And finally...
The abrasives I had been waiting for arrived and I got the axe finished
So after he heat treating I went back over the whole head with the angle grinder to remove any scale and refine the shape a little. the I ground the cutting bevel to a fairly shallow convex (it's easier to sharpen it to a more obtuse convex by the user than the otherway around
). The convex bevel was done with a belt sander and a section of slack belt. Unfortunately I don't have a posh knifemaker's grinder, so my crappy £100 linisher has to do the job
Then I went over the whole head with a flap wheel just to make the scratches line up a bit better and make the surface a little more uniform. For myself I don't mind the angle grinder (flapdisc) finish, but others might find it unsightly, so it's either uniform scratches or wobbly hammer marks
I'm not a big fan of shiny things, especially when they have a sharp edge on them (being blinded by the sun when using a sharp tool is not a good idea in my view), so I dulled the surface a bit with some ferric chloride.
I've not bothered with documenting the shaping/fitting of the handle, sharpening and leatherwork. there are enough tutorials of those around the net, even on here!
so one wonderful choppy thing from a silly whacking thing
...
Final statistics:
Head:
Steel: 1055M hammer head
Weight: total 700g, head 550gish (forgot to weigh it sorry!)
Edge length: 85mm
head length: 155mm
Handle:
Wood: English Ash (from a tree just in front of my workshop)
Length: 355mm to start of head
Sheath: 3.5mm veg tanned leather, snapper fastener
Hope you like