Plumb re-handle - worth the effort? - re-hung again!

[John Frankl]

Love that Chas. Parker vise! Mine's an older Reed that I took apart, sand blasted, and repainted. Good as new

 

[daizee]

Thanks, I love my vise. Got it this summer at the flea market and it was refurbed for me (no paint for this one) and I installed it a week later.
It replaced a small-body 4" Pony. My one misgiving is that the Chas. Parker jaw geometry is complicated if they ever need to be replaced, but I've never had to replace vice jaws, so hopefully that's only a theoretical issue.

-Daizee

 

[Square_peg]

I'm thinking about cutting maybe 3/4" off the bottom, but leaving the bit full-length, referencing this style, but taller top-to-bottom:

http://dragonsbreathforge.com/images/weaponry/axes/axe11_02.jpg

Just remember, short eyes make for weak hangs. It looks cool and allows more choke up for bushcrafting but it makes the axe weaker for real chopping work.

 

[daizee]

Just remember, short eyes make for weak hangs. It looks cool and allows more choke up for bushcrafting but it makes the axe weaker for real chopping work.

yeah, I figure there's a height/width ratio I don't want to cross - this would only reduce the height of the head at the eye by 3/4" or so. Still way more contact than the Velvicut Hudson Bay's I was looking at last night. The shape is about the same as the other plumb re-handling thread on the front page here, so I figure there's room. of course the smart answer is always: "just get another axe of a different shape"....

-Daizee

 

[daizee]

Here's the picture. I haven't drawn a possible cut line on it that you can see, but I was thinking it would go just below the bottom of the text markings.

 

[schmittie]

I have thought about getting a flea market axe head and cutting it into a kind of Hudson Bay style. If a shorter eye makes for a bad hang, how do the HBs make it work? Now I'm confused....

 

[Wyszrd]

A short section of old axe handle makes a decent punch, too. Just rasp it down so it'll fit through the eye.

+1 on this. I cut out a narrow section from the center of the handle I'm replacing since it'll fit through the eye easily, gives me enough surface area to beat on it with the mallet, and is easy to hold on to.

 

[Square_peg]

If a shorter eye makes for a bad hang, how do the HBs make it work? Now I'm confused....

Not a bad hang. Just a weaker hang than a traditional length eye like a Dayton or Michigan has. The HB is designed for medium duty work and bushcrafting. Traditional American axes are designed for heavier chopping and splitting. The HB might well be superior for most modern axe users. But it's design is inherently weaker than full sized eye designs.

 

[daizee]

So I took the Plumb head to Knife Night over at Rock'n'Roll Knife & Tool, and while I was grinding bevels on a couple paring knives with my muffs on, unbeknownst to me, Mr. M went to town on the axe. When I turned around, this is the scene I found - perp and victim:


There's just a tiny bit remaining to be knocked out in the narrow part of the eye:

So I decided to clean up the profile on the grinder. The original die/marks around the perimeter were ugly.

Then hit the faces with 220 to smooth them out a bit - I didn't want to take out ALL the markings (most are gone now, alas ):

Then I hit the whole thing with Brownells oxpho blue - no pic.
Hopefully it wil get hung this weekend.
I've decided to give up on cutting it down.

-Daizee

 

[Square_peg]

Then hit the faces with 220 to smooth them out a bit - I didn't want to take out ALL the markings (most are gone now, alas ):

At this point you may as well give the cheeks a full polish and get the mushrooming off the poll. You'll have a fine user when you're finished with this axe.

 

[John Frankl]

Good choice! And I agree about the mushrooming.

Please tell us more about Rock and Roll Knife and Tool!

 

[daizee]

I knocked the worst of the mushrooming off and cleaned up the poll a bit too, but I think that's it for fancy finishing. I've got a dozen knives in the queue to work on...

Rock'n'Roll Knife & Tool is my friend's shop where we meet weekly for various knifemakey activities.
He's on here, quietly....

 

[Square_peg]

.....Knife Night over at Rock'n'Roll Knife & Tool.....

Sounds like a good time. Add some bourbon and I'm there!

 

[daizee]

realized I forgot to go back and hit the spine/belly with the 220, so it's all 80grit. Dangit.
I might clean the rest of the crud from the eye tonight.

 

[daizee]

Finished it off this evening.
Please comment, I need to learn about this.

Did I mention my wooden mallet is the bestest? I made it when I was 15 and it was too big to swing. I can barely handle it now, but the haft is a bit thick. It's now sharp enough to shave a little - I stropped it after the slack belt. Dang thing needs an edge cover!

The axe is seated:

Wedged and cut the extra off on the bandsaw with the dull blade which burnished the top nicely - mussed my finish a bit:

convex sharpening on the 1x42 with a slack belt, dipping in my water bucket:

top view post sharpening:

don't forget this side:

not the world's greatest handle, but the grain direction is decent:

 

[Square_peg]

Looks great now! And I love the mallet.

BTW, your 2nd image isn't showing up because it's missing the 'close image' tag [/img].

 

[Double Ott]

WOW Very nice...You sure put a lot of work into her, but she has turned out very nicely. She serve you for another 50 years. :thumbup:

 

[daizee]

it works!
Actually, it splits like a dream - this was unexpected. I split a pile of 3-4" rounds from a couple trees I took down this summer. Not fantastic hardwood, but it'll burn. Then I split some of the actual firewood down a little smaller; oak and maple mostly. On the other side of the stone wall I did a little chopping on a downed trunk, and that was nice. What a difference a good well-tuned tool makes! Yay!

It needs a longer handle to be ideal for a house axe for me. For the truck this length would be great, but I never need an axe in the truck. At any rate, I'll leave it as it is and use it.

 

[John Frankl]

Looking very good! Glad you didn't cut her up.

And please tell us about the mallet!

 

[daizee]

Looking very good! Glad you didn't cut her up.

And please tell us about the mallet!

*lol*

I made that mallet in a summer wordworking class when I was 15. Our first task was to make our own mallets. For some reason mine had to be shaped like an axe... The head is a couple pieces of hardwood (maple?) laminated together, and the handle was shaped from a piece of poplar (I think.... it's been 20+ years). It was SO heavy that I made a smaller one in a similar shape - shoulda thrown that in the pic too. But the smaller one's head loosens, so despite it's more convenient size, it doesn't get used much either.