Weird temper lines

B

bearpoopinwoods

Joined
Mar 20, 2019
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5
so I found this axe hanging in a barn with the handle split length wise and took it home. I soaked it in vinegar overnight and cleaned it with a scrubber sponge and found these weird temper lines. My gut tells me cracks from heat treating and the axe is much newer than I anticipated. But being wrong is something I’m not new to so I thought and let y’all weigh in.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w7JmpdXa3vmQu54gObM2MwqcUxQ_Iskn/view?usp=drivesdk
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E5WMNZwL9OA7bxoQde7pObHaAVWe_7e9/view?usp=drivesdk
 
My guess is the vinegar soak made carbon in the hardened area deposit on the bit. (Or some such chemically’ type of thing.)
Is the bit darker?

*Pics or it didn’t happen.
 
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  1. Do the links not work? I will say also the darker areas are ever so slightly recessed so it might be there was something on the blade that prevented the etch like sap or the like.
 
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Thanks,Josh,for reposting the photos.

Bearpoopinwoods,it looks like an overlayed bit worn through to lower-C body.
Color variations as far as weird contrasting wigglies on bit are probably dirt et c.(pitch is a great guess) that made the etch uneven,whatever etch it may've been.
That much wear could be due to overuse of disk or belt-grinder.

(an aside:top/bottom photos sure make puzzles easier:)
 
I don't mind the repost of the pictures I was trying to do it from my phone and it wouldn't post the pictures properly. Here are the top and bottom view of the ax head. I assumed it was decent piece of steel (or at least fairly old) because it was in a work shop that no one has really stepped foot in for probably 10 or more years and the wood had aged quite a bit. So when I saw the etch and it having no makers mark I started to wonder if I had a 10 year old Chinese ax rather than something worth keeping.
48080071196_4e4808c71a_c.jpg

48080103043_36c56958d8_c.jpg

view
 
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