What file is most needed in axe maintenance and restoration?

K

KiwiBloke

Joined
Oct 2, 2018
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396
Hey guys I am putting together a tool kit exclusively for axe maintenance and restoration.

I will be working purely by hand so no sander belts or grinders. I will need a file or two for de-burring and creating the initial edge on a bits that is beyond blunt etc.

From my novice expertise and research I was thinking getting a bastard file and a second cut file. Are these two necessary to get a good job done or is it better to invest all my money in just one of them if that's all that's needed and have something much higher quality? Is there another file type I should be getting instead?

I have acquired 4 axes that all need some work in various degrees and can't wait to get into it.

Thanks
 
A wood rasp for working the hafts and a mallet for driving wedges come to mind. Stones or hones for fine sharpening. Maybe a wire brush or two. I find that some axes I refurbish need different work done that requires a tool I don't have yet. I buy them when I need them and add them to the kit.
 
Files can be had so cheaply second-hand that I would just worry about getting sizes that suit you and not worry about what type they are as long as they are in good shape and will cut. Any good mechanic needs files of all types laying around from jeweler's needle-files to the largest monsters made, from fine smoothing files to the coarsest bastards and rasps. Buy them all and then you will not have to worry about which ones to buy, you will just grab whatever is needed at a particular moment suitable to the project at hand.
 
A file card is handy. Also I find a wood scraper extremely useful. A Handy file can be OK, but I find that they wear our much more quickly than older full sized files. Look for those if you can. If you use BLO frequently, latex or equivalent disposable gloves, a small cheap paint brush and blue shop paper towels are good. A small sharp knife for trimming wedges. A box cutter will do in a pinch. Something to drift out the handle after each test fit. I'm trying to think of all the things that I put my hands on during a new hang. There might be more but that's mostly it.

Bare bones minimum is the rasp, drift and hammer/mallet. But you will be much better off with the other items. You can get everything for $30-40 I would guess.

I recently picked up an old Nicholson wood rasp, I guess you would call it a patternmaker's cabinet rasp. It is awesome. It seems to cut more easily and more smoothly than the course side of a 4 in hand. These are not everywhere to find like more common styles, but I recommend that everyone put them on their radar. Way too expensive to buy new, at least for this thrifty Yankee.
 
For reshaping bevels and any other areas where the steel has been hardened you’ll I would recommend acquiring some Grobet Inox files with the yellow tang. They’re fairly expensive but since you said you’re doing everything by hand these files will be real time savers.
 
Thanks a lot for the wisdom guys I really appreciate it and understand that yall had to learn this out for yourselfs. I am currently in my 5th year of University/college and with all that debt I really need to be wise with how I spend the money I have for this hobby. So thanks a lot.

I currently have:
4 stamped axe heads ranging from rusty and blunt to in good shape
4 hickory handles (grain orientation is pretty good)
120 Grit Oil Stone
600 Grit Oil Stone
Honing Oil
Vinegar & Baking Soda
Small sharp knife
Bench Vice

My shopping list for the hardware store:
Wet & Dry Sandpaper in various grits: 180, 220, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000
1 Wood Rasp
1 Bastard File
File Card
Brass Wire Brush
Rubber Mallet (or to drift out the handle and drive the wedge in is a normal hammer with a piece of hardwood in between okay instead?)
Fine Tooth Saw (for removing the excess wedge and haft once rehung)
Latex gloves
Boiled Linseed Oil
Metal Polish
WD-40 for Sandpaper lubricant

Please let me know if I am missing anything crucial or could do with getting rid of something to save some coin or invest it in higher quality tools.
My ultimate goal is to bring half of the axes back to fine working condition (will be used frequently) and the other half as wall hangers for display and caressing ;) (close to mirror polish). As I live in New Zealand we only have a few larger brands of tools etc in our hardware stores and the gear you guys have recommended would need to be bought from Amazon which has very high shipping costs for me; for now I will just get the basic version to get me started and from there I can upgrade as needed.

Thank you all and have a great day!! Cheers, KiwiBloke
 
Rubber Mallet (or to drift out the handle and drive the wedge in is a normal hammer with a piece of hardwood in between okay instead?)

I've used a regular hammer and a piece of wood, but it was pretty fiddly and slow to do it that way. If you have access to some wood, you can easily make your own wooden mallet. I made this one in about 3 hours at home from a log I cut from a hickory tree. Hardest part was drilling the hole in the head. You could also just carve up a simple club type job from a reasonably sized limb.
IMG_5010.jpg
 
Sandpaper is used wet or dry. Wet, as in water-wet. You don't need to use honing oil on it, but I don't see why that would matter in the end. I just use it dry.
 
jblyttle said:
A file card is handy. Also I find a wood scraper extremely useful. A Handy file can be OK, but I find that they wear our much more quickly than older full sized files. Look for those if you can. If you use BLO frequently, latex or equivalent disposable gloves, a small cheap paint brush and blue shop paper towels are good. A small sharp knife for trimming wedges. A box cutter will do in a pinch. Something to drift out the handle after each test fit. I'm trying to think of all the things that I put my hands on during a new hang. There might be more but that's mostly it.

Bare bones minimum is the rasp, drift and hammer/mallet. But you will be much better off with the other items. You can get everything for $30-40 I would guess.

I recently picked up an old Nicholson wood rasp, I guess you would call it a patternmaker's cabinet rasp. It is awesome. It seems to cut more easily and more smoothly than the course side of a 4 in hand. These are not everywhere to find like more common styles, but I recommend that everyone put them on their radar. Way too expensive to buy new, at least for this thrifty Yankee.
Click to expand...
Which Nicholson the 49 or 50? Is it foreign made and still good? I like them both...
 
KiwiBloke said:
I currently have:
4 stamped axe heads ranging from rusty and blunt to in good shape
4 hickory handles (grain orientation is pretty good)
120 Grit Oil Stone
600 Grit Oil Stone
Honing Oil
Vinegar & Baking Soda
Small sharp knife
Bench Vice

My shopping list for the hardware store:
Wet & Dry Sandpaper in various grits: 180, 220, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000
1 Wood Rasp
1 Bastard File
File Card
Brass Wire Brush
Rubber Mallet (or to drift out the handle and drive the wedge in is a normal hammer with a piece of hardwood in between okay instead?)
Fine Tooth Saw (for removing the excess wedge and haft once rehung)
Latex gloves
Boiled Linseed Oil
Metal Polish
WD-40 for Sandpaper lubricant
Click to expand...

I'd skip the vinegar and baking soda. I'd skip the wet/dry, a file and your stones will do fine. A 4-in-hand wood rasp is great when paired with a good coarser rasp or possibly a sharp new farriers rasp. File card is a must. Brass wire cup brush is great if it goes on an angle grinder or power drill. A steel wire cup brush can substitute. I like having both a rubber mallet (white, non-marring) and a wooden mallet. Rubber mallet setting the handle, wide flat wooden mallet for setting the wedge. The wood mallet can quickly be carved from a suitable branch of hardwood. Yes on the fine tooth pull saw, the latex (or nitrile) gloves and the BLO. Metal polish and WD-40 are optional.
 
Square_peg do you mean something like this to remove the rust from the head instead of using sandpaper? https://www.bunnings.co.nz/3m-scotchbrite-paint-rust-stripper-abrasive-disc_p00141598

I have a power drill so that would be fine but from our country's largest hardware retailer I can't find any brass or even steel cup brushes :\ This product is made of 'Silicon carbide' it says.

Without sandpaper how would one remove rust from the inside of an eye?
 
I have bought a set of 3 Nicholson files that are NOS. Sizes are: 360mm x 30mm wide Handy File, 320mm long 1 round edge bastard file and 200mm long 2nd cut warring file.

These are made in Canada.. I have heard bad things about the Mexican ones and good things about the US ones but nothing on the Canadian files.

Anybody used these before?? I'm hoping they are great.
 
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Also what does 'warring' mean? I know what 2nd cut is but haven't come across the word warring before?
 
Ah yes you are right! Just did a google search and they match up. That was just the description of the items that I was given so was a typo.

These are the 3 files I bought.

MWRoHyz.jpg
 
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jblyttle said:
It

It's a 49 that I made a maple handle for 2 years ago. It occurred to me to re-oil the handle tonight with some other stuff. Pics tomorrow.

Correction, yellow birch if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...
I prefer the 49 to the 50. The only difference is the 50 has more teeth so clogs easier and the augment could be made that it leaves a little finer surface. I really like them both though.
 
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