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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Picked up my first Flea Market find! Advice for Restoring it?
- Thread starter Repliqwtl
- Start date
Square_peg
Gold Member
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- Feb 1, 2012
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Looks great and has a nice deep temper.
Thanks everyone! I just sanded the handle down today and put on a first thick layer of BLO. It looks absolutely Gorgeous!! 
I can't believe how big a difference even just that made! I can't wait to get my hands on it once it dries.
I promise more pics once it's done.
I can't believe how big a difference even just that made! I can't wait to get my hands on it once it dries.I promise more pics once it's done.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2009
- Messages
- 1,946
Thanks everyone! I just sanded the handle down today and put on a first thick layer of BLO. It looks absolutely Gorgeous!!
I promise more pics once it's done.
Yeah let me tell you, those old handles sure take on a brand new character once a little BLO is soaked in good
Some can be down right beautiful.
Well, I've been putting a thick coat of BLO on the handle every day, and it finally started drying on and feeling tacky, so I feel like the handle is pretty soaked. It looks absolutely beautiful! It seems like it's practically glowing, especially as compared to how it looked when I got it! 
Today I drove some wooden wedges into the empty spaces left in the eye. I just carved them out of some scrap wood lying around in the garage of the building, but they still drove in nice and tightly, and they really worked to fill up the empty space at the front of the eye. I cut them flush with the rest of the head, and I'm giving the whole head a soak in BLO to help swell the wood before I let it dry.
I also got the file out today and tried it against the bit. I was pretty happy with how hard it felt, although I don't have any real experience to draw on as a comparison. At the very least, I can say say that it is much, much harder than the poll, so that's good! I basically just cleaned up the edge that was already there, but I find that it has a pretty steep bevel... Working on it, even only for a little while, I really got a much better feeling for how complex the shape of a bit really is, and how little I know about what a "good" shape for it would be.
I have seen a lot of really amazing discussions on this forum about these subtleties, and I've found some of Peter Vido's articles about this to be really illuminating as well, so I was hoping that someone might be able to help me see the light.
In essence, I don't have a clear idea of how to shape the bit. If anyone knows of a good video on the matter, or has some pictures that show off a well shaped and sharpened bit, that would be of enormous help to me! I have seen An Axe to Grind, but I find that I am often a very visual learner, and sometimes seeing a good example is easier for me than trying to understand it as described... Thanks for any help you can give!
Today I drove some wooden wedges into the empty spaces left in the eye. I just carved them out of some scrap wood lying around in the garage of the building, but they still drove in nice and tightly, and they really worked to fill up the empty space at the front of the eye. I cut them flush with the rest of the head, and I'm giving the whole head a soak in BLO to help swell the wood before I let it dry.
I also got the file out today and tried it against the bit. I was pretty happy with how hard it felt, although I don't have any real experience to draw on as a comparison. At the very least, I can say say that it is much, much harder than the poll, so that's good! I basically just cleaned up the edge that was already there, but I find that it has a pretty steep bevel... Working on it, even only for a little while, I really got a much better feeling for how complex the shape of a bit really is, and how little I know about what a "good" shape for it would be.
I have seen a lot of really amazing discussions on this forum about these subtleties, and I've found some of Peter Vido's articles about this to be really illuminating as well, so I was hoping that someone might be able to help me see the light.
In essence, I don't have a clear idea of how to shape the bit. If anyone knows of a good video on the matter, or has some pictures that show off a well shaped and sharpened bit, that would be of enormous help to me! I have seen An Axe to Grind, but I find that I am often a very visual learner, and sometimes seeing a good example is easier for me than trying to understand it as described... Thanks for any help you can give!
Square_peg
Gold Member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2012
- Messages
- 13,824
Did you look at the sharpening gauge in 'An Axe to Grind'? That shape works fine for me.
At proper scale the sharpening gauge in this image should be 1-7/16" wide.
At proper scale the sharpening gauge in this image should be 1-7/16" wide.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2009
- Messages
- 1,946
Did you look at the sharpening gauge in 'An Axe to Grind'? That shape works fine for me.
At proper scale the sharpening gauge in this image should be 1-7/16" wide.
That's what I use to Pegs.
I made a copy out of some thick cardboard. It lives on my peg board.
No pun intended Pegs
Well, I just got back from a visit with family, and I am finally able to update this thread with some final photos of the refurbished axe! I'm still not done sharpening it (but I'm gonna take my sweet time doing that!), but I thought that I would at least share the final product in terms of how she looks.
The final look:
A couple of close-ups of the absolutely gorgeous grain on this handle:
Decided to put together a few before and after shots as well:
You can see the extra wood I added into the eye there. I think it is a pretty soft pine, but it did a fantastic job filling in the gaps between the handle and head, so I am pretty happy with that. I gave it a long soak in BLO, so I am really hoping that it will stay solid. And if not, I'll get to try hanging my first axe! Win/Win!
I have to say that I am unbelievably happy with this first project! The axe is beautiful, and I really cannot wait to try her out. As I said, I still have the sharpening to do, but I will work on that slowly over the next few days and try not to mess it up.
An enormous thank you to everyone who offered help and advice with this. I was planning on getting a new axe to go camping this summer (probably a GB Small Forest Axe), but now that I have this one in hand I see absolutely no reason to go look for anything else! All it makes me want to do is pick up and refurbish another beautiful oldie like this one!
Thanks again everyone!
The final look:
A couple of close-ups of the absolutely gorgeous grain on this handle:
Decided to put together a few before and after shots as well:
You can see the extra wood I added into the eye there. I think it is a pretty soft pine, but it did a fantastic job filling in the gaps between the handle and head, so I am pretty happy with that. I gave it a long soak in BLO, so I am really hoping that it will stay solid. And if not, I'll get to try hanging my first axe! Win/Win!
I have to say that I am unbelievably happy with this first project! The axe is beautiful, and I really cannot wait to try her out. As I said, I still have the sharpening to do, but I will work on that slowly over the next few days and try not to mess it up.
An enormous thank you to everyone who offered help and advice with this. I was planning on getting a new axe to go camping this summer (probably a GB Small Forest Axe), but now that I have this one in hand I see absolutely no reason to go look for anything else! All it makes me want to do is pick up and refurbish another beautiful oldie like this one!
Thanks again everyone!
Square_peg
Gold Member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2012
- Messages
- 13,824
Gorgeous! I love the look of a vintage handle.