My axe is finished at last ! (many pictures!)

[soup_monger]

Anyone like axes?

Ok here we go......

A few of you may remember the £10 Swedish Army axes that were being sold a while ago in February.

Well, even if you don't remember, the guy that was selling them had a few S.A Wetterling's axes mixed in with all the Banko Brand ones and I was lucky enough to get one.
Here it is beside a Wetterling Large Hunting Axe...the £10 one is the blue one in case your confused.

As you can see, the head on the £10 axe is quite upswept compared to the Hunting axe (which cost me about £34 inc postage).

So ,Once I had the old handle removed, I went to work on it with nothing more than a 10" file to avoid harming the temper of the axe head, which is why it has taken me since February to finish. .

I didn't want to replicate the Wetterling Hunting Axe, because, although it is a good axe, I find that it lacks a bit of weight in the head and the handle is too thick for it's size, so I wanted more weight in the head for more chop on standing dead wood, but, the same length so that it will still fit in my rucksack.

I figured that the best handle or haft available for an axe was the Small Forest Axe handle from Gransfors.
I liked the idea of a Gransfors/Wetterling hybrid too so Andrew from ODC kindly sourced one for me. (Is there anything he can't get? :notworthy )

So without further a do .....I'll let the pictures speak for themselves..

It chops very well.

I made the poll a wee bit different.

Yes, that is a small amount of epoxy in there just to weather proof the whole assembly.

Here it is beside a Gransfors Mini..

I hope that some of you find this interesting.

It was a long process from start to finish and I did it bit by bit when I had the time.
It is a much better axe than the Wetterling Hunting Axe and I hope to challenge a Gransfors Small Forest Axe owner to a cutting contest one day.

Thanks for watching.

All the best to all

 

[longshot]

by hand?

great job really like it. :You_Rock_

dean

 

[soup_monger]

Thanks Dean,
It was a ridiculous amount of work by hand (well, for me anyway), but, I wanted an axe that I was happy with and that worked better than my other one and now I have it.

Cheers

 

[Wayne]

Very impressive labour of love.

Well done.

 

[hammy]

Briliant, like your style.

 

[sxmolloy]

:notworthy wonderful :You_Rock_

 

[scanker]

Like that a lot. That might spur me on to do some more work on mine!

 

[Stuart]

good work, now you have somthing unique

 

[British Red]

Thanks Dean,
It was a ridiculous amount of work by hand (well, for me anyway), but, I wanted an axe that I was happy with and that worked better than my other one and now I have it.

Cheers

Soupy - as you know I "did" a Banko too - it wasn't a patch on how yours ended up! That is a lovely piece of work - if you were closer I'd line up my GBs, Roselli etc. for a "chop off". Really, really lovely mate - I don't say that often!

Red

 

[soup_monger]

Yes indeed BR, I know you sweated for your Banko and it turned out great.

If I remember rightly (which isn't often ) , you modded it as a gift to a friend...was the receiver of the BR ified Banko chuffed?


Sounds like we have the first challenger for the cutting contest


Cheers

 

[OldJimbo]

I've ground on quite a few heads and rebuilt some axes and hatchets - but even I have trouble seeing how long - and how much effort, it would take by hand. Congratulations on reaching a goal!

 

[bushtuckerman]

Excellent work! A nice, clean look, i like it

The original blue axehead is ugly let's face it. What a transformation.

So if you tried to take a shortcut and grind it with machinery would it be permanantly ruined, or can it be re-tempered easily? Would a wet bench grinder work?

 

[soup_monger]

I've ground on quite a few heads and rebuilt some axes and hatchets - but even I have trouble seeing how long - and how much effort, it would take by hand. Congratulations on reaching a goal!

Thanks Jimbo,

I spent quite a while trawling the net and reading your articles before I started on the axe project and they were a massive help, so thanks for that too.


Cheers

 

[mojofilter]

Mirror polish What a tart!


Lovely job fergus! :You_Rock_

 

[soup_monger]

Excellent work! A nice, clean look, i like it

The original blue axehead is ugly let's face it. What a transformation.

So if you tried to take a shortcut and grind it with machinery would it be permanantly ruined, or can it be re-tempered easily? Would a wet bench grinder work?

Thanks Bushy

Oldjimbo is the man to ask I reckon.....

I used a file for this (a brand new one at the start) because I didn't have an angle grinder.

If I did have one I would have probably used it and dunked the axe head in a bucket of water when it became hot to the touch.

I read an article by OldJimbo where he used an angle grinder to re profile a tiny Vaughan hatchet which became a very different and more effective tool after his alterations....I assume the temper was fine.

I know that Jason01 used an angle grinder and his axe turned out great.

BritishRed persevered with copious amounts of wet and dry sandpaper and his turned out great too.

Someone is going to correct me on this next bit..I know it. , but..

I remember reading somewhere that if the temperature of a previously tempered axe head reaches 120 Centigrade while your working on it, then you have successfully ruined the temper.

(Seriously...if thats a load of guff...correct me!)

While I was working away on my axe I could see the temper line like a "hamon" about an inch back from the edge become visible, but, it was difficult to get it to show up in the photos.

So, in my humble opinion...I would say that using power tools is fine as long as the temperature axe head remains below "hot to the touch".

Cheers

 

[OldJimbo]

Glad to have been of help!
I actually have to do a lot of hand finishing of the final bevels and ramps to the eye with a big sanding pad and emery. Any uneveness really increases friction. I've really noticed this with an old boy scout hatchet which should be a good splitter with baton -- but isn't. It'll be interesting to see how it comes along with a little bit of work.
The edge appears really straight on that axe, much like the old Siberian axes. My thought is that with a bit of judicious work to bring the toe and heel back 1/8", that it'd chop better. BUT a straight edge makes for a wonderful wood shaping tool.

Bushtuckerman - I use an angle grinder with sanding pad and a light touch (that's the difficult one to control and not generate too much heat) and a cheap 1x30" belt grinder. There's no alternative when fixing up dozens of heads. It takes some practise, but even I've managed to do a lot of work without burning the temper out of blades.

 

[mojofilter]

I remember reading somewhere that if the temperature of a previously tempered axe head reaches 120 Centigrade while your working on it, then you have successfully ruined the temper.

You would need to go above the original tempering temp to ruin the HT, I would reckon more like 200 -250C.

but what do I know....

 

[British Red]

Yes indeed BR, I know you sweated for your Banko and it turned out great.

If I remember rightly (which isn't often ) , you modded it as a gift to a friend...was the receiver of the BR ified Banko chuffed?


Sounds like we have the first challenger for the cutting contest


Cheers

Fergus,

Yeah he was chuffed, but mine was more cleaned and tidied with a more even profile and finish - mine was more of a re-spreay and engine re-build - I think you have very successfully "pimped your axe"! Respect mate its really nice. I actually like the straight edge - I have wanted a shaper for a while and just shelled out on a GB carpenters axe as a result - I reckon wours would have done the job beautifully!

Red

 

[soup_monger]

Mirror polish What a tart!


Lovely job fergus! :You_Rock_

Cheers Mojo

I spent so long typing my reply to Bushtucker that I didn't see that you were kickin about on the forum.

You may well be right about the temper tantrum temperature, so I stand (well, sit) corrected.

Cheers

 

[soup_monger]

The edge appears really straight on that axe, much like the old Siberian axes. My thought is that with a bit of judicious work to bring the toe and heel back 1/8", that it'd chop better. BUT a straight edge makes for a wonderful wood shaping tool.

Yup, the edge is pretty straight and since I took the photos I went to work on the edge on an oil stone before convexing it on a buffer.

The edge will push cut paper now, so I'll get it out to somewhere remote and see how it performs.

I'm thinking that, if each time I sharpen the axe on my oil stone, if I am working on tucking the heel back a bit, then it will just get better over time.

The thought of going at the head with a file again gives me an unpleasant feeling, so I probably won't.

Thanks again for your input Jimbo.