What did you rehang today?

Shoulder looks great. What did you use for the job?

 

Its damn near perfect! Nice work. Great looking Handle.

damn near perfect!

 

Thanks man! I first hogged off the bulk of the material with a Stanley 152 spokeshave, then refined the shape with a “saw rasp” or whatever they are. Called. Amazing tools for any woodworking! Then used a Stanley 51 spokeshave (which I keep super sharp at about a 20 degree angle) to finish it off and get that sheen on the wood. No sandpaper required! I love my shaves!! Sometimes I will have to used sandpaper to actually rough up the surface a litter so the oil will soak in the wood. This did fine though.

 

Emerson and Stevens DB. a

 

Nice job curt! That is a beaut! I have never seen a E&S here in the Midwest. Never even held one lol. One day!

 

Wow! What a nasty shelf!

 

Ooh, you put some time into those bevels.

 

2 3/4 lb Sater Banko on a 27” straight handle. Not my favourite grain alignment, but the experts tell me it should be fine! I believe this is a boys axe model.

 

I think that looks great. Don't worry about the grain, that's a nice setup. I like straight handles on some axes, and that one looks like a winner.

 

Maybe the seeds you've sown in his mind will eventually grow to encourage him to either preserve it or treat it with much more care than he might have otherwise. It looks awesome though!

 

I don't think that he abuses them, just splits a lot. He has a few axes in the rotation, he also bought a Chinese Luddell from me (cheap) just because he wants tools and doesn't care. The E&S finally snapped on him and he just put it aside and used others. Then he met me and saw what I do and brought it to me. Also, at it's age he is certainly not it's first owner/user. I'm hoping that it becomes his new favorite. It's certainly the sharpest and the prettiest.

 

The handle, a 28" Hickory Beaver Tooth, I purchased back after Thanksgiving.

The head, a 2 1/2lb Plumb crusier, came to me soon after with a good fingernail sized chip.





To heavy with the drawknife at the shoulder...again, but stopped short of total disaster thankfully







I did lose a bit more tongue than I was going for...



The Head (after filing out the chip)







Dark Walnut, courtesy of @Brian Rust, a block that just keeps giving







Slivers of dark walnut I widdled into shape(enough) and tapped in at both corners from the shoulder















25"
3 1/4lbs
12" Flat Bastard Nicholson Mexico
12" Mill 2nd Cut Delta USA

My 2nd cruiser

 

That turned out sweet, Miller! How much time did you put into filing out that chip and getting the bits back in shape? The whole package really looks great, and I'll bet it cuts like a demon.

 

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

 

Thanks man, and it is an excellent chopper in the few I tried out last night.
I'd say the chip was about 30-45 minutes tops, but I did that back during winter.
The sharpening was about 45 to an hour.

 

I've had this wedge pattern for a little while now. Decided to hang it on one of my n.o.s. S&N hafts.
There aren't any identifiers anywhere except the year of manufacture;
A couple of the haft before the final hang. Ended up with almost an inch of contact. Good stuff...

The temper is so good on this axe. Just perfect! I don't know the maker but it was made well!
It had been filed quite thin so I only removed the dings and filed very little. Honed and hung it after work today! Battled the hordes blackflies but I got 'er done! Thanks for checking it out guys!

Edit; Wanted to mention that prior to hanging it truly was perfectly wedge shaped. Pounding in the birch wedge put a slight curve in the eye and so ruined the straight line.

 

Do I see a stamp, makers mark, in your wedge, similar to this stamp here in my wedge.





Super tight hang on that beauty haft.
Reminds me of that line..."is a frog's ass water tight?"

 

If Maine axes have a Kryptonite, it's the notoriously thin soft eye walls. Not a problem until people start pounding on the poll.

 

That's so true... so many are deformed. In fact, other than Snow & Neally's, it's difficult to find good ones in the wild. I've also noticed that diamond eye double bits are almost always worn out. I guess because they are older so they are usually all worn out. I feel very fortunate to have found a wedge in this good condition. Not all beat to hell or worn out!

Thanks for the compliment! I give each one a lot of effort to make 'em as perfect as possible. . I've noticed sometimes photos reveal things that can't be seen in person easily. And other times they make it appear that things are there that aren't! I'm still trying to figure out which is true in this case. I think that other than the date any other markings are absent. I can tell by the rust scale that was on it that it's lost about a stamps worth depth of steel. . But I've not given up!
I'm confident it's a Maine head. And that it's a good example of fine craftsmanship. I wish every axe had temper like on this one... I'll try looking at it by the light of a full moon... Maybe THEN it'll reveal it's secrets...

 

At least it's soft enough that it didn't crack.