Modified Roofing hammer

Rupestris

Rupestris

Gold Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2006
Messages
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I've got two old hatchet heads that need work. Both are Roofing hatchets that have seen better days. One is a Plum that is in usable condition. The other, an unknown brand with a mushroomed poll and a layer of rust with some mild pitting. The edge was blunt but straight. No one had worked their bench grinder magic on it. It still had some life left in it so I rescued it.

Sorry. I didn't take any before pics but we all know what a rusty, well used roffing hatchet/hammer looks like, right? ;)

I started by cutting away the nail puller and some steel around it to give it somewhat of a Hudson Bay look. Cleaned it up, reground the poll polished it to about 400 grit and all it needs now is some new lumber.

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-- Day 2--
I went to Sears and found that the only handle that would fit was a 16" Framing hammer handle. For $4.72 after tax I bought it anyway. HD, Lowes and the local hardware stores had nothing and I didn't want to order on line. I would have prefered a 12" or 14" but this will have to do.

I had to do some sanding to get the fit I wanted so I lost some of the factory finish. No real issue there. I can touch it up later.

First, with my trusty, rusty 17" Fiskars.
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I decided after testing a small spot that gun blue was going to be too dark. I went with a Englehoffer Wasabi patina instead :D

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The Plum will get cleaned up next and I'll order the correct 12" handle for it. I won't go as far as I did with this one. Probably just clean up any mushrooming on the poll and put a new convex edge on it. I'll post pics when I get started on it.

Thanks for looking.

Chris
 
Nice work Chris, very neat lookin, and the wasabi finish does the trick. ;-)

Regards

Robin
 
Thanks everyone. I've had that Fiskars so long and it worked so well I didn't think I needed anything else for 'round the house use. Now that I've got this one and the shorter one on the bench, I'm thinking I may have been bitten by the axe/hatchet/hawk bug. :o

I've got a feling this won't end well. I'm already looking at 20" to 26" axes and I don't really have a need for one :D
 
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Rupestris said:
Thanks everyone. I've had that Fiskars so long and it worked so well I didn't think I needed anything else for 'round the house use. Now that I've got this one and the shorter one on the bench, I'm thinking I may have been bitten by the axe/hatchet/hawk bug. :o

I'm I got a feling this won't end well. I'm already looking at 20" to 26" axes and I don't really have a need for one :D
Click to expand...

Trust me,, you neeeeeed throwing hawks, lots of them. I've been out throwing in the last of our 6 feet of snow, just couldn't take it any more :D
You can get a Cold steel hawk for under $30.00 delivered or there's lots of custom makers here, Steve Liley for one..

Go ahead, do it :D

Regards

Robin
 
samek said:
Here is mine.
I have also rounded the blade.
Click to expand...

Nice job! I wanted to round the blade on mine but it wasn't in that bad of shape. I might do it later after some use. I gotts see how I like it.

The sheath in you pic is incredible too.

Thanks,
Chris
 
That looks great you guys! :thumbup:

I did something similar a few years back with an old craftsman carpenters hatchet, after taking a grinder and a dremel to it, then giving it a patina and a little file work, this is what I ended up with....
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Modding stuff is fun! :)
 
As an heads up fellas, this month's copy of the Backwoodsman magazine has two pretty good articles on modding hatchets. I don't know how widespread publication is, but if you can lay claws on a copy, it's worth the effort.
 
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