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Just received my Collins Legitimus axe (pics)

Double Ott said:
"Now the next problem, there is a hell of a lot of rust on the inside of the eye, I don't want to ruin the patina by soaking it in vinegar but I would like to get rid of all that rust. I don't really know what to do."

I've used a 12 Ga. brass cleaning brush, chucked in a variable speed electric drill to clean out an axe eye. Seemed to work pretty well. I'll bet any gauge or caliber brush would work. A rifle brush might be a little stiffer and get in the narrow part of the eye better than a 12 Ga.

Tom
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That's a great idea. I'll have to remember this one.
 
lmalterna said:
Squatch,
There was a time when most hardware and feed stores had excellent handles for cheap- so the saving of a used handle was not such a priority. I am 47 but when I was a young teen, we slammed a head on a handle in 30 minutes- no grace to it, when the handle was abused and needed swapping 5.00 and 30 minutes had it done. These quality handles are now hard to come by so us nits are working our butts off to save them.
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That is interesting, I just wonder why they were also made so much nicer, I'm telling you this one looks and feels great!

lmalterna said:
I made a pass at that axe also ;) Glad it went to someone who appreciates it.

Bill
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Thanks, I Love this axe!
 
augsburger said:
When I get a CT pattern with a handle like this, I consider the handle as valuable as the head. You just can't find them like that anymore. I will restore the handle as best I can and then use it as a pattern either for a hand made handle or a store bought handle that I will thin out and reshape. I don't have a single store bought handle that hasn't been redone. As you can see by your well used axe, the thickness has much less to do with strength than most think it does. Cheers.
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Yeah I'm definitely going to use this handle as a model for my newer handles in the future.
 
Squatch,
I ended up getting lucky on another one and am VERY excited to try a Connecticut. If you don't mind I might add a pic to your thread when it comes.

Have you worked with Marine Tex yet? I have used it in gun apps and found it much better than the old Acrglass and have started using it with wood handles on tools, so far so good but feel I have not proven. It holds its bond well in the shock of rifles recoil though.

Bill
 
No, I haven't tried that out yet, I'm new to axes so I havent tried much of anything out. I'll look into that. The pinkness of the Bondo aint pretty but it'll hold--since it's used on the bodies of cars. I think I might melt some beeswax over the top of the eye or something like that to hide the pinkness. I'll look into Marine Tex though for the other handle I have that sort of messed up, thanks for the advice.
 
So I reprofiled the axe--my first sharpening on my beloved Connecticut. I hope I didn't ruin it.

I may have made the bevel too big, I was just trying to get it to 25 degrees. I was using a bevel gauge. I tried to keep in mind the U.S. Forest service recommendation on how the angel should be, not straight but sloping. I hated that I had to practice on this axe but I think it turned out okay, and I guess I didn't do anything that can't be fixed. It appears to be 25 degrees now.
 
One may notice that the axe head is not completely seated on the handle. I think this happened because I drove the wedge in while standing on a rubber mat, and maybe it was causing the head to bounce upward. By the time I noticed this, it was too late. I either scrapped the wedge and tried another day, or I just continued with a flaw. As I only have access to this shop while I'm at work, I chose to continue since they were closing up shop. If it gets loose, I'll do it again on a better surface.

Here's a pic of it in my sheath from "Outlaw Saddlery". You can get it on ebay for about $50
 
augsburger said:
When I get a CT pattern with a handle like this, I consider the handle as valuable as the head. You just can't find them like that anymore. I will restore the handle as best I can and then use it as a pattern either for a hand made handle or a store bought handle that I will thin out and reshape.
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Agreed. Those nice old handles are gold. Axes survive. Handles don't! The forms that handles take are maybe as varied as axe patterns themselves. SAVE THE HANDLES!
 
Ya done good lad. You get a pat on the shoulder from me. Any sharpened axe is better than a dull one and the boys 40 years ago would have laughed themselves silly to hear there were arguments about how to go about doing this.
 
Thanks for the advice square_peg, I still have to buy a rasp, I think I'm going to wait to rehang it when I either get bored of it or it loosens, whichever comes first.
 
@300Six, thanks, I don't think I Messed it up so thats all I can hope for. This took me about 3 hours to sharpen. I only used a bastard file instead of a crosscut coarse file. I figured id rather take longer than make a big mistake. I still have to sharpen with my dmt diafold. At least the reprofiling is done though-for now at least.
 
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