Sportsman's Guide - Two Swedish Army Surplus Axes - Update #1 - Picture Heavy.

[Diomedes Industries]

Background:

I took delivery of two Swedish Army Axes on Friday from Sportsmans guide. I opened the package - was really pleasantly suprised - and set them aside until later that night.

When I finally got them out and into the garage - it was dark. I had time enough just to snap a few photo's and begin to see what type of Axe they were, what condition they were in, and how much work I was going to need to put into them. I had two axes and this portion of the thread will focus on the first one I began to work on.

I made the decision to work on the axe with the single wedge first. Both handles were loose - and I knew the epoxy was going to suck - so, this being the first time I have ever rehung an axe, let alone refurbished one, I thought I would take it easy.

The first thing that got my hopes up was that the one I was about to work on had really good signs of grain in the handle:

I clamped it up into the vise (with leather) and gave it a shake or two to see how loose the head was - I was stunned when the wedge pretty much popped out:

It certainly was not in there very deep - and I couldn't believe it came out that easy. But - with very little work, I had the axe handle free.

I used a random orbital sander and 100 grit paper to simply knock off the paint. As you can see, this one appeared to be unissued and is marked "KB 42" like so many others. Who knows where it was made - but it appeared to be great steel - well made - and we would have to see how well it would hold an edge.

Day One:

I got up on Saturday eager to see what was under the nasty green paint. I got some tools around and then started to take some measurement photo's for Posterity.

Weight: 2 Pounds 92 Ounces.

I tried to keep the square as even to the base of what I was measuring - the measurements should be fairly true:

Here is a shot of the nasty green paint on the handle:

You can see the brand from the three crowns here. It looked good - I hoped the wood looked as good underneath it. Sanding time.

Sanded to 110.

Sanded to 220.

At this point I knew this handle was essentially in perfect condition. I had gotten very lucky. The grain was strait - it was sapwood - it had no defects or rot and the wedge popping out left the top in perfect condition. I cut the curf a little lower and set it aside to be worked on after the head was done. I was really excited.

I took the head over to my table top belt sander and took my time, soaking the head in water every few minutes and ensuring that the steel never got warm to the touch. I decided I wanted this one to be more polished than the other. So I spent quite a bit of time on the sander just taking off rough spots. It would have been very easy to wire brush everything, leaver a nice wire finish on it and start to profile and sharpen it. However, polished it was - so after much sandingI tossed the head into the sink with a LOT of vinegar and some water.

Here is what it looked like after I took it out (perhaps a two hour soak) and cleaned it up with a wire brush:

After I took it out of the water - I cleaned it up again with hand sanding and then used a cold blue chemical to force a nice black patina:

That was day one - stay tuned for Day two - and the other axe... it has a suprise waiting for us.


TF

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Day Two:

Now that I had the axe handle rough sanded - it was time to see if it indeed could be re used. The wood was in very good condition, but I was not sure the portion of the axe handle that inserts into the eye had enough depth to allow the head to be hung slightly lower on the Axe handle, or if the inside of the axe curf was in good condition.

Once I confirmed, by laying it out, that indeed the handle would fit well with the eye and retain its strength and balance I took a look at the axe handle.

As you can see, the curf is not straight and in order to hang the head properly I would need to lower the curf. I decided to try to straighten it, widen it out a bit, and put it at the correct depth.

Here you can see the eye as I corrected it and the wedge I planned to use. I cleaned up the wedge and checked it for fit:

As you can see it is too wide so I trimmed it down with my knife.

At this point I took the time to really clean up and sand back the shoulder of the axe head right below where the axe would sit. I thought that this was a good idea as I could sand this back without hitting the head and scratching it up. I sanded back to a worn 400 grit and cleaned everything up that I could for about 2 inches below the shoulder.

I then marked the wedge where it would need to be if I seated it to its full depth by scribing a line on the wedge. This was my process for setting the wedge. I put a thin coat of boiled linseed oil (BLO) on the inside of the eye and let it dry. I then put another coat on right before installing. My thinking is that this might help prevent rust in case the axe handle got wet in the future.

I put a light coat of on the inside of the curf, the outside of the axe handle where it would insert in the eye, and on the wedge. Nothing too wet - and after I did this, I worked fairly quickly. I wanted to get the wedge set before the BLO allowed it to swell.

I moved the axe to my splitting

 

[Diomedes Industries]

I moved the axe to my splitting log and set the end knob flat on the log. I used a 2x4 to get the wedge nearly seated and then a larger metal hammer to drive it home. The scribe line was short by about 1/32nd - but the sound distinctly changed and it felt solid.

You can see from this picture below that I was careful to hang the head so that the head rested about 1/3rd up the bit when laid flat (only the end knob and bit touching). This was accomplished when dry fitting and shaping the handle.

At this point I flooded the top of the handle in BLO cut with some mineral spirits (for added penetration) and sat the axe aside for this to soak in some. I decided not to put in a steel wedge as the poplar wedge left the head VERY secure and even swelled the wood over the top of the axe eye. This is the way the axe came - and so refurbishing the axe in this manner made sense. I suppose if it ever gets loose I would try a steel wedge before rehanging it.

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r141/talfuchre/Axe Project/image50_zps33265fd5.jpeg


When this was more dry - I turned my attention to the axe handle. I hand sanded the axe handle down to 320 grit, being careful to take out any small pits or dings (there were two) that it acquired in its previous life. This was fairly tedious as the hickory was harder than hades.

I then rubbed on a thin coat of BLO cut with Mineral Spirits, clamped the head lightly to a small stool and let it sit in the sun and wind to dry. I did this a few times throughout the day as I was working on the other axe.

At that point - I wrapped the handle in painters tape to ensure that the not quite hard BLO was protected from the sharpening process.

I clamped the head of the axe to my stool with a small poplar wedge below it and then began to use a file to get the general shape I was looking for. I sat the file on the cheek and bevel and then tilted it about 5 degrees (to take the file off the cheek) and began to work. Once I had an even bevel at this level - I elevated the file a little more and did another small section and so on until I was at the edge of the bit). I then made sure it was convex by rocking the file as I worked. I flipped the axe and profiled the other side in the same manner - being sure that the convex was even on both sides.

I then used a 45 micron DMT hand sharpener to repeat the process, taking out the scratches left by the file. I then did this again with a 25 micron DMT hand sharpener, and then a 9 micron sharpener. Then I used wet 1000 grit sandpaper and then 2000 grit sandpaper on a firm leather bench strop to finish off the sharpening. This Axe head was set to be a thinner convex than the other head (which I figured out at this point) and so I set it up to be a thinner bit and used for softer wood. Considering this handle would be a bit shorter than the other axe - this made sense to me.

I then stropped the axe with black, green, pink impregnated strops and finished on bare leather. The result is an axe head that shaves.

For looks I used 2000 grit sandpaper and eased back the bluing so that it looked even.

At this point I put 3 in 1 oil (I didn't have any gun oil - and struggle to see a difference in this application) on the head after it sat in 80 degree sun for some time and was warm to the touch. Then rubbed in a generous amount of bees wax. I rubbed off the excess and buffed it to a shine.

Here is what she looks like now.

Over the last couple of days I have been slowly dripping BLO in the small two gaps in the base of the axe head eye where the handle meets. These gaps are miniscule and allow the head eye to soak up some BLO and swell. I have also rubbed in a few more coats of BLO into the top of the axe head at the eye. I don't see a point in submerging the head in anything so this is my way of making sure the head is secure.

Design and create an Axe Mask:

Work in progress.

Final Thoughts:

Total weight when completed.

Head: 2 lbs .85 ounces
Total: 3 lbs .65 ounces

This was my first axe I ever refurbished. I did a lot of research on this board, other boards, books, and YouTube. Everything I did or material chosen was chosen after research or made sense to me. I found a lot of inconsistency as to how to go about hanging the Axe "properly". Some claimed that Boiled Linseed Oil was best - other Linseed (and argued against the other). Some claimed that a single wedge was fine, many others argued that a Steel wedge made the most sense. Some claimed that beeswax was the best finish for a handle - others BLO. Some claimed to oil the head with gun oil, others gun oil and beeswax, and still more submersing it in BLO and acted like if the handle was ever dry it would fly off and kill a busload of nuns. Profile suggestions for the axe head were nearly as unique as the people suggesting it - not to mention what tool, stone, file, puck, diamond plate, or wet/dry paper to use to do so.

What I realized after a few hours of research is that there is no 'RIGHT' way to hang an axe. Just good ways and ways that work for you and make sense to you considering how you would use it. This Axe will not be used heavily but I plan for it to be one of my main users when I do.

I think I was very lucky to get this axe - and re-hanging and merely brushing the rust off would have left a totally serviceable axe. Frankly, besides being a lot of hand work, this was a blast to refurbish. I am pretty happy with the results.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Here is the second axe received from Sportsman's Guide. It is shown in the top pictures here:

Bottom Axe Head:

As you can see - I was VERY fortunate to find this mark hiding below the paint and obscured by the triple crown. An HB logo - and an Axe Head that looks to be unused!

The grain was straight on the handle - and despite being a little loose - I figured I could restore this thing to its previous awesomeness.

As you can see - the eye was FILLED with this nasty pink epoxy. It hadn't stopped the handle from being slightly loose - so - it needed to come out. The only thing that was stopping was a little epoxy. I used a carbide double cut burr on my dremel and began to slowly remove the epoxy. I took off about 1/16th of epoxy on the top... and then 1/8th... and then I was just carving out pink epoxy crap as fast as I could to hope to hit handle wood some day.

After about 1/2 hour here is what I found:

Dear god.... they didn't even put a curf in this axe handle - they didn't put a wedge in it - they just stuck a VERY undersized head in the eye and then FILLED AND FILLED it with epoxy. This took quite some time to get out. The sides around the handle were filled in - so I used a thin steel burr and began carefully removing epoxy around the head. I hit wood a few times - but not bad. I hammered it out - moved it down the head about 3/4's an inch on the haft - hoping to get more meat in the handle.


Initial fit after lowering the head on the handle:

There was SO much room around the front and the back of the eye that I decided to try and double wedge it. I had a scrap of seasoned poplar in the garage and so I cut a wedge and gave it a shot. My thinking was that this handle was worthless to me as it was - and if it cracked - I was losing nothing.

Hand cut Wedge:

Attempt to double Wedge:

Split from first wedge:

And - so it cracked. I might have tried two smaller wedges and done some form of 5 wedge system - but - I knew a nice handle was on the way. No worries. I set the split handle aside to be used for a future project and waited for the mail to arrive.

Here is the new Axe Handle from "House Handle":

Does it GET any straighter? :

I used the same process to rehang this handle as the one above. It took longer, obviously, because of the new handle - but not very long at all.

Rehung:

Sanded back the handle in the eye:

Eye has been flooded with cut BLO for the last few days - the handle has not been done yet:

Next up:

Sealed Handle and Axe Mask (I finally got rivets in for the job).

TF






TF

 

[Deoje]

Awesome. I'm waiting on three of these myself. This has just gotten me more excited.

 

[OutdoorEnvy]

Awesome job. That turned out great. looking forward to the second one.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Updated with second axe refurbished.

TF

 

[schmittie]

I have been enjoying this thread and the updates. You sure scored a few nice axes. Isn't is surprising how much you can enjoy giving an old tool new life? These will be far better than anything new you could find in a store.


I'm really looking forward to seeing your axe mask. I just bought a small shoulder from Tandy and hope to make a mask or two myself. But I think I'm going to wait and see if I can copy something off of you first

 

[Steve Tall]

Thanks for the detailed write-up.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

A mottoes -I have the pattern down - how about I do a detailed thread of the axe stitch up and you can take what you want. Let me know if you any help. I would love to pass on the little I know.

 

[Square_peg]

I have the pattern down - how about I do a detailed thread of the axe stitch up and you can take what you want.

Yes, please do.

 

[John Frankl]

Thanks! This is a great thread.

 

[schmittie]

Yes, please do.

I'll second that.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Sounds like a plan. I need to make a mask for about three Axe's within a week or so - we will see what we can come up with.

TF

 

[gruntmedik]

Fine work!

 

[A Visitor]

Revived this thread after I found a sheath for my surplus "KB44" axe. I ordered a couple of sheaths from Harry Epstein supply in the camp axe and the 2 1/4 lbs sizes. The 2 1/4 or boys axe size fit well but the snap didn't align. I wet it and it fit perfectly. Molded it around the axe and let it dry in the sun. Still have to seal and treat the sheath but am very pleased with the fit. I was using the blade mask that came with the axe- like the full coverage better , especially for 9 bucks.

 

[Charlie_K]

Beautiful work on the pair.

Unfortunately now I'm inspired to buy an axe and spray paint the entire thing OD green.

 

[urindar]

I have also ordered one from varusteleka I hope I get lucky