Refurishing yet another axe. Rainy Day Picture Essay

[Smith357]

I found a nice old vintage axe in decent shape at the antique mall and figure $9 was a small price to pay for keeping me off the street. So this is the picture story of how I went about the refurbish.

So here is the star of the show, a 4 pound, Dayton Pattern axe made in Evansville IN by the Evansville Tools Works, hard to say how old it is but the building it was made in was razed in 1962 according to the internet, so it must be true. The beveled cheeks do give it away as an older axe as sometime in the 70 and 80 most makers went to flat cheeks to save of production costs. Evansville Tool works from what I can find seems to be and average American toolmaker from a bygone era.

The wedge needs replacing. Some yahoo put in a metal wedge, I hate metal wedges. They are a royal pain in the patootie to get out.

The edge is not really too bad, just a bit of re-profiling is all it really needs.

The haft is a 70s era straight replacement, The grain is perfectly aligned with no run out and appears to be good enough to re-use if I can set the head down a half inch.

Well there it is let's get to work on this bad boy. I needed to cut that electrical tape overstrike shield off, to my suprise there is a wire wrap under it.

OK, so I remove the wire too.

Pulling the wedge with a trick I came up with, fortunately the metal used for wedging is generally soft so it's easy to drill a small hole in the wedge, screw in a screw, and remove with a wonder bar or claw hammer.

With the steel wedge and the splinters of what was left of the old wood wedge removed just a couple of raps with the non-marring non-sparking copper hammer pops the head off the haft.

I pull the nail for hanging in the store display from the haft. The guy that rehung this thing before sure was lazy.

I used a soft wire wheel at a medium speed to remove the rust but leave the patina, the stamping is much clearer, as are the file marks from an earlier refurbish, probably when the straight haft was installed

With the rust cleaned off the steel it's time to break out the files, first issue is the mushrooming in the eye from pounding the head down on the haft with a hammer.

Next up I jam on old hammer handle through the eye so I can easily work with the vise and start profiling the edge.

I start filing away steel, working from a high point I just work the steel at a roughly 20 degree angle down to the edge.

Once I get it were I want it I flip it over and repeat. With a good basstard file it only took about 30 minutes.

After the file I move to emery cloth on a sanding block going from 150, 240, 320 and then off to the buffing wheel with the coarse black cutting compound.

I removed a little bit of wood from shoulders, where the base of the head meets the haft, to drop the head down on the haft by a half inch. Then sand the handle with 80 to 120 grit paper and treat it with a hot bee's wax and BLO mix to seal the wood.

The head was affixed to the haft with a contrasting Osage orange wedge i made from scrap.

It's good to go, we now have a tool that is every bit the tool of one of those $150 Swedish boutique axes for 9 bucks and a few hours of tinkering in the shop, let's go chop some wood!

 

[RTILSON]

Nicely done!

 

[shouldazagged]

Excellent work and a fine old ax. You do a fine job of bringing old implements back to life.

 

[vigil617]

Had you seen wire wrap under the overstrike buffer on any of your previous projects? Just wondered what the purpose of having the wire on there was, unless perhaps to try to make the intersection of head and haft stronger. Would it have worked for that purpose, do you think?

 

[Engineer1911]

Grudge tool

Everyone needs an axe to grind.

 

[Smith357]

Had you seen wire wrap under the overstrike buffer on any of your previous projects? Just wondered what the purpose of having the wire on there was, unless perhaps to try to make the intersection of head and haft stronger. Would it have worked for that purpose, do you think?

I have seen over strike shields done before, I myself have done them. I made one out of brass for this boy's axe. You will often see them made from heavy leather or just a wrap of paracord. They are there to protect the haft when the head misses the log and you get wood smashing against wood.

 

[vigil617]

Yep, I understand the purpose for them; makes sense.

I was just wondering about having wire underneath electrical tape. Now it occurs to me that perhaps the wire was what was on there originally as the shield, and the tape was added later by somebody else perhaps, for cosmetic reasons or additional cushion.

That brass one is nice looking. If it were mine, it would give me even more reason to be careful while chopping, to keep from scarring up my nice brass shield!

Did you go with brass because it's softer (and more forgiving) than steel would have been, or for good looks, or ease of working with the metal when making the shield? I like that yours is transferrable to another axe, too.

And am I crazy, or do I recall that after installing a haft into a head and wedging it, the next step is to soak the head of the axe in water to make the wood swell up even tighter? (That Osage Orange wood makes a beautiful wedge, by the way.)

I axe a lot of questions, don't I?

 

[Smith357]

Did you go with brass because it's softer (and more forgiving) than steel would have been, or for good looks, or ease of working with the metal when making the shield? I like that yours is transferrable to another axe, too.

I went with the brass because it's what I had on hand, it was either that or copper but I'm save my one sheet of copper for a knife build I have planned. yes the shield is transferable to another 28" haft.

And am I crazy, or do I recall that after installing a haft into a head and wedging it, the next step is to soak the head of the axe in water to make the wood swell up even tighter? (That Osage Orange wood makes a beautiful wedge, by the way.)

Soaking the head in water is a very short term fix, less than a week in dry weather. The water evaporates quickly and the wood shrinks back down. Water also promotes rust in the eye. A BLO soak and swell will last about a year, when BLO is mixed with bee's wax the wood will stay swelled a for a few years. The oil and wax also helps seal the eye from the ravages of moisture.

 

[STCM(SW)]

Nice job, don't think I would go through all that, but that's me...

 

[Jack Flash]

I have found lots of old axe heads for $1 each (or less) at garage sales. There is a website that describes how superior the axe heads of yesteryear were compared to the cheap import junk of today. Something about how the different parts of the metal had to be heat treated differently to get an edge that can be sharpened and the body which needs to be "springy-er".

I went through a less elaborate process than the OP. I would clean up the axe head, install it on a handle, and sharpen as required. After I had three or four axes, I just greased up the other spare axe heads and put them on a shelf in the garage. How many axes do I need?

 

[Smith357]

Nice job, don't think I would go through all that, but that's me...

Thanks, I get it, I'll do all that refurb work, but won't change the oil in my car, I pay someone else to do it for me.

How many axes do I need?

For me, it's a sickness like S&Ws
It's not a matter of need. The good thing is they are a lot cheaper the S&Ws. After gifting an axe to just about all my friends and keeping 4 or 5 down at the cabin I still have more than one man needs.

These are just a few that are in my office.

 

[Waldo]

I am a retired Ironworker. We always would wrap tie wire and cover it with tape around a hammer handle near the head.

 

[gunnails]

Thanks, I get it, I'll do all that refurb work, but won't change the oil in my car, I pay someone else to do it for me.


For me, it's a sickness like S&Ws
It's not a matter of need. The good thing is they are a lot cheaper the S&Ws. After gifting an axe to just about all my friends and keeping 4 or 5 down at the cabin I still have more than one man needs.

These are just a few that are in my office.

========================

Looks like you need a framing ax?

 

[Smith357]

========================

Looks like you need a framing ax?

I have an old Plumb I refurbed out in the garage-

and a True Temper Dynamic 30oz head on a 17" haft I keep under my desk next to the .45

What I'm really looking for now are some bargains on adzes, hewing hatchets, broad axes, goose wings, pulaskis, Jerseys, Rockaways, and early axes with the phantom bevels like the ones is this photo.

 

[billwill]

Very cool. Looks like you do really good work and bringing back that great old axes is an A+ effort! Great job.

 

[Onomea]

I enjoy seeing someone find their own little obscure niche of interest and enjoy the heck out of it! Keep it up!

 

[scooter123]

I have found lots of old axe heads for $1 each (or less) at garage sales. There is a website that describes how superior the axe heads of yesteryear were compared to the cheap import junk of today. Something about how the different parts of the metal had to be heat treated differently to get an edge that can be sharpened and the body which needs to be "springy-er".

I went through a less elaborate process than the OP. I would clean up the axe head, install it on a handle, and sharpen as required. After I had three or four axes, I just greased up the other spare axe heads and put them on a shelf in the garage. How many axes do I need?

If you're Axe Cop you probably need a bunch of Axes. From the rare occasions when I actually watch an episode it seems like he probably goes through axes like an IDPA shooter goes through 9mm.

 

[Derry 1946]

Excellent craftsmanship! Thanks for the detailed description and pics.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Nice work.

There is still a motion on the floor:
http://smith-wessonforum.com/firear...91222-hatchet-walking-cane.html#post138096199

 

[k22fan]

You do great work! I've also refurbished more axes and hatchets than I need. I figure there is no way to pass the same amount of time in town without spending a whole lot more money. I'm about to start fitting an old boy's axe head onto a 17" house or hearth axe handle. I find sticking to one handle length for two handed axes promotes an accurate swing so there are no boy's axes in my shed.

I haven't seen you post a picture of one of my favorite tools, a Vaughn Rig Builder or framer's hatchet. Older ones were forged. Newer ones are cast and can run up to a half pound over their advertised 28 ounce weight. I've lucked into a couple of older heads. No hatchet collection is complete without one.

Incidentlly, about 1960 my recently departed uncle wrapped his axe hafts with about .15" to .2" soft steel wire. Despite heating exclusively with wood all those years both his axes still wear their original hafts. The protection worked.