What did you rehang today?

[Yankee Josh]

A first timer here and I’m glad to have found this forum!
I’ve got a lot of projects going on this week, here are a few.

Welcome to the forum! Great site and a great group of people. It's just a personal preference thing whether or not to polish em up. So for those of us that prefer patina seeing a nice old axe polished it kinda makes the heart skip a beat or two. Haha. I do like the polished look though on certain ones and know how much effort it takes. Either way your axes are awesome!

 

[FLINT77]

Oh wow, I really like it !!!!

 

[ithinkverydeeply]

I

Oh wow, I really like it !!!!

I’ve also had some success “spot blackening” raw metal areas that people have ground on around the poll and eye.
(The rest of the patina is natural.)

 

[FLINT77]

So how durable is that finish? I did a cold blue on a small axe and it rubbed off pretty easily.

 

[ithinkverydeeply]

Polish vs patina. All of them are nicely restored and very nice overall, however some people prefer just wire brushing a head and keeping the old look instead of polishing them so they look like new. I personally don't care. A nice axe is a nice axe shiny or dull. By the by, I see some nice axes makers in there. Sager, council el lobo, plumb victory, red rover, and a Marshall Wells Zenith with paper over the handle.

edit: ps, I would use a roll pin on the pickaroon Agent H as they are easy to remove from axe heads. When I was in Idaho I rehung a TT FSS boys axe that had a roll pin on its existing haft for a friend and it was a piece of cake to remove and install.

If it’s gotta be cleaned, I’m kinda liking not a high polish finish but a satin brushed look. By using 1200 Emory then directional #0000 wool. Like this..

 

[ithinkverydeeply]

So how durable is that finish? I did a cold blue on a small axe and it rubbed off pretty easily.

Yeah. It’s kinda like rust bluing, if you sharpen or use it, it’ll wear through.

 

[ithinkverydeeply]

Here is a cool Collins I recently hung. It’s a massive 6lb head!

The handle was shot when I got it.

 

[ithinkverydeeply]

Just wanted to hang this Red Warrior for display. It’s so bad ass that I didn’t want to grind or do anything to it. So I just stuck it on this NOS handle that I really like. Maybe I’ll change it at some point.

 

[phantomknives]

“Cringe” are they that bad?

no, it's just i'v seen so many people go at it with an angle grinder and not sand paper

 

[FLINT77]

yeah, there isn't much that's cooler looking than an old rockaway pattern. you should definitely leave it the way it is.

 

[FLINT77]

no, it's just i'v seen so many people go at it with an angle grinder and not sand paper

now this I will agree with. Angle grinders make me cringe for sure. that crosses over from just taste in appearance to actual damage.

 

[ithinkverydeeply]

no, it's just i'v seen so many people go at it with an angle grinder and not sand paper

Yeah, way too hot, aggressive and fast. I like to go slow and keep it cool.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Just wanted to hang this Red Warrior for display. It’s so bad ass that I didn’t want to grind or do anything to it. So I just stuck it on this NOS handle that I really like. Maybe I’ll change it at some point.

That's a pretty cool one.
Personally I find this to be a waste of a nice handle though, I would glue up a broken one and make it look solid for this display axe.
That handle just seems too nice not to be on a user, luckily that head is not hung all the way down anyways.

 

[ithinkverydeeply]

That's a pretty cool one.
Personally I find this to be a waste of a nice handle though, I would glue up a broken one and make it look solid for this display axe.
That handle just seems too nice not to be on a user, luckily that head is not hung all the way down anyways.

You are not wrong and I can still get this off. I thought about hanging that El Lobo on it but I still wouldn’t use it, even worse I’d probably sell it. What to do. :/
At least this way I can keep an axe and handle that I like.

 

[Miller '72]

A first timer here and I’m glad to have found this forum!
I’ve got a lot of projects going on this week, here are a few.

Wonderful collection of greats!

I am especially drawn to the connie and the Miller paint bucket

 

[Kevin Houtzager]

X

 

[jblyttle]

This isn't mine, but an acquaintance ordered it and after 3 hits the head was loose. Upon inspection, I saw that the handle was really too small to fill the eye and was only tight initially from the wedge. It's a very nice handle, terribly hung. I took it off and thinned the shoulder so that the head could sit lower and at least be snug on the sides. I installed a cross wedge to help fill the space front to back. Once done I put a metal wedge in just to be sure. Not my best work, but it was the best that I could do with what I had to work with. It is now rock solid and it's owner is pleased.

IMG_20181217_140746 by Justin Lyttle, on Flickr
IMG_20181217_140809 by Justin Lyttle, on Flickr
IMG_20181217_140845 by Justin Lyttle, on Flickr
IMG_20181217_140805 by Justin Lyttle, on Flickr

 

[Jasper33]

I took a chance on these two heads from the auction site a while back and finally got around to cleaning them up a bit. I left the toe and heel alone and just reprofiled the middle of the bit on the both. The Michigan is still quite round but I already removed over 1/4 from the middle of the bit.

For the handle on the Michigan I was inspired by Yankee Josh and decided to try to reuse a damaged vintage handle I had laying around. I cut through the shoulder and glued it in place further down and then added a few filler pieces and sanded it all down. I did some splitting and it hasn’t failed yet, we will see how it holds up in the future.

Merry Christmas everyone, cheers!

 

[A17]

I rehung this 3J hawk on an old piece of double bit haft. The former haft shrunk too much so it became unbalanced. The last hawk pic is the new haft being tested for fitness on a fatwood stump. Also, I rehung this on a house axe haft awhile ago (That's the source for the S and N's haft, Yankee Josh ) However, I just finished the haft today which is why it was only posted today and not awhile ago.

 

[Agent_H]

Not wedged yet but related.
My Dad was joking about me using a pickaroon to load/unload my truck bed on the last visit. Later that night he asked me for one lol. Easy gift.

Looks a little birdlike.

Pickaroon

Process shots:
Chipped foot.

Shinto Saw Rasp. Coarse/Medium:

Clean up.