Re-Edging An Axe??

[DFCA]

Hi all,

I'm sure that somewhere contained in all of the posts here that there is an answer to my question. I have searched and havent found anything to help me yet. I'm not so great on searching the forum just yet so don't be too harsh on me if I've missed something :)

I've recently got hold of an old two bit axe and want to clean it up and get it into good shape. It's a big beast btw - a felling axe on a 36 inch haft. I can cope with cleaning and polishing the head and making the haft look good and servicable. But ...

The edge has a couple of chips and isnt the sharpest and I dont really know how to go about getting this back into good order. I should say that it isnt really trashed - but that I would like to get it perfect.

Any hints, tips advice or even links to tutorials (with lots of pics!) that you might know of would be really useful.

Thanks in advance and all the best
Dave

(would be Lumberjack!)

[TJRoots]

use a file to get rid of the nicks and to give it a rough sharpening then tune it up with a sharpening stone rubbing the stone over the bevel in a circular motion. dont leave your cutting edge too skinny otherwise the metal will fold, your best bet is to give it a convex bevel or a flat bevel with a secondary steeper bevel.

good luck and ATB
TJ

[Shewie]

Have a look at British Reds' excellent article here ....
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22814

He mentions "cutting back" a rough edge before making it good again

[Hoodoo]

Go to the sharpening section in this book. (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/fspubs/99232823/index.htm) There is a template there that you can print out and transfer to a piece of plastic or whatever and use for a template.

For reshaping I usually start with a large Nichoson double cut flat bbastard, usually a 12" file, and then finish with a single cut. Nicholson makes a great 8" axe file.

Once I get the edges profiled, I may or may not take a round stone to the edge. Usually I will use a block of wood with some 80 grit paper attached. Under the paper is a piece of hard rubber to help the sandpaper dig in. I smooth the edges until all the file marks are gone. After 80 grit, I go to 120 grit and use a sanding block with a mouse pad glued to it. Then I use 220, 400, and 600 grits. After that I strop on a mousepad backed piece of leather (actually a dry wall sander works great for this) and then I buff on a loose sewn wheel charged with Tormek PA-70.

Do a good job and you will end up with a really fine tool. Worth the effort.


http://faculty.gvsu.edu/triert/images30/axes1b.jpg

The sanding hones you can see here:

http://faculty.gvsu.edu/triert/images30/hoodoo_hones1b.jpg

[DFCA]

That is perfect - thank you guys - I will be having a go at this hopefully after the weekend. If I have the nerve, I might even post pics when the axe is done :)

ATB
Dave