Rehandling great-grandpa's cleaver

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Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
852
920
Kent
My great grandfather was a farmer, pub landlord, pork butcher and a bit of a character by all accounts. One anecdote involves him cleaning the pub chimney by shooting up it with his shotgun, for example. Sadly he died long before I was born but I've had his old cleaver for a few years now. I remember derusting it when I first got it but the wooden handle was split and wrapped in tape as far back as I can remember.

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It's obviously been used as a wood splitter and the spine is somewhat deformed from being hammered through wood. The lettering says "made in Birmingham 1917"

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Removing the tape revealed an ash handle in a bad way.

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I'll continue in the comments...
 
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Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
852
920
Kent
I don't have any ash knocking about but found a decent piece of holly with a nice knot free section.

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The old handle didn't put up much resistance to being removed. I forgot to photograph the tang before derusting it but basically I sanded it and brushed on phosphoric acid which ate away the rust while I got busy on the lathe. It turns out that holly is an absolute joy to turn. Achieving a decent finish was easy peasy.

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Then came the fun part... Rather than fitting the handle whole like the original, I opted to fit it as 2 halves which meant bandsawing it in half and getting busy with some chizels.

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A bit of fiddling and fettling then it was glue up time and call it a night.

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As you can see, I made the handle a bit long so the rivet is hidden inside. This wasn't intentional (sloppy meauring) but worked out ok.
 

Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
852
920
Kent
Today I sanded off the excess glue and gave it all a once over with some 240p.

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I found that the sander works well with the paper hanging out the side which can be pushed into contours by finger or thumb.

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To stain or not to stain? The original looks like it was varnished at some point and I didn't really like the virginal look of the pale holly wood so I opted for a brown stain.

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Stain, dry, sand, 2nd stain and this is how it looks. Once it's dry I will get some oil on and it should be good for another decade or 10.
 

tombear

On a new journey
Jul 9, 2004
4,494
556
54
Rossendale, Lancashire
Very nicely done indeed! Having the year marked on is usually a Goverment thing. Any sign of a arrow mark on it? Could it be a bring back from the Great War or surplus?

AtB

Tom
 
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Muddypaws

Full Member
Jan 23, 2009
1,094
313
Southampton
Nice job! Totally agree that Holly is a joy to turn, but it is difficult keeping it looking pristine and pale, so staining the handle was probably the correct choice.
 
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Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
852
920
Kent
Very nicely done indeed! Having the year marked on is usually a Goverment thing. Any sign of a arrow mark on it? Could it be a bring back from the Great War or surplus?

AtB

Tom
There aren't any other markings but it's entirely possible that it was military surplus, especially considering its heft, built during a time when metal was in high demand for the war effort.
 

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