I was able to get the steel wedge out by drilling a hole in the wedge and screwing in a machine screw and then using a claw hammer to pry it out. The old steel wedge actually came out quite easily. I then used a wood rasp to drop the head about 1/2," which was a bit too much, but it just worked out that way. The axe is now rehung on the old haft and I used a Black Locust wedge. I went back to the shop today and gave the wedge a few more taps with the hand sledge, then cut off the top of the haft/wedge about 3\8" proud, slightly beveled the edges of the top of the haft, sanded the entire haft and put 3 coats of BLO on it. The axe is now soaking upside down in about 1/2" of BLO, which I will leave soaking for 24 to 48 hours. Then, I'll put another few coats of BLO on the haft since it's about 30+ years old and is quite dry and thirsty and then I'll run a file to sharpen it up a bit better. The sheath I made in '84 needs some work, so I'll repair that as well. Hopefully, this procedure will give me many more years of use. Thanks to everyone for their input. I will post a photo or 2 once the BLO procedure is complete.
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