Hi, all -
Continuing the conversion of the old carpenter's hatchet to a carver, I was going to reprofile the bit yesterday, and my 25 year old Viking wet grinder finally (predictably) gave up the ghost. The known weak spot - the plastic drive gear - pretty much shattered. New grinder on the way. In the meantime, I figured I'd jump ahead to the next step, bluing the head. Decided a while ago to try rust bluing on this. Got to it today. Pretty happy with the results for a first try.
Took a few hours, earbuds, and a good playlist. Was not in a hurry, anyway. I made some tweaks to the procedure I found online, but really didn't find the process at all finicky. Took (I think) seven cycles of heating, coating, heating/drying, and boiling. Heated it up after the last boil had dried, applied a heavy coat of boiled linseed oil and let set for about an hour, then rubbed it in well. It's sunbathing right now; when it's cured, it'll get a coat or two of paste wax, after I finally get around to grinding it. Hoping to finish the handle and hang before the weekend. Have two mulberry trees that (according to the arborist) are going to come down sooner than later (damned lanternflies), so will start treating them as living spoon blank donors. So, the hatchet will be put to use presently!
Scott
Continuing the conversion of the old carpenter's hatchet to a carver, I was going to reprofile the bit yesterday, and my 25 year old Viking wet grinder finally (predictably) gave up the ghost. The known weak spot - the plastic drive gear - pretty much shattered. New grinder on the way. In the meantime, I figured I'd jump ahead to the next step, bluing the head. Decided a while ago to try rust bluing on this. Got to it today. Pretty happy with the results for a first try.
Took a few hours, earbuds, and a good playlist. Was not in a hurry, anyway. I made some tweaks to the procedure I found online, but really didn't find the process at all finicky. Took (I think) seven cycles of heating, coating, heating/drying, and boiling. Heated it up after the last boil had dried, applied a heavy coat of boiled linseed oil and let set for about an hour, then rubbed it in well. It's sunbathing right now; when it's cured, it'll get a coat or two of paste wax, after I finally get around to grinding it. Hoping to finish the handle and hang before the weekend. Have two mulberry trees that (according to the arborist) are going to come down sooner than later (damned lanternflies), so will start treating them as living spoon blank donors. So, the hatchet will be put to use presently!
Scott
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