"Setting up The Green Mans Axe" inspired followup -Poor man's axe rescue (pic heavy)

[malente]

Hi guys.

The thread about rescuing The Green Man's axe (here) by British Red was very inspiring and a joy to read.

Also, it inspired confidence for me to try and rescue my own cheapo B&Q axe. The bevel (and general condition) of the axe could be described as poor. Even if I fail miserably (quite possible) it will be a leaning experience. I still have wet dreams about Cegga axes

The tools I plan to use:

- £2 square Sheffield b@stard file (local hardware store)
- Aldi sharpening kit £7.99 (thanks Black Sheep for the heads up)
- leather belt for stropping
- probably some band-aid for my fingers

Anyway, enough waffling, here is the project before I start (excuse the bad pic quality, only have a mobile phone cam ):

The axe, sharpening kit and file.

Side view 1 and close up of file.

Detail of bevel side 1.

Side view other side and file.

Detail of bevel other side.

The culprit (bevel).

Bevel close up and fingernail.

Top view.

back view.

View from below (front).

View from below (back). Makers mark???

A dent in the axe head (adds character... )

And finally... just for a laugh (cry?)

The sheath. :togo:


I'll update my progress in this thread.

Any pointers very welcome!

Thanks for looking!

Mike

 

[Barn Owl]

The makers mark is the weight of your axe 1 1/2 lbs, I think.

Good photos of your work,I pimped a homebase axe after reading the thread about same on here.

 

[malente]

The makers mark is the weight of your axe 1 1/2 lbs, I think.

Thanks for the info

Just shows my ignorance and how much I can learn...

Mike

 

[British Red]

Good axes those! Not your classic wooden helved job but a decent synthetic helve that won't warp or shrink and generally a well made head. I'm not ashamed to admit I have the larger version for rough work. The mask is rubbish I agree - but theres no reason you can't make something better out of leather (lets face it - GB masks are rubbish too!)

As for pointers, without wanting to blow my own trumpet, I did do a thread with pictures on how to sharpen an axe properly - I've put a link in below. Hopefully that should get you started at least

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22814

Shout if I can help

Red

 

[gorilla]

i'm currently re-doing 2 b+q axes at the moment - the 'edge' on the larger axe measured 3mm at its worst point, so quite a bit to file off - Reds tutorial is excellent and has come in very useful

 

[malente]

Hi there

Finally got round to have some free time to spend on my little project.

I used BRs tutorial as a basis, and also used Gloves, as advised.

I also got me a DC4 for the finer work.

Here is the progress so far.

Bevel side 1

Side 1 angle view

Bevel side 1 detail

Bevel side 2

Side 2 angle view

Bevel side 2 detail

View from below

I think it looks ok

I guess I can improve and even out the bevel even more with the finer tools.

When the bevel is done I maybe even can polish the axe head (and get rid of all the rubber that covers it)??

And also make a leather sheath...

Maybe I can wrap some leather around the handle to make it look nicer and also to give a better grip (don't like the sticky plastic too much).

What do you think?

Feedback or suggestions for improving very welcome.

I enjoy doing this!

Mike

 

[Mirius]

Looks to me like it's coming along a treat. Where to stop, now there is a question! Certainly continue to polish out the bevel, but beyond that I think it's going to be cosmetic.

 

[malente]

Looks to me like it's coming along a treat. Where to stop, now there is a question! Certainly continue to polish out the bevel, but beyond that I think it's going to be cosmetic.

Hi Mirius,

cheers, it's all a big learning curve.

Regarding when to stop, I totally agree, it would be cosmetic. I'd like to make it look nice, makes me want to use it more I guess

Mike

 

[TheGreenMan]

Hi Mike,

Why not try polishing it right at the edge, just for now? I personally wouldn’t remove all of the marks from the b@astard file, just those that are very close to the edge, then hone and polish the edge, then give the tool a go. It looks a little thick at the moment, but if splitting firewood is all you want to do with it, then it could be OK to leave it thick, as that will help to wedge the dry wood apart.

If you want to do some deep chopping cuts or use it more like a knife on occasions, you’ll probably need to thin it out some more. I tend to work on a blade (knife/hatchet/axe/whatever), then test it with some cutting/chopping, and if it didn’t work as well as I’d hoped, I do some more work to it, and stop when it does what I’d like it to do and when it does it well. Having honed the edge, if it does what you need it to do, then you could set about removing the file marks further back from the cutting edge. On the other hand, if after testing, you decide that you would like to thin it out some, then you didn’t waste all that time and energy removing the file marks behind the cutting edge and can start removing more metal with the file further back from the edge.

Unless you know what you want to do with it, it’s hard to know what should be done and how far the work to it should proceed.

As a relative novice, I find that the regrind-test-regrind-test… cycle works well for me, and by doing, I take the learning to the level beyond reading and theory. Nothing wrong with reading though, I tend to do a lot myself before embarking on a project. I make lots of mistakes, put a lot of work into it, take every opportunity to learn how to use the tool, and through that process learn how I might do things differently next time, or discover the fine tuning that needs to be done. My methods tend to be slow, and they wouldn’t suit everyone, but they work for me.

Looking forward to your next report of progress.

Cheers,
Paul.

 

[British Red]

That bevels looking a thousand percent better already malente - far more even. I wouldn't leather cover the handle to be honest - it would only thicken the handle at best and at worst could part company at a vital point.

Paul's advice is missed - don't take too much off at a time - try it, then thin some more.

Red

 

[malente]

Hi there,

been a while, but I haven't abandoned the project!

Life was just a bit busy for me (moved house, second baby on the way...).

TheGreenMan and BR, I took your advise, cheers for the feedback!

I used the finer grits and then the DC4 to polish the edge, and it is now sharp enough to cut into my fingernail. Wow!

I was on a canoe trip on the Lakes this week and tried it out, splitting wood and cutting finer wood etc. It works so much better now!

Here are some pictures (sorry for the poor quality, the edge really is polished now which you can't see on the pics)...

(I cut myself sharpening one of my knifes )

Next will be a mask if I find the time...

Mike

 

[malente]

I edited the uploaded images, they should now be visible...