Rehandling great-grandpa's cleaver

[Kadushu]

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.



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"



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



I'll continue in the comments...

 

[Kadushu]

I don't have any ash knocking about but found a decent piece of holly with a nice knot free section.



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.



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.



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



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]

Today I sanded off the excess glue and gave it all a once over with some 240p.



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



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.



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.

 

[Broch]

Fantastic; repaired without losing any character - a very nice piece that I hope gets passed down more generations

 

[crosslandkelly]

Nicely done, looks very good. I did a similar job on an old billhook I have, very satisfying.

 

[Madriverrob]

Good work , I recently re handled my Kukri , nowhere near as well as that mind

 

[oldtimer]

You great-grandson will have fun when he comes to fit a new blade to your handle!

 

[Mesquite]

Very nicely done

 

[tombear]

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

 

[Muddypaws]

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.

 

[Kadushu]

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.

 

[Robson Valley]

That's fine. Repair it once each century. Nothing more is needed.