Double bit axe? (Pic heavy)

Alan2442

Alan2442

Joined
Jan 12, 2011
Messages
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So I'm not new to the forum but I have been inactive for a few years...didn't seem that long till is it and think about it....guess I should work less. I picked up an old double bit axe for $10 and am going to restore it for use. While cleaning it up I found it had been stamped made in Sweden with what appears to be an HD above it. After searching around on the net for a with no result I figured I'd ask here.

Does anyone know who the maker is and if it's a decent ax?

Thanks in advance for the help.


Respectfully,

Alan






 
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It looks to be in pretty good shape and the handle appears to be workable, too. One side of the head appears to have been ground down more than the other. Maybe one edge was damaged and needed to be ground back.
 
Thanks for the replys. This is my first refurbishment of an older axe so I'm not really sure what I'm getting into. The handle unfortunately has a large crack at the end knob and it appears some one started to saw the head off. Looks to be recently done as the wood around the cut is still clean. I'm going cut it the rest of the way off, punch the eye, and set it to soak in some vinager.

Would anyone know where to get a quality handle? I hit a few hardware stores yesterday but every handle I found had the grain running the wrong way.
 
if i were you i would not soak this head in vinegar as it looks like regular dark Brown patina (serve to protect the steel underneat) opposed to red rust (eating at the steel underneat), but its your call ;)
 
So I figure I'll just turn this into a show and tell thread and update it as I go along. Sorry about the large photos I'm not sure how to shrink them.

Again thank you for the responses above. If you guys have any advice, i'm all ears.



I thought about not giving it a vinegar bath but in the end decided there was more rust than patina. I let it soak for 24 hours in distilled white vinegar. I think it came out pretty good...




Next I gave the entire head a light sanding...



Then I clamped it down to the work bench and went to work with some files. I had both a 10" and a 12" bastard files I was using at first but after a couple minutes they stopped removing metal. Upon closer examination the files were made in Mexico so I started digging through some of the tools I had inherited from my grandpa when he passed away. I came up with two 6" bastard files...a little smaller than I would have liked but good quality American steal got the job done...



I called it a night after I finished the re-profiling, but it's all set to be sharpened tomorrow...



I ended up tracking down a good handle. I sanded the finish off and gave it a light stain. After it drys I plan on treating it with boiled linseed oil. Forgot to get pics of it though .

Thanks for reading...
 
Good call getting out those old files. We should all return any crap files to the hardware stores. Maybe then they'll get the message.
 
Are swedes axes grind patern different than american ones? your axe head made me think of this question as most american made axe have a banana shaped grind and sweden axes usually have a parallel grind... hum.

It came out nicely by the way! :)
 
I'm not really sure on the grind...I just went for what felt right.

Thanks...I'm hoping to have it complete tonight at some point.
 
Completed axe porn to follow...

Several coats of boiled linseed oil on the handle after copious amounts of sanding



I then hit the head with a diamond sharpener and strop until both bits would remove hair. Took a little effort to get the thicker edge to razor sharp but I do love a sharp object. After that I began shaping the handle to fit the eye, mounted the head, smacked in the wedge, cut and sanded the excess wedge, and rubbed the whole thing down with linseed oil again. Couple hours later I wiped it off and took it for a spin.

I'm quite pleased with the results.

Thanks for reading.


 
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