put a patina on my Boys axe.....PICS...

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d.weglarz13

Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
1,944
Okay. SO, i got my Council Tool Boys Axe about a week ago, and have been dying to try my hand at a patina. Now, most of you know how obsessive i was getting about my GB Felling axe, partly because of the price, so I figured a nice beater axe would be a bit easier to use for more dirty jobs, like chopping close to the ground, around rocks, etc. So, I didn't want to remove the head in order to give it a nice patina, so i ruled out many different methods that required soaking the head, or getting certain chemicals on the handle of the axe.
So, long story short, I figured on trying a simple gun blueing, where i would be able to just rub onto the head of the axe, and was mainly going for a decent user finish, one that could be improved upon in the future, whenever i feel like removing the haft.
And, here are the pics. I should have gotten a before pic, but you guys know what it looked like.
It was the Boys Axe Forest Service Edition, with the black painted head. Now, when i received the axe, there was a quarter sized spot on one face of the axe, where the black paint must have come off, and was completely rusted. So, since this axe was a good deal cheaper than my AMA, i figured i would sand it a quick bit, and just see what happens.
Now, I know this is in no way a NICE finish, but hey, I am very happy with it, especially as a beater axe for when i don't feel like abusing my AMA.

And, I am planning on actually getting out the pitting, and doing this the right way when i get some time, but for now, I just couldn't wait to get rid of the rust and just try my hand at modding my axe by myself. So, it is what it is. You can see plenty of pitting in the crappy phone pics, but again, for a user axe that I don't care about half as much as my more expensive one, it is fine for me, temporarily, until i get the tools and time to do a proper job.

Tell me what you guys think, totally a first time for me, and it was a bit tricky to get the finish uniform, as i figured, so some steel wool really helped blend it all, after i applied the cold blue.

Oh, and she is sharp as hell now, too! Used my DMT sharpening stones (10" x 3" i believe), and also hit it quick on my 1000 grit shapton water stone. Actually, my buddy went to go pick it up and chop something, and before i could even stop him, he got the axe stuck a bit in a log in my yard, and as i looked up he was pulling at it, stepping on the wood with his foot, and holding the head in his hand. I tell you literally, before i could even yell for him to stop screwing around with my axe that i put the blueing on just 10 minutes before, he got himself a nice big gash on his hand from her........Thats what he gets for not asking my permission i guess.....but, he DID see my sharpening it as he walked into my yard, so, there is nothing really more to say. I AM getting pretty damn good at hand sharpening these days though! Again, i was only working on the axe, sanding, stripping, bluing, sharpening.......only about 20 minutes of work, so although not so pretty, she sure chops great now!

thanks for looking...

dave.

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Nice job, Dave. It looks fantastic!

Now you need give us to side-by-side review of how your 2 axes work.
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haha, thanks guys!!! I actually used a paint stripper(KleenStrip) from home depot...Then, i sanded the worst of the paint, pitting, rust spot, and extra rough parts of the head with, like 100 grit, and then up to only about 400 or 600 grit. I think it may have only been 220 actually, can't remember perfectly, as i only had a few scraps of sandpaper laying around and used what i had. Then, found an old bottle of Birchwood Casey Perma Blue in my drawer, figured id use it. but, it was only a bit left so I picked up an extra bottle of it at Walmart, i was surprised they carried it. I also had a bottle of Birchwood Casey cleaner degreaser that came with the kit(i think when i bought it a couple years ago it was only like 12 bucks or something), and used that prior to blueing.
It is a cold blue, so just rub on and go...
well, after an application or two, I realized that it looked pretty uneven, so i figured i would try to blend it with some 0000 fine steel wool. And, it worked fantastic! Almost gave it a perfect finish!
But, to be honest, i did it last night. And, today I felt like it could have been a bit darker, so I tried to add some more blue to it, but didn't work out as I figured. It seems, either because i ran out of degreaser and used rubbing alcohol, that the axe didn't want to get any darker really. It just seemed to darken it spots, not the whole thing like last night. But, could maybe be because the bluing makes it a bit impermeable? I really don't know, but anyone who wants to try, I say go for it, it will come out great if your looking for a real quick application of blueing the steel.....BUT, make sure you have some cleaner degreaser on hand of course(silly me), and how ever many times you apply it for that certain color your going for, do it all at the same time, don't break it up like i did a day later.
And, again, even though it didn't take the blue at all really this time, and only in certain spots, i messed around a found a way to make it work anyway. It seems, if you squirt the blueing chemical right out of the bottle onto the axe head, it takes it nice and dark, but not even. This worked out though, as once you take some steel wool to it, it just really blends nice together with the rest of it, no matter what spots were darker or lighter. The wool really made this work out.
But, i did rinse with cold water in the sink after every "coat",(about 3 or 4), and it did leave some nasty stains in my sink, which i figured might happen, so do this with a hose. I am redoing my bathroom anyway, so i didn't care.
And, i swear I gotta get some better pics with a camera, maybe i'll save that for the 2 axe comparison thread!, but this finish looks alot more even and nice up close in person.
All in all, i think it went really well. Thanks alot for all the advice, and I am real glad you guys like it. The next time i do this it will be alot better, as it needed ALOT more sanding, and more than 5 minutes on the stones. I also sanded the wax off the handle, and oiled it up nice and smooth. It may not be AS pretty as a GB, but its not supposed to be a GB, and doing it this way on a cheaper axe, i don't see anything that can really go wrong. It will look uneven, unless you soak it instead of rubbing it on, but the steel wool makes it so you would never know.

Thanks again guys!!!

dave
 
Turned out nice, I really like it. Correct me if I'm wrong guys, but weren't most axe heads gun blued at one time?
 
thanks again guys for checking it out, at for the advice on choosing an axe. This thing chops really well for such a light axe, but it is definitely light. Even splits wood nice too!
I know i was real lazy, and should have at least gotten the pitting out, and got the steel nice and uniform under the bluing, but hey, now i can do it even better next time, probably pretty damn soon, since it was fun.

dave
 
thanks again guys for checking it out, at for the advice on choosing an axe. This thing chops really well for such a light axe, but it is definitely light. Even splits wood nice too!
I know i was real lazy, and should have at least gotten the pitting out, and got the steel nice and uniform under the bluing, but hey, now i can do it even better next time, probably pretty damn soon, since it was fun.

dave
 
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