If you have ever used a modern axe (made in China from recycled pot metal) bought at Lowes or the hardware store and found that it would not hold an edge worth a darn, you know the importance of good tool-grade steel. It is hard to get good steel these days and you must pay a premium for it in a new product. This is why high-end Milwaukee bits for hammer drills are made in Germany or Switzerland and are priced accordingly. A new axe with high quality steel from Gransfors of Sweden can cost over $200! Antique (American made) axes are also often made of high quality steel with excellent Rockwell hardness and can be bought for under $20 on okay. When properly restored, they will cut every bit (pun intended) as well as a new hand-forged Swedish axe from Gransfors Bruks that costs $250.Manye-bayers buy antique axes on e-bay for the "collector" value of the axe/head. Highly sought after axes include Mann, Kelly, Collins, Plumb, Sager, Warren, Gransfors, Keen Kutter and many others. For these collectors, the markings on the axe, whether it has the original handle, its condition, and its uniqueness and rarity are of paramount concern.
The tool enthusiast or user who buys an axe head for practical uses has different priorities than the collector. For the enthusiast, rust, an original handle and clear markings are not very important, as all that matters is the steel and the edge. Many axe heads that lack the collector qualities can be bought at a very reasonable (dare I say cheap?) price. However, if you're going to rehandle and sharpen and use the axe, there are certain things that you need to be concerned about that the collector does not. Here are some of those features:Make sure there are no chips deeper than about 1/8" into the blade, because filing it out could take hours and may distort the cutting surface. (Collectorsprobably don't have to be concerned as much withblade chips as they can be said to confer "character"to the head). Even a 1/8" chip could be VERY difficult to sharpen out, especially if the axe has been ground back toward the eye over the years because the steel will be thicker closer to the eye. In all, you want to avoid any chips, however, I have gotten some great deals on chipped axes over the years that turned out great with some TLC.Make sure somebody has not used the sides of the axe that overlie the eye (the hole where the handle goes) as a hammer (especially gemon on double bit axes) and smashed the eye making it more narrow. If the eye has been deformed by this practice, fitting ("hanging") a new handle can be difficult or impossible. Similarly, if the steel at the openings of the eye has mushroomed over into the eye from previous hammering the axe off a broken handle, fitting a new handle can be difficult.Make sure the axe has not already been resharpened and ground down excessively. If this is the case, the convex tapered part of the blade may be ground back too far where the steel is thicker and you will have to grind a lot more material off the axe to make the proper angle/taper for the cutting surface. You can often tell there was excessive grinding/resharpening because the dimensions/geometry of the axe are off - the blade has been shortened by the excessive grinding.Make sure there are no cracks in the steel especially around the eye.Often, the sellers don't know anything about axe heads and don't know what you plan to use it for, so they take a photo over some surface like carpet or newspaper that may obscure chips on the edges. Request a photo overa plain white surface or ask specifically about chips, cracks, and the like.
RESTORING YOUR ANTIQUE AXEInspect it as above to assure there are no features of the axe head which will make it more difficult or impossible to restore and hang a handle on.Avoid grinding the axe with a power grinder. This may heat up the blade too much and ruin the temper of the steel, unless you have a belt grinder.Get a diamond file (I suggest getting one from Garrett Wade in Ohio for $10 - made in China but they work great.) A regular steel file will be ruined before you hone one edge of the axe if the latter is made of good steel.Use a vice or clamp to affix the head to a sturdy table and use the diamond file to sharpen/grind the bevel of the axe at about a 15 degree angle. Depending on the condition of the head, this could take five minutes or two hours. How to fully sharpen it to a razor edge is beyond the scope of this guide, but after the diamond file, I follow up with a course then a fine sandstone sharpening whetstone and then an extra fine Arkansas stone. If done right, the axe will shave hair from your arm like a Gransfors Bruks $200 axe.Go to Ace Hardware or Sears or similar to select a handle. The ideal handle has the grain oriented parallel to the cutting edge of the axe head when it is installed; is made of Hickory or Ash; is sap wood (lighter color; more flexible) not core wood (darker); has wide not narrow growth rings (6-8 per inch is best, but very difficult to find); and is straight and without cracks. When I find a good handle with these features, I buy it as a spare.Affix the handle to your bench and use a medium-course half round rasp to file the end of the handle so that the axe head will fit the eye and sit right on the shoulder (swelling) of the handle. It may require removal of a fair amount of material ot get it to fit firmly on the shoulder. The further down on the shoulder, the better. And the better a fit of the handle in the eye, the better.Optional, but highly regemended: Sand any varnish, paint, or fire glaze off the handle by hand or with a power sander with COARSE grit sandpaper. This will allow for later application of Linseed Oil for preservation of the wood.With the axe head on the shoulder of the handle, cut or mark for later cutting with a hack saw a line so that the handle sticks out 1/4-1/3 an inch from the end of the eye. This is done so that the two sides of the handle are "splayed" out a bit wider than the sides of the eye after the poplar wedge is inserted - and it helps hold the handle firmly in place on the shoulder.Trim a poplar wood wedge (usually gees with the handle) with a fine file, wood chisel, or sand paper so that it can be driven to 3/4 of its length into the split in the handle. Their taper as they gee from the store is often too thick to allow this without some degree of trimming.With the handle cut to length and the axe head resting firmly on the shoulder of the handle, carefully drive the popular wedge into the split as far as possible. Trim the excess length of the poplar wedge with a hack saw so it is flush with the end of the handle.Optional: Drive in a small metal wedge (usually gees with the poplar wedge) at a 45 degree angle to the axis of the cutting surface so it goes through both the poplar wedge and the handle. If you have properly fitted the handle, one will suffice. The handle should now be firmly affixed to the axe head. Apply a few coats of Linseed Oil to the handle.Optional but highly regemended: apply Linseed oil, Beeswax, or a mixture of both to the steel of the axe, especially on the cutting surfaces. This prevents rust, which may ruin your hard won razor edge. High carbon steel rusts easily.
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