What did you rehang today?

Oh, my!

That is a thing of beauty.
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For second I thought it was Aussie racing axe
 
Well, I finally tried my first rehang. I found an old rusted axe in my Mom's woodshed. It was rusty and on a 28" badly cracked handle literally held together with wire and electrical tape. The head was held on by at least 2 brads and 2 nails, and was glued in. (What a pain to drill out, hammer out, pull out and scrape out the eye!). I believe it to be a boy's axe style. I soaked it in vinegar for a few days, and sanded, wiped it clear of rust.

I could only find one 28" handle in town (went to at least 3 places looking). After a lot of scraping and sanding it was a tight fit side to side but the handle did not fill the eye from front to back. I used a large splinter of the old handle to fill the gap. When I sawed off most of the excess I somehow managed to not saw it straight so it doesn't look too good. I split a few little pieces of kindling and did a little chopping on a small log and it seemed tight anyway.

Couldn't post pics, but I'd be embarrassed to do it here anyway. But I wanted to thank everyone because there is ton of great information in this forum. I'd never dipped a toe into the axe forum, although I've been a member here for years.
 
I picked up a lovely Collins Connecticut at an antique store this summer. It needs a new haft, but is the best CT I've ever seen in person. The surface needs attention, but the whole profile is basically intact.

This evening I finally re-profiled and re-hung "the family axe", as my dad called it. (he grew up in the Bronx, so this is kind of funny.) It's a Kelly Black Chief, not the more collectable Raven.

The toe was quite worn, so I reprofiled the entire edge on the KMG with 60g ceramic on a contact wheel running full tilt. Made short work of it. Then reprofiled the edge transition on the slack belt, and cleaned it all up with scotchbrite. Sharpened on the machine, stropped on the scotchbrite, and then finished it with a nail buffer by hand. The haft is original, sans all the donor hardware, with a new wedge and bunch of BLO in there.

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I reprofiled the entire edge on the KMG with 60g ceramic on a contact wheel running full tilt
woo boy the only contact wheel i'v ever used is the top wheel on a harbor freight 1x30. i'd get a serious grinder if i had the funds, also i dont have anywhere to put it. i dont have a work bench
 
woo boy the only contact wheel i'v ever used is the top wheel on a harbor freight 1x30. i'd get a serious grinder if i had the funds, also i dont have anywhere to put it. i dont have a work bench

I have 5" and 10" contact wheels for my KMG. They are da bizness. Sold a motorcycle to fund the grinder!

Time for a special picture again. Hefty Lefty's fully refurbished (by her) 4x54" WWII monster, with HF 1x30 for scale:

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Mostly playing Werth leather. maybe trying to copper plate an axe head
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Put a new wedge in and cleaned up this homestead
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Make some leather for it
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I got this from a guy locally who soaked it in vinegar to make it more valuable.;)
I paid more for the haft than the axe.
Haft is an Ames Tru-Temper from the hardware store. Nice grain. Thinned it out a bit.
I'm not an experienced axe hanger but think it turned out ok.

This is just a user waiting to be used.

I have another one of these around here that has "3 1/2" next to the Collins mark. Does anyone know the distinction?

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The 3 1/2 next to the Collins is the weight of the head.
 
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should i do a handle swap on these two? the flint edge (axe on top) has a broken ear, it sits un-even but has, for some reason, an NOS bingmaster semi-octagonal knob-end handle.
the other is a kelly perfect 4 pounder. great head. the handle is the one i asked about fixing. guess i didnt make it that far. the conundrum is that the bingmaster is varnished and i cant find my choppin gloves. neither have steel wedges. both are 4 pounds. i wont need to do any fitting to the handle, if you're worried about the condition.
 
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should i do a handle swap on these two? the flint edge (axe on top) has a broken ear, it sits un-even but has, for some reason, an NOS bingmaster semi-octagonal knob-end handle.
the other is a kelly perfect 4 pounder. great head. the handle is the one i asked about fixing. guess i didnt make it that far. the conundrum is that the bingmaster is varnished and i cant find my choppin gloves. neither have steel wedges. both are 4 pounds. i wont need to do any fitting to the handle, if you're worried about the condition.
How about just sanding down the varnish?
 
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