Good morning all! I know that we have a variety of other hobbies in addition to our love of wet shaving. I am wondering if anyone here has restored vintage axes, or an axe in general? This pastime has piqued my interest mainly because the hatchet I have has a bit as blunt as the poll, and my axe has the haft falling out of it, and the head looks like it had been tumbled with boulders. (I'll put pics up later today). I have looked into new axes, but don't want to spend the 100-300+ for a quality one, so I figure I would bring an old one back to life. It's more economically friendly, and some vintage ones just look plain cool! I don't know if either of the ones I have are worth bringing back, as the hatchet doesn't seem to have a tempered bit, and the axe is just plain old banged up like mad! I do need one though for my own camping and for scout camps (I'm a scout leader). In heading to a big antique show this weekend where I'll see if they have any, I don't think they will (funny since I'm in canada and all...lol) but you never know. Anyway, I'm just curious if anyone has done this before? I will update this thread once I have started, bit I wanted to get the question out there. Thanks!!
I initially thought it was a guitar-repair thread. Axe Body spray is beyond repair. Luke, I have 'fixed' some old axes I inherited from my inlaws (some old beat-up things—the axes, not the inlaws)—but out of necessity, not as anything resembling hobby. New hickory handles for each.
The art of manliness had an article a while back with some good instructions, older axes like old razors have much better Steel in them for the most part and have purpose unlike modern hardware store axes
Well I have started. I gave the head a vinegar bath and the temper looked good enough to me! This is after sanding for an hour with 60 grit sandpaper. I won't be going further than this until I get a sanding attachment for my drill.
Is there a makers mark? Would help to know what it is, so as to know if it is worth restoring. New axes are incredibly expensive, if you want an axe worth owning! Your $100-300 is about right. Anything from China is of no use whatsoever... However, consider the Council brand. American made, properly forged. They are not beautiful like a Scandinavian axe, but are of good quality, and can be had in the $60-70 range. They will hang with the big boys. Counciltool.com
I'll be buying the attachment for sandpaper. Is that what your referring to? I'm not going to be getting a grinder. I'll take a look at them. And no there a no maker's mark.
Alright...I recently bought a sander attachment for my drill, but my battery died in minutes. I was able to borrow a corded drill from my dad, and after 20 minutes the axe head looked completely different. I used 40 grit sandpaper, and will move up to 80 grit when I work on it again. As you an see it looks almost new just after the first go at it. The pics go from how the axe head looked when I got it; the next is after taking some sandpaper to it to take the major rust and paint off; the last is how it looks after using the 40 grit paper on my dad's drill.
