Kind of a DIY/Home made thing too...
Some months ago now, a friend and I started talking about "belt axes", again. I say again,
because it is a subject that inevitably comes up from time to time. It was the usual stuff,
which ones do we like better, and why - and what might we like instead.
I mentioned that I within the last year-ish I had come to really prefer heavily bearded axe
heads. My reason for primarily for carving, but they worked just fine for the small stuff we
usually did with our belt axe while camping also. That being some limbing, and splitting of
smaller stuff for our small wood stoves.
That's when he "sprung it on me". He said he was going to do a full re-profile on an belt axe
he had already. I thought, "go ahead - lots of work your talking about - looking forward to
seeing what you come up with." I mentioned as much to him.
We e-mailed a fair amount of axe head designs back and forth, and he said he had one he liked, and
was going to press on. I didn't really have any desire to also do it, but was definitely looking
forward to seeing what he came up with. I also didn't have any "spare" axe heads.
That all changed for me when my neighbor three houses down had a yard sale one Saturday morning.
I walked down to shoot the breeze, and see what they had. I asked if they had any old axes, adzes,
wood working tools, or yard tools. Bruce (my neighbor) said he sure did, and he'd be right back.
He brought back a rusted True Temper No.H Carpenters Axe head. He told me, "it's yours", and
handed it over. I of course thanked him very much, and explained I planed on doing a full reshape,
and re-profile of it.
That was months ago. Important family matters came up, and all things axes - including that axe head -
took a far back seat.
This past weekend I had some time, and the axe head was calling my name. So,
here a the photos of the process. I didn't take one before re-shaping the edge unfortunately, but I think
we all know more or less what an un-moded carpenters axe edge looks like. Pretty much straight as a ruler.
Again, had already re-shaped the edge to a gentle full round, and done a very slight edge profile. The
edge was still as thick as two nickles though, which made it much safer to work with. You can see the parts
I intend to remove, colored with blue sharpie.
True Temper No.H
Here you can see I've done a lot of metal removal, making the deep beard and on the top also
but haven't touched the hammer head part yet.
Man that was a lot of work! Hammer part gone - done with a hacksaw, and dremmel only. Went through A LOT of those little cut off wheels!
And the other side. I've got the shape pretty much how I want it here. I just need to "blend" the top into the
edge a little more, and start the edge profiling and sharpening. It was well past dark at this point, so I called it a night, cleaned up, and went to bed. It was late.
Didn't touch it the next day, but did the day after. Here she be with a good working profile and edge. Yes, I
tried it out :-)
And the other side again. Now all she needs is a handle! And I happen to have all kinds of logs and wood for carving!
Of course I started a little on this to before taking any photos. So, I grab a piece of dried apple split from a log, that's been in the back of my truck since April. It looked like it would do; grabbed my favorite carving axe for the task, and to trace it's handle shape, and got to it!
Little more shaping done
And Done! Those (and the sharpie) are the only tools I used to make the handle. Actually, it didn't have a wedge in it, in this photo. That was made and added after I put the camera up. I also gave it several wipe downs with a
BLO/Turpentine mix.
As always,
Thoughts, Comments, and Criticisms are welcome
&
Thanks for letting me share
U.W.
