Finely got the paint stripped off the Gold Bond, the stripper cost more than the axe. I think that this is enough cleaning because any more like vinegar will ruin what is left of the stamp and I'm thinking that I'll make a miners style haft about 30'' long octagon. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Rick
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I can only talk about how I do it but here are some things I have to remind myself of. *I use a really sharp spokeshave to start them but others will use something else.
Octagons are cool but they arent the first thing that I look at. They are the fun part but doing them first makes removing material later harder for me.
1. Fit the head and even everything out horizontally and vertically this leaves you able to run your spokeshave the same amount of times more or less. At this point fat is fine but being even makes it easier.
2. Make the shoulder equal on both sides and mark off the swell and where you want the flats to be.
3. Start at the shoulder behind the poll and flatten to the swell, flip over and do the same to the belly.
4. Do either side, then take down the edges for the 5-8th flats to as even as you can.
5. From there I usually pin it diagonally in my vise and use a fine rasp for the edge flats then flip and repeat, always working opposite sides to keep it more or less even (more hopefully).
6. Remove electrical tape and pencil in where you want your swell to start and end. Spokeshaves dont like sharp angles so draw a line around the flat that looks the farthest out and bring the rest to that one using a fine rasp. That is what I realized doing this double bit's rear end.:
7. Using a white rubber hammer is helpful at the end so you dont get black on the end for the final fit.
8. Be a little careful sanding as it is easy to lose an edge after you got them just right.
9. Raise the gran twice at least because you now have unnatural sharp angles that if lifted from say, spending the night outside or rain when using it, it can actually create the start of a runout to separate. This I only know from forgetting an early one after leaving it to dry
It became much thinner after that...
Blah blah blah - I learn something every time I try it and dont know even a small portion of what some of the guys here know by feel.
That is going to be a terrific axe you are working on.
Please share how it goes!
In the right light you can just make out 'Hull' stamped on the handle. There are a couple of cracks but they are parallel with the blade so I think I can keep using it... well, once I put a wedge in it. Oddly enough it didn't have one and looks like the original just fell out somewhere along the line.
