have obscured any maker's mark.
Thankfully it need only minimal profiling and then sharpening. The hardness of the bits probably explains why so little work was needed on this axe. It took a very keen edge, easily shaving the hairs off my forearm.
I cut a new wedge out of some super-dry London Plane wood I have on hand. The haft got 2 coats of tung oil before assemble and a 3rd coat once assembled.
The re-assembled axe. I think it looks great and I'm happy that I was able to re-use the old haft. The haft is 26-3/4" after being trimmed and re-assembled.
I had to go after the rust pretty aggressively with a sanding pad on a 7-1/2 angle grinder. That removed the worst of the rust. Then I finished the job with a brass wire cup on a 4-1/2" angle grinder. Even after all that work a respectable patina survived. Now I need to make a sheath or mask for it.
Since this haft looked pretty good I decided to try and save it for re-use. One way to do this is to shave the haft below the axe head to allow the head to slide further down onto the haft. That may seem counter-intuitive but what it does is make the haft poke up through the eye. The two sides of the haft can then be trimmed, revealing the wedge(s) which can then be pulled. Thanks to forum member Steve Tall for showing us this method.
This is hard on a knife as the edge impacts the axe with each cut. But if you have a knife suited for this work then it's not a big deal. I shaved down the haft and then trimmed off the shavings with a box cutter blade.
As I trimmed away the haft I discovered the eye ridges. Some axe manufacturers used these to help keep the axe head fitted to the haft. 3 ridges on each side is how I've always found these.
With the ridges it was tough to get the head to slide down the haft but I got it down about an 1/8", enough to expose the nail heads and some fragments of the wood wedge after I had trimmed off the sides of the haft.
A flexible Japanese pull saw allowed me to cut close to the axe head without dulling the saw.
Even with the nails removed this haft was murder to get out of the eye. I had to beat it quite forcefully with a wide steel punch to knock it out. In retrospect I could have left this axe assembled as I found it and just sharpened it. The hang was plenty sound. But those nails were ugly.
Finally I had them separated and I managed to save the haft. I sanded the haft clean for refinishing with tung oil.
Next I went to work on the axe head. This thing is hard! It's one of the 3 hardest axes I've sharpened. This really surprised me on a no-name axe. But I realize that the pitting may have obscured any maker's mark.
Thankfully it need only minimal profiling and then sharpening. The hardness of the bits probably explains why so little work was needed on this axe. It took a very keen edge, easily shaving the hairs off my forearm.
I cut a new wedge out of some super-dry London Plane wood I have on hand. The haft got 2 coats of tung oil before assemble and a 3rd coat once assembled.
The re-assembled axe. I think it looks great and I'm happy that I was able to re-use the old haft. The haft is 26-3/4" after being trimmed and re-assembled.
I had to go after the rust pretty aggressively with a sanding pad on a 7-1/2 angle grinder. That removed the worst of the rust. Then I finished the job with a brass wire cup on a 4-1/2" angle grinder. Even after all that work a respectable patina survived. Now I need to make a sheath or mask for it.
