# Unusual Axe Head



## JB Weld (Jun 3, 2015)

I traded today for this axe head. I thought it was interesting.
I figure with all the tree men on here someone might have seen something like this before.
I cannot find any makers mark on the axe.

Do you guys think it was made like this originally?
Was it damaged somehow and ground down?
Was it ground into this shape for some purpose?

Any ideas?
It looks bent in that one picture, but it is straight.
I figure I could at least made it into a serviceable hatchet.
Don't be hating on my daughter's pink ruler either.


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## gunnusmc03 (Jun 7, 2015)

Looks like it broke off at some point. Give it a vinegar bath and see where the temper line is. That's way you can figure out your options.


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## JB Weld (Jun 8, 2015)

The axe head is on its second vinegar bath. The first one got the rust off (I scrubbed it with a brass brush). Now I am hoping a Hamon Line will be there when I get home so I can see the temper.


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## JB Weld (Jun 9, 2015)

So I got her out of the 2nd vinegar bath this morning and the results are quite dramatic. This is my first time to do this and to be honest I am amazed.
I wiped it down before I took the pictures, so you cannot really see the temper line. There was not much of one (only about 1/2" deep), and it did taper away toward that clipped corner.

I think what I am going to do is file off/clean up the damaged edges of the poll, and see if I can get a deeper temper on that edge. The poll is just barely rolled at all, so I think it will clean up nicely. If someone did grind/file the profile of that edge, they did a good job. It is a nice clean sweep and it has a nice taper. My goal is to make this a small camp axe that would be easy to carry but still have a little more "umph" than a hatchet. I think this might turn out to be a dandy little axe.


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## gunnusmc03 (Jun 9, 2015)

Looks like a good candidate to convert to a pickaroon.


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## JB Weld (Jun 10, 2015)

I had to look up Pickaroon. 

The more I look at this axe head, it seems to be quality steel. After it set overnight, I did have a nice temper patina
show up. It is about 3/4" deep along the entire sweep of the edge. The head also rings like a bell. There is no "klunk" like I hear with lesser steel. 
I think I will mount it in a 24" handle with the "hook" facing downward. Then could use it in a "pickaroon" fashion and still use it as a camp ax. 
I would hate to grind on this head to make a more aggressive hook. 
What do you guys think?


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## hardpan (Jun 16, 2015)

I once found an old axe head that was worn down very similar to that one. It was laying in the coal shed at an old abandoned farm and appropriately so because an axe was commonly used to bust up blocks of coal to fit their particular burning needs. Coal is not friendly to a cutting edge so they wear to a duller, blunt edge and the corner nearest the handle was used to pull the coal blocks off the pile as we use our pickeroons/hookeroons with wood . This may be the case for yours. I turned mine into my official crappy- ground- root- cutter. It goes where no sharp tool would dare. LOL


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## JB Weld (Jun 19, 2015)

Well here she is with her "new" handle. It came from a broken maul. I milled it to fit and wedged it. I then filled the voids with two part epoxy. It has turned out to be great at knocking limbs off of logs (as I am bucking logs). It ended up with a 25" overall length. 

Edit: My picture did not upload. I will post it tomorrow.


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