Understand. Like you said, you could polish it up and make a nice paperweight.
Axe restoration thread
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Neil, do you use your heavier axes to drive wedges, or as a wedge? Can't say I never did that as a kid. But now, never a Maul or poll shall ever meet.
i never hit a poll, or hit with a poll anymore. used to drive wedges with the poll of my old roughneck maul but that mushroomed rapidly. i hated that maul and gave it away anyway. No I would have used the elwell for medium/heavy splitting, if it ws any good, but only as it is intended.
when i resort to wedges, the sledge comes with them, and the ear defenders and safety glasses.
when i resort to wedges, the sledge comes with them, and the ear defenders and safety glasses.
Yep, I had a piece of steel come off and draw blood once.
p61 western
ArboristSite Guru
Yep same here, and it's no fun at all.
No steel flying but I was trying to get every last swing out of my sledge eye maul after the handle was pretty beat up from overstrikes....When it let go mid swing it sailed a good 25 feet into the side of the hill. Stupid youth, I should have switched to the splitting axe when the handle started getting bad. Side story I do not like sledge eyed mauls due to the weakness of such a small eye.
Got some handles and just finished up my TT Kelly "Perfect", I might've made a mistake and used a handle that came stained in kind of a walnut color. It has a varnish on it and I'm not real happy with the way it feels in the hand....I could say it feels almost "sticky" and not very smooth. Anyway, I wire wheeled the head and filed down some of the mushrooming but more filing to go yet. Still not sure what I'm gonna do about that big chip out of the cutting edge though,
And here's TT Kelly "Red Warrior" this head got some weight to it at 3.5lbs. I used a Link handle, just sanded it and have been applying coats of BLO. Man do the BLO handles feel great in the hand...I'm starting to understand why it seems to be the preferred handle treatment.
Picked up a Snow and Nealley 24" axe too, wanted to see how they are plus I like it's made in Maine, used to live there. I'm going to let my boys use it.
Is there a name for this?...I went from 0 useable axes to 4.
And here's TT Kelly "Red Warrior" this head got some weight to it at 3.5lbs. I used a Link handle, just sanded it and have been applying coats of BLO. Man do the BLO handles feel great in the hand...I'm starting to understand why it seems to be the preferred handle treatment.
Picked up a Snow and Nealley 24" axe too, wanted to see how they are plus I like it's made in Maine, used to live there. I'm going to let my boys use it.
Is there a name for this?...I went from 0 useable axes to 4.
Getting a nice collection there!
Since you guys got me to messing around with these old axes again, I was thinking about getting a pair of Kevlar gloves for use when sharpening. I saw one I kind of liked and it was $60 plus. I was reading the description and it said, this price is for one glove, YIKES. Think I'll just put a file guard one my files for now and be careful. I did see others for as little as $7, Joe.
Since you guys got me to messing around with these old axes again, I was thinking about getting a pair of Kevlar gloves for use when sharpening. I saw one I kind of liked and it was $60 plus. I was reading the description and it said, this price is for one glove, YIKES. Think I'll just put a file guard one my files for now and be careful. I did see others for as little as $7, Joe.
Those look fantastic.Got some handles and just finished up my TT Kelly "Perfect", I might've made a mistake and used a handle that came stained in kind of a walnut color. It has a varnish on it and I'm not real happy with the way it feels in the hand....I could say it feels almost "sticky" and not very smooth. Anyway, I wire wheeled the head and filed down some of the mushrooming but more filing to go yet. Still not sure what I'm gonna do about that big chip out of the cutting edge though,
And here's TT Kelly "Red Warrior" this head got some weight to it at 3.5lbs. I used a Link handle, just sanded it and have been applying coats of BLO. Man do the BLO handles feel great in the hand...I'm starting to understand why it seems to be the preferred handle treatment.
Picked up a Snow and Nealley 24" axe too, wanted to see how they are plus I like it's made in Maine, used to live there. I'm going to let my boys use it.
Is there a name for this?...I went from 0 useable axes to 4.
Regarding the sticky handle. Put it somewhere hot in your house, perhaps in your furnace room and let it sit a few weeks. The varnish should stiffen up and you can either sand it off or use it as is. Or worse case, spokeshave the outer layer off and refinish it with BLO.
That’s probably a good idea Joe. My dad used to make me wear cut proof gloves when filleting fish. The early ones were woven wire covered in cloth and the later ones were Kevlar.
Thank-you gents. And hoping that varnish settles down a little, it's near to the woodstove now, hope for the best I guess.
Can anyone recommend a good handle company? The ones I've been getting don't fill the eye very well. Am I missing something, or should be looking for certain sizes?
Can anyone recommend a good handle company? The ones I've been getting don't fill the eye very well. Am I missing something, or should be looking for certain sizes?
I've looked at several on line, and if you look, they will have the eye size. Sometimes it just says "Boys Ax" or "Double Bit". But somewhere in the description it usually has the exact measurement of the eye hole. I just searched Househandle, and looked under "Cruiser ax". A cruiser is a shorter handle light double. It shows a 2 1/4"x5/8" and a 3/4" X 3" eye. Some times it shows the weight of the head to be used. I had two boys axes and the craftsman was tight on an Ace hardware handle, and the Plumb just slid right over, and they both look pretty close by my eye. I guess some trial and error is in there. I've been breaking axes for 50 years, now you guys got me fixin em, Joe.
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Keep the penny, throw the rest away! Just jokin. But, look how disfigured the eye is! Wow, Joe.
The poll was mushroomed, also. Looks like someone used it more as a sledge hammer than an axe.
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Erik B
ArboristSite Guru
What is the date on the penny?. Went looking for axes today at an antique mall. everything I found seemed to have no markings . Then i found this beauty, wedged with two nails, a tack, and a penny. lol
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As Joe said you need to match the eye size to the respective handle and then some final fitting work may be necessary.
In regards to brands, I forget which handle co my hardware store used to stock but they had good stuff. They now stock from House Handle Co and they work but the shaping of them leaves something to be desired.
If anyone is near a Menards and could let us know what brand is stocked there that would be great. Some of the best handles I’ve worked with came from there.
Good Feller
ArboristSite Operative
LOL. Didn’t bother to look, as it was buried too deep.
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I'll checked out House Handles and saw they listed eye size, nice selection too thanks!
Put my "Red Warrior" into some wood today, scored some 13-16" rounds of maple, still wet/green. And some knotty hunks of cherry I had laying around. The maple wasn't the easiest wood to split, I had to quarter the rounds with my Truper maul then split with the axe. But it did fine and put a smile on my head. I wouldn't mind the handle being longer, the 28" on it felt a little short for splitting.
Put my "Red Warrior" into some wood today, scored some 13-16" rounds of maple, still wet/green. And some knotty hunks of cherry I had laying around. The maple wasn't the easiest wood to split, I had to quarter the rounds with my Truper maul then split with the axe. But it did fine and put a smile on my head. I wouldn't mind the handle being longer, the 28" on it felt a little short for splitting.
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