Filing an axe

Agent the best I can tell from the pics my Pferd has more teeth per inch. It's 12" cuts pretty smooth and bites the hardest of bits. I like to use my 14" Heller nucut to break through the patina and step down in file length as I go. I always finish with my little Nicholson USA. It leaves them dry shaving sharp. Then if if I want a more refined edge I go to the sandpaper and polish her up.
Here's my most used 6 files. The blue handle is the Pferd. And a close up of my Heller beside an old vintage multi kut.
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That Heller looks hungry. I have a couple Hellers but they are not in prime condition.
 
For good current-production files, Pferd, Simonds, Grobet, F. Dick, and Stella Bianca are all good makers.
 
jblyttle said:
Thanks, this is timely. I've done a couple lately but have been meaning to re-watch a technique video.
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JB, I've noticed that many of your hangs don't include any work on the bit. FWIW, that might be for the best. Good edge work isn't appreciated or valued like good haft work is, even though it's just as important to the final product. I think that both edge work and haft work are undervalued. Everyone wants to do it themselves and thinks that they are perfectly capable, though few really are. This ties in with the 'Uncle Pimpy' thread on these forums. Unless you're doing something distinctive and artistic the value of your work is poorly recognized. A mall ninja axe sells for twice what a good work axe sells for.

Most of the time you're best off just taking the wire cup brush to them and flipping them. Making a fine axe is just something to do for yourself or for a friend in my experience.

The real pleasure in using an axe is to take an axe with a great haft like you and several other forum members are making and combine it with a finely honed banana or half banana grind and then putting it to work on some timber. That is what this axe man enjoys most.
 
Agent_H said:
Any examples of the outcomes? - fishing for pictures :)
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Grind.jpg


The bit was already thin enough on this axe that I didn't have to go back any further to get the bit profile I want.


And BTW, I should have stated this in my first post and will go back and add it:

NEVER LEAVE A SHARP TOOL IN THE VISE!!!!!

Somebody can bump into it and do themselves a major body trauma. Imagine stumbling into a razor sharp axe that's mounted solid as a rock. Big ouch!
 
I also don't always sharpen bits, only if I think I'll be using them or it's going to a friend. I keep telling my self that "no more full size bits" and then I find one I don't have so I pick it up and put it in the box for later, I'm guessing that just the addiction.

These quotes pretty much say it all as for what I'm doing.

Square_peg said:
JB, I've noticed that many of your hangs don't include any work on the bit. FWIW, that might be for the best. Good edge work isn't appreciated or valued like good haft work is, even though it's just as important to the final product. I think that both edge work and haft work are undervalued. Everyone wants to do it themselves and thinks that they are perfectly capable, though few really are. This ties in with the 'Uncle Pimpy' thread on these forums. Unless you're doing something distinctive and artistic the value of your work is poorly recognized. A mall ninja axe sells for twice what a good work axe sells for.

Most of the time you're best off just taking the wire cup brush to them and flipping them. Making a fine axe is just something to do for yourself or for a friend in my experience.

The real pleasure in using an axe is to take an axe with a great haft like you and several other forum members are making and combine it with a finely honed banana or half banana grind and then putting it to work on some timber. That is what this axe man enjoys most.
Click to expand...
 
Square_peg said:
JB, I've noticed that many of your hangs don't include any work on the bit. FWIW, that might be for the best. Good edge work isn't appreciated or valued like good haft work is, even though it's just as important to the final product. I think that both edge work and haft work are undervalued. Everyone wants to do it themselves and thinks that they are perfectly capable, though few really are. This ties in with the 'Uncle Pimpy' thread on these forums. Unless you're doing something distinctive and artistic the value of your work is poorly recognized. A mall ninja axe sells for twice what a good work axe sells for.

Most of the time you're best off just taking the wire cup brush to them and flipping them. Making a fine axe is just something to do for yourself or for a friend in my experience.

The real pleasure in using an axe is to take an axe with a great haft like you and several other forum members are making and combine it with a finely honed banana or half banana grind and then putting it to work on some timber. That is what this axe man enjoys most.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I am self employed (technology) and have 4 kids, I only have so much time. I have so many axes/heads now that I'm only re hanging the good ones and quick flipping common or lower value things. Bit work was one of those things that I felt wasn't going to add justifiable value. BUT, just as I'm only taking my time with worthy heads, it seems wrong not to complete the job. Imagine that last axe I posted with a dull untouched bit. Nice but not the same. Also, I think that a nice patina with a gleaming freshly filed bit adds a striking (haha) beauty to the tool. If it is worthy of my time and I'm going to ask more for the finished product, it should be done right. For a select few I'm probably going to do sheaths too. This is why I also need to mostly stick with production handles versus making my own. Time.

My only problem now (not really a problem) is that I currently have about 20 worthy heads and counting. Twice that in hammers.
 
Agent_H said:
I noticed you were maintaining your angle and form by using your torso in a rocking motion. Reminds me of something you shared earlier:

Page%201.jpg
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One sentence in that second to last paragraph needs an adendum,

"The beginner should aim to hold the file in a position perfectly parallel with the horizontal surface to be flat filed."

Important in achieving a stroke parallel to the work surface is placement of the work in the vise. I try to place the axe in the vise at a slightly upward angle so that filing level produces the bevel angle I want. The closer the work is set to your filing angle the easier it will be to maintain accuracy. Also, gripping the axe by the eye and letting the bit flare out over the vise ensures that the bit is very resistant to downward pressure. That's also a key.
 
Square_peg said:
First fit the eye to the head but don't wedge it permanent. Then shape the haft to the head, indexing any octagoning to the head. Next separate the haft and head and finish them separately. When the head is honed and the haft is finished bring the two completed components together.
Click to expand...

I'd like to add to this. Besides shaping the haft to the head there is some small advantage to be gained by also filing the axe to the haft. This is especially true for an axe with a slightly mis-aligned eye. You might as well take advantage of every opportunity to get things lined up the best you can.
 
I'm having a problem with the video link and my phone.
Can you give the video title so I can search for it on another device?
Thanks
 
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