Restoring a hatchet for my son's birthday

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majshanman

Joined
Aug 31, 2022
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1
Good morning everyone,

We are a military family living in Germany. I recently found a hatchet (the metal part) while metal detecting near Landstuhl. I would like to restore this and make a leather sheath for it from my old boots for my son, who is an active Scout.

I'm open to any and all advice you might have for me. I've never done anything like this, but am a fairly handy person. Like Red Green says, "if the ladies don't find you handsome, they better find you handy!"

Here is a little about the blade:
- rusty, but not so much that it can't be recovered
- the opening for the wooden handle is about 1 1/4 x 1/2 inch.
- the oxidation is such that it leads me to believe that it is iron.

The things I'm interested in learning from you all are:

Is wirewheel/grinding the best way to get the metal back into shape?
Where can I purchase a handle for it? I looked in the markets here in Germany and they don't have anything that small. We do get domestic shipping through the Armed Forces Post Office so shipping from the USA isn't an issue.
What would you do for a wedge?
Do any of you have a simple sheath plan/sketch?
Anything I don't know that I don't know?

Thank you all for taking the time to read this. I really appreciate it.
Shannon

P.S. I also found a very odd looking blade on another metal detecting trip. It is more triangular in shape (the blade starts small and gains about 50% in cutting edge as it goes out (it's fairly small too, about the size of the hatchet above). This blade is different in that it has an opening for a triangular piece of wood. Maybe it isn't even a hatchet, but a harvesting tool? The blade is rather thin, as opposed to the hatchet blade above.
 
Photographs would be a big help in getting input. Generally a wire wheel does an excellent job of removing most rust, but it's dependent on the severity of it. If a German hatchet handle is too large, simply rasp it down to fit. Without seeing the shape of the eye we would not be able to recommend a specific handle for it. Wedges can honestly be made of just about any wood and work well, though the norm is to use something like poplar. A sheath plan cannot be provided because your hatchet is unique, and so unless planning on making a generic sheath, it will be slightly different than all other sheaths out there. What style or approach you want to go with it for fastening and the like will similarly play a role in the design requirements.
 
If I found a hatchet head like that, I would wire wheel the rust off it. I’d be hesitant to grind it on a regular bench grinder, because they run too fast and it’s easy to take off more than you want that you can’t put back on. I’d probably use a file for shaping. If you do grind it, use a light touch, especially near the edge.

You might consider carving your own haft from local wood. I have no knowledge of German woods, but where I live, big leaf maple is a good choice (neither hickory or ash, more traditional for a hatchet handle, grow here).

I strongly prefer straight handles with minimum grain runout and rings parallel to the eye axis, not easy to find in store bought handles. I also use a wedge of the same species, preferably from the same billet. My reasons are complex, but it basically comes down to uniform fiber compression. And I leave the wedge end of the haft about 1/4” or so proud of the eye. Not everyone believes in that.

Would love to see before and after pictures of your project. Best of luck to you.

Parker
 
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Most suitable handle wood in Germany that you find at a lumber yard will be ash or beech. Black locust (often called "robinia" or "acacia" in Europe after its scientific name Robinia pseudoacacia) would be the closest in performance to hickory, and can be fairly easily found in Germany, but as a lumber off the shelf it's less available than the other two.
 
majshanman said:
Good morning everyone,

We are a military family living in Germany. I recently found a hatchet (the metal part) while metal detecting near Landstuhl. I would like to restore this and make a leather sheath for it from my old boots for my son, who is an active Scout.

I'm open to any and all advice you might have for me. I've never done anything like this, but am a fairly handy person. Like Red Green says, "if the ladies don't find you handsome, they better find you handy!"

Here is a little about the blade:
- rusty, but not so much that it can't be recovered
- the opening for the wooden handle is about 1 1/4 x 1/2 inch.
- the oxidation is such that it leads me to believe that it is iron.

The things I'm interested in learning from you all are:

Is wirewheel/grinding the best way to get the metal back into shape?
Where can I purchase a handle for it? I looked in the markets here in Germany and they don't have anything that small. We do get domestic shipping through the Armed Forces Post Office so shipping from the USA isn't an issue.
What would you do for a wedge?
Do any of you have a simple sheath plan/sketch?
Anything I don't know that I don't know?

Thank you all for taking the time to read this. I really appreciate it.
Shannon

P.S. I also found a very odd looking blade on another metal detecting trip. It is more triangular in shape (the blade starts small and gains about 50% in cutting edge as it goes out (it's fairly small too, about the size of the hatchet above). This blade is different in that it has an opening for a triangular piece of wood. Maybe it isn't even a hatchet, but a harvesting tool? The blade is rather thin, as opposed to the hatchet blade above.
Click to expand...
An American made axe I assume?
https://www.househandle.com/

Hand selected, no lacquer is what I would recommend.
 
garry3 said:
An American made axe I assume?
https://www.househandle.com/

Hand selected, no lacquer is what I would recommend.
Click to expand...
OP stated that he is in Germany and found the hatchet there. While country of manufacture was not positively identified, it is probably a German-made head. We do not know the shape of the eye, as no pictures were posted, and the OP has yet to return to answer questions asked of him.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
OP stated that he is in Germany and found the hatchet there. While country of manufacture was not positively identified, it is probably a German-made head. We do not know the shape of the eye, as no pictures were posted, and the OP has yet to return to answer questions asked of him.
Click to expand...
......
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
OP stated that he is in Germany and found the hatchet there. While country of manufacture was not positively identified, it is probably a German-made head. We do not know the shape of the eye, as no pictures were posted, and the OP has yet to return to answer questions asked of him.
Click to expand...
Always trying to start stuff aren't you.
 
garry3 said:
Always trying to start stuff aren't you.
Click to expand...
FortyTwoBlades responded to your question with information that you didn’t comprehend from the very first post. Your response is just 6 periods, now followed by two baiting posts.

I think you’re starting something from nothing here and derailing the thread.
 
Jsega51 said:
FortyTwoBlades responded to your question with information that you didn’t comprehend from the very first post. Your response is just 6 periods, now followed by two baiting posts.

I think you’re starting something from nothing here and derailing the thread.
Click to expand...
Here comes one of his groupies to defend him.
 
garry3 said:
Here comes one of his groupies to defend him.
Click to expand...

Hardly. I’m a regular participant of other areas on the forum but starting reading in the Axe section to learn about some patterns and learn how to possibly rehang an axe. This thread caught my attention because, well, threads about finding stuff and fixing it up is interesting, especially tools that we enjoy using.

So, there’s my experience with your interactions here and as I said, it’s obvious you’re baiting an argument of some kind. (Because this happens elsewhere, it’s easy to spot).
 
Easy, guys. We don’t know much about this project, or what this fellow can get his hands on. If we each tell him how we’d go about it, maybe he can pick and choose a path to success that includes some of our ideas. But we all know there’s many ways to skin… er, an aardvark (cat sitting on my lap right now).

Parker
 
Jsega51 said:
Hardly. I’m a regular participant of other areas on the forum but starting reading in the Axe section to learn about some patterns and learn how to possibly rehang an axe. This thread caught my attention because, well, threads about finding stuff and fixing it up is interesting, especially tools that we enjoy using.

So, there’s my experience with your interactions here and as I said, it’s obvious you’re baiting an argument of some kind. (Because this happens elsewhere, it’s easy to spot).
Click to expand...
You know nothing of the history of his interaction with me on this forum but yet you know?

My original post on this thread was meant to be helpful to the OP, nothing more. And how did that work out for me? With 42 laughing in my face is how it worked out, it's his MO and likely the same type of behavior that has got him banned from the other axe forum.
 
garry3 said:
An American made axe I assume?
https://www.househandle.com/

Hand selected, no lacquer is what I would recommend.
Click to expand...
What's funny is you obviously trying to spit venom when confronted with the fact that you obviously missed most of the information in the OP and revived a thread that's seen no further response from the poster in doing so. Your ellipses contributed nothing meaningful, nor do your base accusations, and I wish you'd just put me on your block list already since you obviously can't stand the sight of me for some reason. I'd appreciate it if you tried to actually stay on topic instead of slinging ad hominem.

While it's theoretically possible that the axe he found (in Germany) is American made, it's far more likely to be German. However, some German-made hatchets do use American-style eyes, and without knowing more information beyond what was provided a week ago it's difficult to recommend a handle. If the eye is American style of dimensions roughly matching one of House's offerings then there's nothing wrong with your suggestion, but if it's a German style eye none of their models will fit without modification. Ordering from the 'States may still be easier even if the eye is German style due to established supply chains for Helko and Adler in the USA.
 
garry3 said:
You know nothing of the history of his interaction with me on this forum but yet you know?

My original post on this thread was meant to be helpful to the OP, nothing more. And how did that work out for me? With 42 laughing in my face is how it worked out, it's his MO and likely the same type of behavior that has got him banned from the other axe forum.
Click to expand...
I did not laugh react at your original post, sir. I laugh reacted at your ellipses following it. And the only forum I've ever been banned from is Bushcraft USA due to some unethical behavior by the founder and his good ol' boy's club, which I have the detailed receipts for if you're ever interested in seeing them. I'd gladly sent you the archived information.

But please, tell me how "......" was meant to be helpful to the OP and nothing more.
 
Gentlemen, please either take petty squabbles offline to PM or email...or simply just reply to the thread with informative posts instead of discussing one another.

Alternatively we can hand out warnings and close the thread, which benefits no one. Let's move on.
 
Back on topic, Helko North America has replacement handles for their Rheinland pattern models here. Obviously if it uses an American style eye there are a plethora of choices for suppliers here.
 
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