I'm new to the site but Ive been stacking wood since I was 4 and running a chainsaw since I was 14. Somewhere between those ages I learned how to fill a saw with fuel and oil and sharpen saw teeth. Add on local Facebook had an antique miners pick for sale. Between growing up with loggers and going to college for Mining engineering I knew it wasn't a pick. It's old and I believe forged. It's not hard steel and if it ever had a makers mark it's long gone when it was lost in someone's old shed for decades. I've cleaned it up some but nothing fancy. I'm putting it on a boy's axe handle made by House Handle company.
Got the handle set and the varnish off the handle. Need to oil the handle and set a metal wedge in the head. I tried it out on hickory and oak this morning and it seems to work.
Looks real nice. An oiled up handle will look even better when done. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks. I plan on using danish or boiled linseed oil this weekend. I prefer the round metal wedges and cannot find any locally. Got some off eBay and hopefully they show up by Thanksgiving. I need to load and haul a couple cords of wood over the long holiday weekend.
Looks good. Best thing you could use is a wood wedge. Just pull the handle back out and saw a kerf into it. Cut a wood wedge a bit longer than you need, full width of the handle & drive it in with wood glue.
It has a wood wedge in the kerf. I cut the wedge shorter by removing a bit of the narrow end so it wouldn't bottom out too early. The wood wedge is in tight enough I can use the pickaroon now. Its habit to use a wedge and then oil up the dry wood so any swelling just makes it tighter.
Nice looking antique pickaroon. Thanks Also for the heads up regarding House Handle company. I was having an issue finding a <20", large eye handle for a Hudson Bay axe I found a few years ago in a burnt out trappers cabin. I just ordered 2.
I should have another pickaroon soon. I got a cheap 3 lb Chinese/India axe for $0.75. I have access to a water jet cutter so I cut the cheap axe into a picaroon but kept the back of the axe full size. I bought a full sizes axe handle to use but the eye is large and handle is too fat for my liking. I have a blacksmith buddy that offered to slim the handle on his belt sander.
So I experienced a weird reaction with boiled linseed oil yesterday. I but some on the handle and had the pick downstairs near the wood furnace to help it dry out/up. After a couple days I took it with me to get some firewood. Yesterday I reach for it out of the truck bed and the handle feels rough and tacky. The linseed oil reacted with the damp air and maybe some factory clear coat I missed and became a tacky grey mess. I tried sanding it off but it loaded up sand paper fast. I ended up cleaning the handle the rest of the way by dragging a knife blade across all the surfaces.
I like to use a heat gun to warm wood then apply oil an again put heat back on it, seems to draw it in better. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
