What did you rehang today?

[AaronGP]

I spent the weekend hanging out at Mount Rainier National Park, camping and doing some trail work (you should see me build a rock wall on duff). Among other things I had a chance to swing my new axe in camp a little bit. A couple of takeaways: it splits firewood easily, though splitting isn't mainly what I intend it for, and the strike guard did exactly what I needed it to the first time I swung it.

A couple of the older guys who were there with me are sawyers (Square_peg do you know Ron Celestres or Rick Zitzmann?) and we got to spend a nice long time talking about axes. Though both thought, looking at this axehead, that it might be forge welded rather than mono steel. I'm nowhere near expert enough to tell, so I thought I'd throw that question out to all of you. What do you think?

 

[A17]

Using this butchered photo, I think I can see a weld seam at the top of the dark portion which tells me it could be a forge welded bit. That'd be a first for me.

 

[crbnSteeladdict]

I spent the weekend hanging out at Mount Rainier National Park, camping and doing some trail work (you should see me build a rock wall on duff). Among other things I had a chance to swing my new axe in camp a little bit. A couple of takeaways: it splits firewood easily, though splitting isn't mainly what I intend it for, and the strike guard did exactly what I needed it to the first time I swung it.

A couple of the older guys who were there with me are sawyers (Square_peg do you know Ron Celestres or Rick Zitzmann?) and we got to spend a nice long time talking about axes. Though both thought, looking at this axehead, that it might be forge welded rather than mono steel. I'm nowhere near expert enough to tell, so I thought I'd throw that question out to all of you. What do you think?

I believe your axe is later model than those.

https://archive.org/details/WmFrankfurthCoHardwareCatalogNo5/page/n69

Plumb went mono steel very early in comparison to other manufaturers. It should not be forge welded unless it was rehabbed by blacksmith.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Gotta get ready for work so I'll have to finish shaping it later, but I rehung the little 1lb hatchet Agent_H sent me.

 

[Malus]

This post will be a little picture heavy, but I wanted to include some progress pictures as this axe came together.

This axe belonged to my wife's great-grandfather. As a teenager he lost his left arm in a hunting accident so he used this 1 1/2 lbs Hults Bruk which he could still swing with one hand. The axe was later inherited by my grandfather-in-law.

We were having a conversation about axes one day when he mentioned his father's axe needed the handle replaced. He showed me that it had warped considerably from being tightly wedged against the side of his four-wheeler for years and had also recently cracked. I offered that I could carve him a replacement. He mentioned that he thought it was original, so I decided to try to reproduce it's pattern as closely as I could.

I traced the pattern onto some white ash. The eye had mushrooming at the top and the bit had been ground unevenly on a bench grinder. A good amount of filing reprofiled the bit and fixed the eye. I used a brass brush to rid it of some surface rust which revealed remnants of the original blue paint. Finished it off with a yellow birch wedge and multiple healthy coats of raw linseed.

When I returned it to him he was very surprised and a little emotional. The axe is clearly important to him and I was happy to bring it back to working order. He said he wanted me to have the axe after he passes on, and hopefully one day it will find its way into the hands of a young person who will know that it belonged to their great-great-grandfather.

 

[Yankee Josh]

This post will be a little picture heavy, but I wanted to include some progress pictures as this axe came together.

This axe belonged to my wife's great-grandfather. As a teenager he lost his left arm in a hunting accident so he used this 1 1/2 lbs Hults Bruk which he could still swing with one hand. The axe was later inherited by my grandfather-in-law.

We were having a conversation about axes one day when he mentioned his father's axe needed the handle replaced. He showed me that it had warped considerably from being tightly wedged against the side of his four-wheeler for years and had also recently cracked. I offered that I could carve him a replacement. He mentioned that he thought it was original, so I decided to try to reproduce it's pattern as closely as I could.

I traced the pattern onto some white ash. The eye had mushrooming at the top and the bit had been ground unevenly on a bench grinder. A good amount of filing reprofiled the bit and fixed the eye. I used a brass brush to rid it of some surface rust which revealed remnants of the original blue paint. Finished it off with a yellow birch wedge and multiple healthy coats of raw linseed.

When I returned it to him he was very surprised and a little emotional. The axe is clearly important to him and I was happy to bring it back to working order. He said he wanted me to have the axe after he passes on, and hopefully one day it will find its way into the hands of a young person who will know that it belonged to their great-great-grandfather.

Gorgeous! Beautiful work and such a great story too. It's nice to do a project that has special significance to your family. I've done similar things before and it's gratifying. Thank you for sharing your story and fine work with us!
Edit; I wanted to add isn't yellow (or white) birch AWESOME for wedges! I find it far and away the best wedge material I've found.

 

[AaronGP]

I'm curious: does anyone here ever sketch out what they're planning while getting started with or working on a project? This is the sketch I did of the axe I posted photos of a couple days ago. The axe is finished but the mask is yet to come.

The drawing was done in Procreate on an iPad Pro. If you want to get real nerdy about which brushes I used and all that jazz then we can plunge down that rabbit hole

 

[Hickory n steel]

It's done, and it came out to 14" exactly.


I decided to go a little bit different with this one, nothing crazy though.
I went with a straight handle, but I don't like the look of a regular hatchet with a hammer style handle so I reshaped it more like a traditional straight axe handle.
I also rounded off the top and bottom of the head as well as the poll, and besides that you can see I gave it a fairly closed hang.
The whole torched look is something I've gotten away from, but for some reason I decided to torch this one a little bit.

I'll need some time to decide, but I may end up giving this one to my 16 year old cousin.

 

[AaronGP]

It's done, and it came out to 14" exactly.


I decided to go a little bit different with this one, nothing crazy though.
I went with a straight handle, but I don't like the look of a regular hatchet with a hammer style handle so I reshaped it more like a traditional straight axe handle.
I also rounded off the top and bottom of the head as well as the poll, and besides that you can see I gave it a fairly closed hang.
The whole torched look is something I've gotten away from, but for some reason I decided to torch this one a little bit.

I'll need some time to decide, but I may end up giving this one to my 16 year old cousin.

It looks from the photo like the handle curves backward slightly. Is that the case? If yes, is was that intentional? Personal preference or functional reason?

 

[Agent_H]

It's done, and it came out to 14" exactly.


I decided to go a little bit different with this one, nothing crazy though.
I went with a straight handle, but I don't like the look of a regular hatchet with a hammer style handle so I reshaped it more like a traditional straight axe handle.
I also rounded off the top and bottom of the head as well as the poll, and besides that you can see I gave it a fairly closed hang.
The whole torched look is something I've gotten away from, but for some reason I decided to torch this one a little bit.

I'll need some time to decide, but I may end up giving this one to my 16 year old cousin.

I’m happy that hatchet is living a new life for you H&S!

Liking the straight handle too

 

[Meek1]

It's done, and it came out to 14" exactly.


I decided to go a little bit different with this one, nothing crazy though.
I went with a straight handle, but I don't like the look of a regular hatchet with a hammer style handle so I reshaped it more like a traditional straight axe handle.
I also rounded off the top and bottom of the head as well as the poll, and besides that you can see I gave it a fairly closed hang.
The whole torched look is something I've gotten away from, but for some reason I decided to torch this one a little bit.

I'll need some time to decide, but I may end up giving this one to my 16 year old cousin.

Nicely done sir! Got a lot of personality to it.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I’m happy that hatchet is living a new life for you H&S!

Liking the straight handle too

Thanks.
I must admit I mostly went straight because the local Hardware rarely gets in the better style of Link hatchet handle, but am glad it did as I quite like how this came out.

 

[Hickory n steel]

It looks from the photo like the handle curves backward slightly. Is that the case? If yes, is was that intentional? Personal preference or functional reason?

Just the angle of the picture and the taper up to the shoulder creating this appearance.
I did that not too long ago for a single bevel hewing hatchet and like the feel, but I don't think it would be that great for a normal hatchet.
I tend not to go to far outside the box with axes and stuff.

 

[Miller '72]

It's done, and it came out to 14" exactly.


I decided to go a little bit different with this one, nothing crazy though.
I went with a straight handle, but I don't like the look of a regular hatchet with a hammer style handle so I reshaped it more like a traditional straight axe handle.
I also rounded off the top and bottom of the head as well as the poll, and besides that you can see I gave it a fairly closed hang.
The whole torched look is something I've gotten away from, but for some reason I decided to torch this one a little bit.

I'll need some time to decide, but I may end up giving this one to my 16 year old cousin.

Right on, looks great! The straight haft really makes me want to pick it up and use it.
I think you have yourself a great little user, for you or your cousin.
Man i need to go rehang something!

 

[Fmont]

It's done, and it came out to 14" exactly.


I decided to go a little bit different with this one, nothing crazy though.
I went with a straight handle, but I don't like the look of a regular hatchet with a hammer style handle so I reshaped it more like a traditional straight axe handle.
I also rounded off the top and bottom of the head as well as the poll, and besides that you can see I gave it a fairly closed hang.
The whole torched look is something I've gotten away from, but for some reason I decided to torch this one a little bit.

I'll need some time to decide, but I may end up giving this one to my 16 year old cousin.

Looks great, and I heartily agree with the hammer handle sentiment. But I think the only way you're giving this to your young cousin is to deed it in your will lol.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Looks great, and I heartily agree with the hammer handle sentiment. But I think the only way you're giving this to your young cousin is to deed it in your will lol.

I like it a lot, but I know that others will come along and I don't really need it all that much when I've got about 6 other hatchets already.
His only hatchet is a crappy S&W " shaped knife " as I call them.
You know the type, they come in a combo with a matching knife and are really just a game processing tool.

 

[FLINT77]

This post will be a little picture heavy, but I wanted to include some progress pictures as this axe came together.

This axe belonged to my wife's great-grandfather. As a teenager he lost his left arm in a hunting accident so he used this 1 1/2 lbs Hults Bruk which he could still swing with one hand. The axe was later inherited by my grandfather-in-law.

We were having a conversation about axes one day when he mentioned his father's axe needed the handle replaced. He showed me that it had warped considerably from being tightly wedged against the side of his four-wheeler for years and had also recently cracked. I offered that I could carve him a replacement. He mentioned that he thought it was original, so I decided to try to reproduce it's pattern as closely as I could.

I traced the pattern onto some white ash. The eye had mushrooming at the top and the bit had been ground unevenly on a bench grinder. A good amount of filing reprofiled the bit and fixed the eye. I used a brass brush to rid it of some surface rust which revealed remnants of the original blue paint. Finished it off with a yellow birch wedge and multiple healthy coats of raw linseed.

When I returned it to him he was very surprised and a little emotional. The axe is clearly important to him and I was happy to bring it back to working order. He said he wanted me to have the axe after he passes on, and hopefully one day it will find its way into the hands of a young person who will know that it belonged to their great-great-grandfather.

[/QUOTE

wow, very cool story, and amazing job on that handle!!!!!! Very special axe indeed!

 

[AaronGP]

I'm planning my next hang (no progress-worthy pictures yet), so I did some sketches to help me figure out what I'm hoping to achieve.

 

[ithinkverydeeply]

Cool renderings!

 

[junkenstien]

Just cleaned it up some still got to stone it.Best factory handle I have come across yet from any mfg. is on a Woodslasher cruiser.