So, what do you all do with them?

[BG_Farmer]

The list is long but none of them deserve the honor.
I may just stretch them between the saplings.

If the weather will dry, I have cedar logs down in the woods to get out. I will have one at our house before long.
I love working with cedar for non load bearing use.
I think a grape arbor of cedar would be nice after the cross.

I gas easily enough using an axe, no longer fit as I should be but the satisfaction is worth the delay.
Bill

Cedar is fun with an axe. Grape arbor is excellent idea. My son and I have enough logs for a small camping structure or run in shed.

Try some black locust, too. Green it cuts nice and might do better in some structural applications. The trees will just die of disease before they get real big, so you might as well use it. Just work it green, once it dries it is like rock.

 

[Square_peg]

Try some black locust, too. Green it cuts nice and might do better in some structural applications.

One of the best woods for outdoor use. Even more rot resistant than cedar and black locust is much harder and stronger. Good for an axe handle, too. Also good for trenails and pegs.

 

[lmalterna]

Used to plant ALOT of black and yellow locust as fence posts and for pole barns. A farmer hired me to use up old boards from his sawmill to fix up his barn. Turned out to be old sun dried locust board, 20 penny nails would dance into an S before going through that wood. Had to drill pilot holes.

I am going to cut locust wedges to split my hickory logs down. Might see if I can find any big enough to split into handles, maybe just straight handles.

Bill

 

[Curt Hal]

Exactly, 300Six. In my job (school principal), the rewards are not immediate. I needed something that you could work on and see progress right away. A full restoration now can happen in an evening or two, with a few days to add coats of BLO and/or beeswax. It really does replace the psychiatrists for me. I used to work in construction (sheet metal journeyman). It had its drawbacks, but you got to see the results of your work everyday. That is what refurbishing does for me. Plus, as upnorth says, it really is a thrill to bring the old ones back to life. I also love the research aspect. Each of these axes has a history that I find fascinating. Being in western Canada, I am shocked at how few axes can be found. I can search Kajiji on any given day and not find a single axe from British Columbia to Manitoba. I find a few items in Ontario, maybe Quebec, but then again almost nothing to the Atlantic coast. I really envy the guys who can go out on a Saturday, drop $100 and come home with a truck full of stuff I would give my eye teeth to find.

 

[mc556]

I use the ones I restore or give them as Christmas or Birthday gifts.
If I were to find a Black Raven or other cool stamped axe (cheap)I might turn it into a wall hanger. I love saving American
history

 

[DocPyres]

Being in western Canada, I am shocked at how few axes can be found. I can search Kajiji on any given day and not find a single axe from British Columbia to Manitoba. I find a few items in Ontario, maybe Quebec, but then again almost nothing to the Atlantic coast. I really envy the guys who can go out on a Saturday, drop $100 and come home with a truck full of stuff I would give my eye teeth to find.

I agree. The pickings out here are really sparse, which I find a bit surprising for a province built on forestry.

 

[300Six]

I agree. The pickings out here (western Canada) are really sparse, which I find a bit surprising for a province built on forestry.

Interestingly both the feds and the provinces used Walters axes when I was with Prov of Ontario, Prov of BC, Parks Canada and Can Wildlife Service during the 1970s. The fire axes on every BC Ferry at the time were also Walters and those ones still had the factory labels on them. I never did manage to get hold of one! When Great Western Petroleum of Calgary folded up in the mid 80s I was fortunate enough to get hold of four Remington 870s (bear protection-police models) plus half dozen Oxhead Iltis Canadian utility axes. These things are out there! Farm estate auctions, flea markets, antique dealers and garage sales do yield hand tools like this and luckily for us very few of today's generation has any interest in non-powered tools.

 

[DocPyres]

Interestingly both the feds and the provinces used Walters axes when I was with Prov of Ontario, Prov of BC, Parks Canada and Can Wildlife Service during the 1970s. The fire axes on every BC Ferry at the time were also Walters and those ones still had the factory labels on them. I never did manage to get hold of one! When Great Western Petroleum of Calgary folded up in the mid 80s I was fortunate enough to get hold of four Remington 870s (bear protection-police models) plus half dozen Oxhead Iltis Canadian utility axes. These things are out there! Farm estate auctions, flea markets, antique dealers and garage sales do yield hand tools like this and luckily for us very few of today's generation has any interest in non-powered tools.

Thanks 300Six and great info. Actually, I know someone who works for the ferries. Maybe they still have a few of those Walters around somewhere. I'll see what he can dig up. And I'm off to another flea market this weekend to keep the search going.