Ever seen an axe head like this?

[Hackman4life]

Greetings Forum Members!

So I have followed this forum from the shadows for a while now learning alot from many contributors, but now I need some assistance of my own.

My trusty old axe from Canadian tire finally got a broken handle so rather than tossing it I decided to rebuild it and have some fun.
Long story short I cleaned up the head, did a cool patina on it, got a new handle, made it look beautiful and finally got to the sharpening stage and realized... this is a weird axe head, I did a bunch of research about convex cheeks vs flat cheeks and haven't been able to find any explanation for this other than poor manufacturing but I figured hey, maybe someone has seen this before.

I noticed this particular axe head has a concave AND a convex cheek, from all my research I saw most axes have convex cheeks/high-center line(North american style) or flat cheeks(european style)

has anyone ever seen this before? is it a legit design? or is this just a poorly made axe that I will love regardless? lol ... Keep in mind I've had the axe for probably 15yrs, usage was just for splitting firewood and chopping down the odd dead tree, I never cared for my axe much over the years so its never really been sharpened or shaped until now so theres a 98% chance it came like this from the manufacturer or I mangled it somehow while using it(2% chance?)

 

[quinton]

Hell's Bell's!

 

[Miller '72]

Well I have not seen that before.
My best guess agrees with your 98% gut feeling.

 

[Ernest DuBois]

Yes, I have seen it, the blade is bent and it most likely got that way splitting hard gnarly wood. Could it have been oak? Maybe the blade got bent at the same time the handle got broke?

 

[DB_Cruiser]

I have a beater 4lb Husky that I use only for splitting which is developing a warp like that. I am noticing the toe is starting to move off center to one side. It isn't as pronounced as yours but it is getting worse as I use it, creating a bow in the bit like that. I split hickory and maple with it (mostly hickory) and some of it is pretty evil grained stuff. Not surprised to see it on my cheap, mystery steel Chinese axe. I'd love to replace it with a Kelly Dandenong or a Hytest Challenger or Forester.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Either poor manufacture or damaged. But hewing axes should usually have a slightly dished form not unlike that so that it cuts off the fibers much like a lipped adze.

 

[Hackman4life]

Thanks for the responses everyone! I think you guys are right that its probably just damaged/poor mfg. It is likely made of mediocre steel and saw its fair share of knotty wood. I guess it gives the axe some character, and makes it a little funky to sharpen, it also gives me a reason to continue my hunt for a better quality axe haha.

 

[Square_peg]

and haven't been able to find any explanation for this other than poor manufacturing

That's it.

 

[garry3]

I had a Husqvarna that had a sad (or maybe a smiling) bit. Someone liked it a lot more then I did.

 

[Ernest DuBois]

That's it.

I have done something similar to an axe and that was not it at all rather the job was beyond the intended use of the axe. In other words IT was a matter of bad judgement on my part. It happens and I learned from it.

 

[jake pogg]

I have a beater 4lb Husky that I use only for splitting which is developing a warp like that. I am noticing the toe is starting to move off center to one side. It isn't as pronounced as yours but it is getting worse as I use it, creating a bow in the bit like that. I split hickory and maple with it (mostly hickory) and some of it is pretty evil grained stuff. Not surprised to see it on my cheap, mystery steel Chinese axe. I'd love to replace it with a Kelly Dandenong or a Hytest Challenger or Forester.

A number of you folks seem to've encountered this.
I never had myself;however,i do get to mess about with the insides of a number of axes(and other chunks of steel).
I'd say that it would Not be possible to induce such curvature by any type of work.
Such warp would be consistent with some kind of internal stresses being released.(maybe by progressive sharpening).
What we call Hardness in an isothermally treated steel object are actually very intense stresses.These may not have been distributed evenly to begin with,and/or are changing with time/wear/some other mysterious parameter.
Normally similar warpage is associated with an uneven heat build-up(in gears,shafts,caw blades et c.).I doubt that splitting of any wood no matter how awful nor any other loading of a mechanical nature could accomplish this.
I'd say that much more likely it's the result of previous uneven heat-treatment coming out...(steel is never entirely static other than at absolute zero,and 0 Kelvin is what,couple hundred F minus?).
Theoretically,one could take a grinder say to one side of the blade only,relieving the hardness on that side but not penetrating the blade throughout;eventually the harder side may well pull itself into a curl like that,similar to built-in tension in wood.
So i'd vote for some long-term,creeping,thermal effect.

 

[Square_peg]

Good explanation, Jake!

 

[Ernest DuBois]

I'd say you are a hammer looking for a nail Jake.
It's a different axe, still the wood has gotten the better of it.

 

[Agent_H]

That is saddening Ernest - what type of axe is that?

 

[Ernest DuBois]

It's not so similar to the axe in question if that's what your asking. The two instances when I bent axes similar to that one, I didn't capture on film, as we used to say it. Getting these two axes repaired is what lead me on my search for a good smid which ended when I met Bernard Lucas.

 

[Agent_H]

It's not so similar to the axe in question if that's what your asking. The two instances when I bent axes similar to that one, I didn't capture on film, as we used to say it. Getting these two axes repaired is what lead me on my search for a good smid which ended when I met Bernard Lucas.

I wasn't commenting on the similarities of the axes - just had a gut-reaction to the damage on that one and thought it may have been an older Swedish axe with that collar and bevels. I do read your blog and wondered if that was one you were working on a while ago. Bernard Lucas seems like quite a good character to know never the less.
I'll spectate more lol.

 

[Ernest DuBois]

No it's an Austrian. I have had a Swedish dished out like that, a skradbila, so side-axe, broadaxe, hewing axe. As you know, as a follower over there I took my peening hammer to it and peened it.

 

[Old Axeman]

I am with Jake on the heat treatment causing the problem. I have never seen any type of axe bend from any use in working wood. I have spent a lot of the last 65 yrs working with , and being around working with, axes being used on wood, day in and day out.

 

[Fmont]

Either way, it's a good argument for splitting that much wood with a maul, convex cheeks, and good quality tools.

 

[Ernest DuBois]

This is not even a splitting axe. It looks like a pretty light weight axe for felling or limbing though who can tell for sure from these photos, anyway, light weight axe used for heavy duty work and getting bent in the process, it's even just a question of probability, c'mon the release of internal tensions brought on by uneven removal of material through sharpening? This cannot be even a serious practical proposition in this situation.