Finished for now. I decided not to grind the pitting out of it. I figured I'd have to take too much metal off and it'd take away from the look. The handle was cut from a sledge hammer and shaped, stained, oiled and waxed. I did use it for splitting some kindling. After spending along time buried in the ground, its usable again. Although it may mostly hang on the wall next to a few other axes.
Hmm, Im having that issue rehandlng an axe head from the 70s . I just fit leaving the gap, though didnt seat the wedge yet. Ill rethink it, thanks !
I just finished a slight restoration on a hewing hatchet that Midwinter kindly sent me. It was a little rusty with some pitting, but in good shape. The top was a bit mushroomed from setting wedges over the years. I ended up filing it out to fit a new haft. A little time on the wire wheel revealed a Kelly Axe mfg stamp. I believe the second line says Charleston, W.V. that would put it post 1904, pre 1930. I am pretty certain I see a "CH" below "Kelly" I have a Keen Kutter carpenters hewing hatchet that I traced onto a piece of oak. I did not have hickory. All hand tools from here on out finishing the handle. Notched in a birds mouth. I gave it two coats of shellac and rubbed some other tricks onto it for some aging. This hatchet has a thicker blade then the Keen Cutter, and it is a bit heavier. The back side of the bit is slightly beveled. I just honed the edge on it and it is ready for use.
That is really nice of Midwinter to give the axe away, but then again considering her overall generosity it does not surprise me at all. Nice restoration and handle for sure though. Kudo's to both of you for a formidable team!
Yep I have to say it turned out very nice. You did a great job on it and also finding some info and dating it. Pretty cool stuff.
I've had this Craftsman hatchet for a while that once belonged to my Pepere. The rubber handle is long gone, and I had a paracord wrap, but it was not proper. The rubber handle must've have extended past the steel a little. I've picked this up a dozen times trying to figure out how to fix a handle to it. I don't normally deface old tools, but this one is not of high value, but more sentimental value. I came up with an idea of of forging and welding a new wrap around spine. The handle had a slight warp, so I did my best to find a happy medium to center the new spine. I'm not a great welder, but I did spot welds around the handle. There was no way I could run a clean bead around the inside. Spots were easier to ground flat. This gave a pretty flat base to mount the scales. I wanted to drill 3 holes for pins. I did one with cutting fluid, could not get the other two through. I blew 4 drill bits in the process. The hatchet is really decent carbon steel. I did a spark test before I started I knew it was pretty tough. I ended up welding 3 rivets as posts on each side. I made walnut scales and fitted them up. I heated burrs and let them burn into the scales to recess them. The posts were cut, scales epoxied, and then peened over the posts. I left the end of the handle slightly angled, but rounded. Shaped it all out with a rasp and lots of hand sanding. 3 coats of shellac for color and paste wax over the entire tool. I was going for the rivet handle look like the old Pexto screwdriver below it. I would haved used smaller rivets and burrs if I had them. Overall I'm pretty pleased with it and it was about a 4 hour restoration. I hope I did it justice, and it is back to being a user now. Touched up the edge with a lansky puck and it has a nice edge.
I think your idea of using scales was great. As I was reading your post and following along I was wondering what you were going to do and the scales turned out great.
Looks great to me and really good idea of how to bring it back into useful service. Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk
Found this adze at a scrap metal place. He had half a 55 gal. barrel of them full of water out in the yard. I am sure that being under water protected them better that repeated wetting and drying. The story goes that during WWI they were lacking trenching tools, especially picks. Someone sent over barrels of these adzes with only rough finished blades on them to serve as entrenching tools. The scrappie ended up with part of an unshipped order. I bought several at scrap prices and have no idea where the others went. The finish is rough with barely ground casting seams. There are no makers marks. I did start to rough sharpen the edge. Wonder if it is really worth the trouble to restore, or more correctly, finish the manufacture of the implement?
I was down in Arizona back in April and picked up a maul and ax head. Flea market stuff. I made the handles from some pallets I had around here. The wood seemed to be heavy and dense is the reason I choose it other wise I have no idea what kind of wood it is other than being free. The Maul is 6lbs.
The maul being 6 lbs is more my speed so I like it and it splits just fine. I can also drive a wedge with it pretty good too.
