What did you rehang today?

[300Six]

Thank you for the info. This hatchet does not have a stamp or makers mark.

Absence of a maker's mark does not automatically indicate that a tool is inferior but it does strongly imply that something is 'not up to established maker standard'. Wal-Mart, for instance, can negotiate an order of 100,000 axes with Council Tools by overlooking rigid specs for steel and for finishing in exchange for 1/2 price wholesale goods. Council (or any small enterprise) is not going to turn away profitable (continuous, for sure) work and will happily oblige but (in good conscience) will not stamp their name on those products. And Wal-Mart certainly couldn't care about integrity or durability of these beyond 30 days of a sale.
The Swedes and Germans were desperate for sales in the 1950s-60s and allowed others to market their products. In those situations first class tools were sold cheaply by brokers, and near as I can tell many of the Makers did proudly stamp (cryptically in many cases) their products anyway.

 

[garry3]

I'm not too worried about the quality. As you said, persistence is key. I kept on filing and now it takes an edge very very well, much like the Hultafors.
Thanks for the tip about the hardened layer, I didn't know about that!

I am very glad I was able to help.

If it looks like a well made tool they are good to go in my experience. Some of the worst I have run across have been stamped Collins heads(blasphemy?). I gave away a double bit reversible or maybe it was a swamping pattern a little time ago that was just a great axe, excellent steel and head geometry, no stamp.

Some of these older ones I think might be a little hit and miss on the heat treat. It was probably all done by eye with different light playing a part. Cloudy days, hung over workers ect. Who knows?

Check your in box I am going to send you a message.

 

[garry3]

Mann Edge True American Boys Axe

Hung on a 28" boys axe handle from House Handle. I'm fairly happy with how this one turned out. It feels great in hand.

The last picture is my attempt to show how curvy the handle is. This is surprisingly difficult to capture in a picture. I can only imagine what COTS's handles look like in person.

That's just a great job Hacked. It looks awesome, no sharp transitions in the shoulders, no shoulder on the haft that will take a beating in splitting wood. Nice and thin with a very nice shaped fawns foot. Excellent grain. Its not your first rodeo.

The head looks good also. I have had some real good experiences with Mann axes.

Thanks for sharing your work! Top shelf stuff.

 

[aikonen]

Absence of a maker's mark does not automatically indicate that a tool is inferior but it does strongly imply that something is 'not up to established maker standard'. Wal-Mart, for instance, can negotiate an order of 100,000 axes with Council Tools by overlooking rigid specs for steel and for finishing in exchange for 1/2 price wholesale goods. Council (or any small enterprise) is not going to turn away profitable (continuous, for sure) work and will happily oblige but (in good conscience) will not stamp their name on those products. And Wal-Mart certainly couldn't care about integrity or durability of these beyond 30 days of a sale.
The Swedes and Germans were desperate for sales in the 1950s-60s and allowed others to market their products. In those situations first class tools were sold cheaply by brokers, and near as I can tell many of the Makers did proudly stamp (cryptically in many cases) their products anyway.

You are completely correct.
Too many people can walk into any kind of store and buy a piece of shit 10$ axe and be as satisfied with it as I am with my Gränsfors. The demand for quality has fallen, but there are still people that will pay that extra money to get a quality tool that will last a lifetime or even longer.
I respect that very much.

Thank you 300

 

[aikonen]

I am very glad I was able to help.

If it looks like a well made tool they are good to go in my experience. Some of the worst I have run across have been stamped Collins heads(blasphemy?). I gave away a double bit reversible or maybe it was a swamping pattern a little time ago that was just a great axe, excellent steel and head geometry, no stamp.

Some of these older ones I think might be a little hit and miss on the heat treat. It was probably all done by eye with different light playing a part. Cloudy days, hung over workers ect. Who knows?

Check your in box I am going to send you a message.

I agree. As long as the bit isn't curved, or the head is twisted, it might be worth the effort fixing it up. Could very well be a great first axe for a friend etc.

I believe I have answered the message, let me know if I haven't. Not really familiar with the message-system yet.

Thank you again.

 

[cityofthesouth]

Hacked, I'm thinking you might be right about the lacquer and I'm curious to see if there is a difference. The handles I see hanging in the hardware store with lacquer certainly appear to have more and I also theorize that we probably lose a fair amount of material from the lacquer removal process.

 

[Ohioan614]

Am I reading this correctly that House of handles laquers all of their products then removes it when you order no laquer? I thought they just turned a new one and didn't finish it.

 

[Hacked]

Am I reading this correctly that House of handles laquers all of their products then removes it when you order no laquer? I thought they just turned a new one and didn't finish it.

There is an indent in the bottom of the handle from the wood lathe that still had lacquer in it on the last three I ordered. This makes me believe that they just run them over a belt sander really quickly to remove it. The first handle I ever ordered from them was a 28" that was lacquered. I removed it myself of course but didn't reshape it. Compared to the on in my last hang it seemed to have more material at the swell, I'm guessing because a belt sander would knock that part down rather quickly. Also with as much work as I'm doing on these handles at this point I the effort to remove the lacquer is negligible.

 

[rjdankert]

Hacked, I'm thinking you might be right about the lacquer and I'm curious to see if there is a difference. The handles I see hanging in the hardware store with lacquer certainly appear to have more and I also theorize that we probably lose a fair amount of material from the lacquer removal process.

FWIW I use with lacquer thinner. Using chemicals won't remove wood. That said, the last handle I did had a ton of lacquer on it. I went over it twice and some lacquer was still there. However, the lacquer was softened and came off easily with a scrapper.

 

[Agent_H]

Am I reading this correctly that House of handles laquers all of their products then removes it when you order no laquer? I thought they just turned a new one and didn't finish it.

There is an indent in the bottom of the handle from the wood lathe that still had lacquer in it on the last three I ordered. This makes me believe that they just run them over a belt sander really quickly to remove it. The first handle I ever ordered from them was a 28" that was lacquered. I removed it myself of course but didn't reshape it. Compared to the on in my last hang it seemed to have more material at the swell, I'm guessing because a belt sander would knock that part down rather quickly. Also with as much work as I'm doing on these handles at this point I the effort to remove the lacquer is negligible.

Same experience here. I’ve been pleased with my orders with HH but the ones that I ordered without lacquer seems to still have some on the bottom of the swell and sometimes on the end of the tongue. Some have said they like that because it removes material for them and saves time and others aren’t as pleased because they were hoping for more material to work with.

When you order octagonalized handles there is sometimes more material removed in certain spots than some want as well but there is definitely no lacquer.

Upon a recommendation from Garry3 (think it was him), I ordered a set of cabinet scrapers to try out. Removing lacquer is just part of the process – irritating sometimes but like Hacked mentioned, it’s part of the process – as if you bought a handle from a retail store.

Lacquer removal with sandpaper is a waste of time and… sandpaper lol. Using a file seems to just gum up the file over and over. Managed to get lacquer/dust in my eye when using a sander approach. That stuff burns. I swear it melts when it hits your eyeball :thumbdn:– not to mention your sinuses (was wearing glasses but nothing covering mouth/nose). Never tried chemical removers so I can't attest to that approach.

I've tried sharpening a putty knife in a single bevel manner that worked pretty well. Lately been using a spent hacksaw blade (the flat side) that removes lacquer really well and pretty quickly actually. Even better now since I ran it through a Work Sharp on one side only. Small, poor man’s draw knife I guess. Since sharpening it on one side I've actually worked a double bit handle almost entirely with it – after initial head fit with a rasp of course. Time consuming but lots of control in fine shaping. Sure there are other ways to go about it but I only feel comfortable talking about my own experience.

I’m hoping that the cabinet scrapers I ordered are a step up in efficiency for lacquer/fine material removal. Should be here Monday.

 

[quinton]

A Red Devil, or similar "paint scraper" with a handle works wonders on lacquer removal. I would guess two minutes tops! I Also use them for a finish and detail scraper.

 

[Hacked]

These are the tools I use. Porter Cable 1/4 sheet palm sander, Japanese pull cut pruning saw with a thin blade, Mora Classic #1, 4 in hand rasp, and a larger rasp with very aggressive teeth on the round side and fine teeth on the flat. Other than that its sandpaper. Nothing special here, truth is you don't need a whole lot to make a very functional handle and fit it to your axe head. I find the aggressive teeth handle the lacquer quickly and without issue. Keep in mind I'm rather green, the Mann Edge was my 5th hang, not counting two hatchets I re-hung on the handles they came with.

 

[quinton]

A Tru-Test hatchet that was badly beaten on the underside at some point. I reprofiled the head, and hung it on a haft I made from a Shagbark stave a few months ago. The haft is a hybrid, octagonalized transitioning to round in the grip. It was a gift I made for my son.

 

[quinton]

No name, ridged eye cruiser I picked up a flea market a few months back. It was badly pitted, so I resurfaced it an hung it back on the 26" haft that was on it when purchased. The haft was very old, but was unusable the way I bought it due to a severe bow. I steamed the haft once removed from the head, and straightened it by clamping. It remained straight, so I octagonalized it and rehung the head back on to the old wood.

 

[Axe Master '94]

A Tru-Test hatchet that was badly beaten on the underside at some point. I reprofiled the head, and hung it on a haft I made from a Shagbark stave a few months ago. The haft is a hybrid, octagonalized transitioning to round in the grip. It was a gift I made for my son.

Did you pattern that off of a vintage hatchet haft? I've got an old Ward's hatchet with a near-identical handle. Beautiful, comfortable, and functional. Great hang, man.

 

[jblyttle]

A Tru-Test hatchet that was badly beaten on the underside at some point. I reprofiled the head, and hung it on a haft I made from a Shagbark stave a few months ago. The haft is a hybrid, octagonalized transitioning to round in the grip. It was a gift I made for my son.

LOVE it. Kudos.

 

[quinton]

Did you pattern that off of a vintage hatchet haft? I've got an old Ward's hatchet with a near-identical handle. Beautiful, comfortable, and functional. Great hang, man.

Thanks! Actually, the haft was made by feel. I started removing material until it suited my hand and eyes. The fawns foot is exactly 1 1/2" wide.. It felt so good, I actually traced a pattern of it before I hung the head!

 

[quinton]

LOVE it. Kudos.

Thanks, J.B.!

 

[cityofthesouth]

quinton, killer, both of them. Such nice grain on that hatchet and nice work drawing the pattern, a keeper no question about it.

 

[Curt Hal]

Amazing work. Both are very nice pieces!