Axe Restoration Build Along.
- Thread starter Jackalope
- Start date
OK, so I've got questions -
1) Yesterday I put an old axe head in a white vinegar bath in a tupperware type container, covered it in about 1.5" of vinegar.
Some bubbles have been coming off the metal - any problem if I leave it for a couple of days?
2) What kind of cleaning/polishing head to you have on that drill? Is a steel wire brush too harsh?
3) Where can you buy GOOD quality axe handles? Does Lowes or Home Depot have 'em, or gotta go somewhere special?
4) and would you care to discuss sharpening - ?
Man o man, when this thread started I thought for sure it was going to be one of those "I've been busy" kind of projects. You sure got after this like a mad man, good job!
I think it'd look good down in a hole with me…lolrotflmao
I think it'd look good down in a hole with me…lolrotflmao
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Bubbles are good. I wouldn't leave it in there more than two days. If you want to help it along you can take it out and brush it off with a nylon vegetable brush then put it back. It'll never get all of it off but 90% is a good estimate. I only use a wire brush initially to knock any heavy rust off
The drill attachment is a rust removing wheel. It's like a stiff brillow pad. I also have another attachment that's made for restoring car rims. It contains a disk and sandpaper circles from 100-4000 grit. On an axe this pitted however I usually only use the rust removing one and the 400 grit one.
If you go to lowes or homedepot you can find a good handle. You can find a bunch of crappy ones too. Like any manufacturer dealing with raw natural materials you are going to make handles out of some really nice pieces of Hickory, and some really shitty pieces of Hickory where you're trying to squeak one by. Find one that has a good grain, no chips or cracks, and fits the hand well. From there it's just work. Sand sand and more sanding. Strip all that shitty varnish off with 80 grit and work up to 4000. You can get a good handle out of a big box store, you just have to put the work in them.
I'll cover sharpening in a bit.
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It did pretty well for being outside it's element. The head design is for softer wood like fir and pine. I don't particularly like cutting down live trees and a standing dead Ash was all I could find at the time. We don't have a lot of evergreens here but I'll find a dead one eventually.
Archertl
Senior Member
you did a nice job on that kelly perfect head joe. No worries about breaking tradition would use a belt sander if I owned one.
I traded the 1923 sager chemical puget sound pattern head for this misery whip.
It is a 7 foot crosscut bucking saw. the teeth are in good shape and amazing the guards are not broken off the handles. It has a Rayonier company stamp but no makers mark. Rayonier was and still is one of the big logging companies in the pacific northwest. It is too long to fit in the Tacoma's bed with the talegate closed so i had to drive 2 hours back home with the gate down. Once my buddy Ian and I get it fixed and sharpened up we might pack it up into the back country to clear hiking trails.
Jessie said she would like an axe. I doubt she will ever use it much. I picked up a belknap bluegrass cruiser head off ebay for 36 bucks. She liked the belknap because they were made Louisville, Ky which is where she went to Collage. It was a little more than what I liketo pay for axe heads but belknaps aren't very easy to find out here. I will hang the belknap on a nice and slim octagon handle.
I traded the 1923 sager chemical puget sound pattern head for this misery whip.
It is a 7 foot crosscut bucking saw. the teeth are in good shape and amazing the guards are not broken off the handles. It has a Rayonier company stamp but no makers mark. Rayonier was and still is one of the big logging companies in the pacific northwest. It is too long to fit in the Tacoma's bed with the talegate closed so i had to drive 2 hours back home with the gate down. Once my buddy Ian and I get it fixed and sharpened up we might pack it up into the back country to clear hiking trails.
Jessie said she would like an axe. I doubt she will ever use it much. I picked up a belknap bluegrass cruiser head off ebay for 36 bucks. She liked the belknap because they were made Louisville, Ky which is where she went to Collage. It was a little more than what I liketo pay for axe heads but belknaps aren't very easy to find out here. I will hang the belknap on a nice and slim octagon handle.
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Archertl
Senior Member
I rust blued the sager 1946 head and sharped it. I put a 25 degree convex on one bit and a 40 degree convex on the other.
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you did a nice job on that kelly perfect head joe. No worries about breaking tradition would use a belt sander if I owned one.
I traded the 1923 sager chemical puget sound pattern head for this misery whip.
It is a 7 foot crosscut bucking saw. the teeth are in good shape and amazing the guards are not broken off the handles. It has a Rayonier company stamp but no makers mark. Rayonier was and still is one of the big logging companies in the pacific northwest. It is too long to fit in the Tacoma's bed with the talegate closed so i had to drive 2 hours back home with the gate down. Once my buddy Ian and I get it fixed and sharpened up we might pack it up into the back country to clear hiking trails.
Jessie said she would like an axe. I doubt she will ever use it much. I picked up a belknap bluegrass cruiser head off ebay for 36 bucks. She liked the belknap because they were made Louisville, Ky which is where she went to Collage. It was a little more than what I liketo pay for axe heads but belknaps aren't very easy to find out here. I will hang the belknap on a nice and slim octagon handle.
Holy crap man what a great find. Don't see many misery whips around here. Especially with guards.
motorbreaker
*Supporting Member I*
Archertl
Senior Member
