- Joined
- Aug 31, 2012
- Messages
- 390
A couple weekends ago I stumbled upon this crusty/rusty dead boys axe. The rust was heavy and I knew it would be unlikely to find a stamp on it or any markings at all. The bit had been ground on aggressively, most likely with a bench grinder. The poll had some mushrooming but not too bad. It weighed 2lbs or so and cost $2.00. Something about this dead old axe head resonated with me so I brought it home with some other cool rusty but not so crusty stuff.
As purchased.
Once I got it home I held it and looked at it more closely. It felt good and my curiosity began to grow. I wanted to know more about this dead boys axe head. Was it really dead or could it be brought back to life? Did it have a forge welded bit? How much good steel was still there to work with? I just had to know some of these answers. I knew what I had to do...vinegar bath! I usually prefer to cup brush and leave the patina but not on this one. My desire to answer some questions and see what I had won out. Besides, there wasn't going to be any stamp anyway.
After a day and a half in the vinegar bath and a cup brush treatment on a drill motor it looked like this.
This side had the most mushrooming and as you can see this thing is pock marked rather deeply.
Although the vinegar bath did not show a forge welded bit which I was hoping for it did show that the heat treatment extended all the way back to the front of the eye. I know the heat treatment line did not show in the above pictures but you will see how far it extends in later pics. I was excited and became convinced that I could breath some new life into this boys axe after all.
The bench grinder did this bit no favors and left it rather fat.
Pitted poll is fun.
I was getting so excited about this little guy that I was really begining to wonder how the file would feel on this fat bit. I also began day dreaming about a 24" straight haft for it. I was even contemplating placing an order for a miners axe haft for a boys axe eye. First I had to touch it with a file to determine if it was even worth it to hang it.
Before even that though I wanted to test out a wire wheel I bought some time ago for my angle grinder. I wanted to get this thing really clean. I ran that wire wheel over this axe head horizontal, verticle, at a 45, both directions and man that thing took every last bit of grime off this head (plus a little skin off the side of my thumb, probably not a good idea to hold the axe head bare handed while hitting it with a wire wheel on a grinder and no guard, just saying a 1"x3/8" strip of hamburger meat on your thumb is not too pleasant. Did I know better? Yes. Would I do it again? Maybe/probably.) Looking much cleaner and you will notice a much more distinct heat treatment line in the pictures down below.
I peened on the mushrooming and was extremely surprised at how malleable the poll was. I was able to pound the mushrooming back quite a bit which was nice because there was no way I was putting the file on the poll of this one.
So yeah, back to the filing of the bit and putting an edge on it. I put my new USA Nicholson handy file on it and it really had a hard time at first. I tried my Simonds multi-cut on it and it skiddered right across the bit. The Simonds has cut a lot of metal though so I think its getting tired. As the Nicholson got started though it began to cut nicely but right on the edge of chatter. Once I got down to where the file was cutting smoothly I switched up again to the multi-cut and it just would not bite. So, I did the thinning of the bit and cleaning up the edge with the handy file. It was quite handy and got me even more excited about bringing this one back to life.
I am not sure why but I have a strong draw to this boys axe.
I was recently gifted this hunk of beech. When I first saw the flat grain I knew I wanted it for hafts since orienting the haft would be so easy.
Beech haft it will be.
Unfortunately, it will most likely be awhile before I get around to making and hanging the haft for this boys axe head but I guarentee you it will be on my mind frequently. I like this one so much I just had to share it with you all. I will be updating this WIP as progress is made.
As purchased.
Once I got it home I held it and looked at it more closely. It felt good and my curiosity began to grow. I wanted to know more about this dead boys axe head. Was it really dead or could it be brought back to life? Did it have a forge welded bit? How much good steel was still there to work with? I just had to know some of these answers. I knew what I had to do...vinegar bath! I usually prefer to cup brush and leave the patina but not on this one. My desire to answer some questions and see what I had won out. Besides, there wasn't going to be any stamp anyway.
After a day and a half in the vinegar bath and a cup brush treatment on a drill motor it looked like this.
This side had the most mushrooming and as you can see this thing is pock marked rather deeply.
Although the vinegar bath did not show a forge welded bit which I was hoping for it did show that the heat treatment extended all the way back to the front of the eye. I know the heat treatment line did not show in the above pictures but you will see how far it extends in later pics. I was excited and became convinced that I could breath some new life into this boys axe after all.
The bench grinder did this bit no favors and left it rather fat.
Pitted poll is fun.
I was getting so excited about this little guy that I was really begining to wonder how the file would feel on this fat bit. I also began day dreaming about a 24" straight haft for it. I was even contemplating placing an order for a miners axe haft for a boys axe eye. First I had to touch it with a file to determine if it was even worth it to hang it.
Before even that though I wanted to test out a wire wheel I bought some time ago for my angle grinder. I wanted to get this thing really clean. I ran that wire wheel over this axe head horizontal, verticle, at a 45, both directions and man that thing took every last bit of grime off this head (plus a little skin off the side of my thumb, probably not a good idea to hold the axe head bare handed while hitting it with a wire wheel on a grinder and no guard, just saying a 1"x3/8" strip of hamburger meat on your thumb is not too pleasant. Did I know better? Yes. Would I do it again? Maybe/probably.) Looking much cleaner and you will notice a much more distinct heat treatment line in the pictures down below.
I peened on the mushrooming and was extremely surprised at how malleable the poll was. I was able to pound the mushrooming back quite a bit which was nice because there was no way I was putting the file on the poll of this one.
So yeah, back to the filing of the bit and putting an edge on it. I put my new USA Nicholson handy file on it and it really had a hard time at first. I tried my Simonds multi-cut on it and it skiddered right across the bit. The Simonds has cut a lot of metal though so I think its getting tired. As the Nicholson got started though it began to cut nicely but right on the edge of chatter. Once I got down to where the file was cutting smoothly I switched up again to the multi-cut and it just would not bite. So, I did the thinning of the bit and cleaning up the edge with the handy file. It was quite handy and got me even more excited about bringing this one back to life.
I am not sure why but I have a strong draw to this boys axe.
I was recently gifted this hunk of beech. When I first saw the flat grain I knew I wanted it for hafts since orienting the haft would be so easy.
Beech haft it will be.
Unfortunately, it will most likely be awhile before I get around to making and hanging the haft for this boys axe head but I guarentee you it will be on my mind frequently. I like this one so much I just had to share it with you all. I will be updating this WIP as progress is made.
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