It followed me home (Part 2)

Rise AU said:
keesteel washboard axe and hatchet. Someone has put some unfortunate grind marks and fairly deep gouges in them trying to clean out the grooves with a flapper disk, mostly on the hatchet. I should be able to sand them out and smooth out the deepest ones.
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I've got the big one passable and hung, need to thin the haft and do the hatchet.
Its already decided I'll flip them since they're not great examples and I got em cheap.
 
jblyttle said:
IMG_20200825_160512 by Justin Lyttle, on Flickr
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Beautiful haft on the brush axe, fit for the finest keeper head in waiting. I wish we could all find vintage hafts like this for every project.
Sometimes I regret rehangs of certain heads when I come across handles like that.
Great work as always.
Edit: just noticed how the bottom of the blade cuts into the front of the haft. What a bummer.
 
That's one odd break...I'd not be surprised if some thermo-cycling mishap at the factory was at fault,at least initially,as underlying cause...I'm not sure how else one could break out a chunk so far into the blade,at such angle.

In some remote,abstract way i always wanted to get into re-blading old axes.
But never could think my way through it:Makes no sense economically,if it's a user, it'd be less energy/time/everything really to just replace.
And for collectors of course messing with it in any way ruins the value entirely...
 
jake pogg said:
That's one odd break...I'd not be surprised if some thermo-cycling mishap at the factory was at fault,at least initially,as underlying cause...I'm not sure how else one could break out a chunk so far into the blade,at such angle.

In some remote,abstract way i always wanted to get into re-blading old axes.
But never could think my way through it:Makes no sense economically,if it's a user, it'd be less energy/time/everything really to just replace.
And for collectors of course messing with it in any way ruins the value entirely...
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crbnSteeladdict said:
I understand that older Collins axes had inlaid bits. jblyttle jblyttle Would you be so kind and post some close up pictures of the damaged edge ? At least we can learn something new from this unfortunate situation.
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My large export Collins has an overlaid(that was supposed to say "inlaid") bit. As well as a really worn wedge pattern I have.
That big one is a strange duck... The carbon steel is nice and dark but the hamon line is way back from the edge. I'll upload a couple pics. Hard to get good photos with bad lighting but I think you can see it pretty clearly. 15987486838948238635742419460367.jpg
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I know this isn't the thread for it, so I'll not post about it here again.
Oh yeah, and the bottom edge mimics the top. Where the darker carbon steel goes way back in in the center. Same distance.
 
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Josh,does that not look like an inlaid bit then?

(Thanks for posting these...Are we really,you think,out of line discussing this here?We hardly ever get too far off topic,but maybe my morals are loose(-er) on this...)
 
jake pogg said:
Josh,does that not look like an inlaid bit then?

(Thanks for posting these...Are we really,you think,out of line discussing this here?We hardly ever get too far off topic,but maybe my morals are loose(-er) on this...)
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The forum has been down for me these past few hours. Yea it definitely has an inlaid bit!! Edit; I just looked and realized in my initial post it auto corrected my "inlaid" with "overlaid" and I didn't catch it. It does it every time because I more often write overlaid. Haha. Damn thing.
And I suppose you are right Jake. For the most part we do stick on topic pretty well. I just haven't been contributing nearly as much as I used to. So I feel less entitled to take some liberties that I once might've without another thought. This is an interesting subject right here.
 
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Totally,Josh.And,this is a very special year of all the others:Yesterday i've taught a blacksmithing class to a friend's 9-year old,breaking my rule of no forging in summer at all.
Poor kid,he's hardly seen any of his playmates at all for months,can you imagine not playing with other kids when you were that age?!
Granted,i live in injun country,where about 100 years ago a Huge percentage of population has died from several back-to-back epidemics.These people here take that sh@t seriously.

But one don't have to be an injun,very tough times for about everyone all around.Surely,no one will mind us straying off a strictest topic here and there.
You of all people,Josh,with your polite,cheerful,uber informative,and invariably Cheerful contributions....(And enviably articulate,at that:)

This is a thread about digging up old crap.Any intelligent analyses of it/based upon it only contributes to the already significant volume of the great body of knowledge stored here.It's good stuff,as the moderators would agree,i'm Sure of that.
(hey,David now is a moderator,i just noticed-cool!:)

No worries,mate,your thoughts on construction particulars are really valid and valuable and Greatly appreciated!!!:)
 
crbnSteeladdict said:
I understand that older Collins axes had inlaid bits. jblyttle jblyttle Would you be so kind and post some close up pictures of the damaged edge ? At least we can learn something new from this unfortunate situation.
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It has been ground, so my guess is that it chipped and then someone did the best they could to keep it usable by cleaning out the break.
 
Rise AU said:
Got a Welsh miners/colliers axe straight from Wales. No makers mark but it can only be a handful of makers. Pitting is so deep that the hardened edge is pronounced compared to the rest of the surface area.
Total length is 12 inches, 5in blade width and 4 1/2in eye. Weight is just under 6lb.
I'm going to order an adrionack double bit blank from ThraneAxeAndSawCo.
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Cymru am byth! Great find.
 
I have a garage-full of grubby old axes I shouldn't have bought, but I had to get these two. The big one hasn't been abused in edge or poll, but it was $2 at the holiday hay-wagon sale because the helve is bent in a semi-circle and broken on the convex side.
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The helve blank was $1 at a heck of an estate sale.
The hatchet was $2 at the same estate sale. I'll have to try to weld a fillet over its poxy side, but not till we've had a lot more rain.
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scrteened porch said:
I'll have to try to weld a fillet over its poxy side, but not till we've had a lot more rain.
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Why would you want to add weldment to such a sweet little axe?:)

There's a certain fitting homeliness to it,some rural forge,getting close to the end of a workday...:)

What that divot looks like to me is the smith going about it a bit heavy,and smashing that much softer iron in next the steel edge.Once you do that you're screwed,steel is too hard to level that spot back out.
(i've ended up with this particular pox on some of my own forgings:)
 
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