Sharpenning an Axe

[Daniel]

Hello people.

I did a search for this but apparently the word 'axe' is "either very common, too long, or too short and was not included in my search" .

Anyway... I'll be soon buying an GB SFA axe (when I hear back from the company I'm buying it from) and was thinking about what is best for sharpenning an axe.

What's the best/easiest way to sharpen one of these? I was thinking of buying one of those GB Axe stones (the round course/fine one in a rubber casing), but is it possible to shapen an axe on a normal wetstone, as I already have an 800, 1200 and 6000?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[spamel]

I always sharpen my axe on an oil stone, haven't had a go with it on my waterstones yet though. Saying that, it's actually an estwing hatchet which I am rapidly disliking, not sure how to break that to the missus!!! I am dropping hints for a GB axe for christmas though!

I can see no reason why you can't use the waterstones, but the puck like stone would be easier to carry with you, and I have heard about a file designed for the GB axes aswell. Somebody here will probably have more of an idea about that.

 

[Motorbike Man]

Funnily enough, I was looking for tips on this the other day as my Wetterlings could do with a sharpen as well. Is there a recomended technique for sharpening axes and taking out a few little dings I've managed to pick up on the top.

 

[Justin Time]

I think you'll find something useful on Jimbo's site:
Jimbo

 

[Motorbike Man]

I think you'll find something useful on Jimbo's site:
Jimbo

Cheers

 

[leon-1]

can see no reason why you can't use the waterstones, but the puck like stone would be easier to carry with you, and I have heard about a file designed for the GB axes aswell. Somebody here will probably have more of an idea about that.

Superb peice of kit, moduser brought one down to the Dartmoor meet, just as well as one of the guys was in dire need of it, for doing repair work (flattening and regrinding an edge) I would say it is one of the best peices of kit I have seen, they are also reasonably small and light to carry

 

[Motorbike Man]

One of the things I was thinking of doing was cutting a slot into a piece of wood to hold my diamond stones and using them that way, does this make sense or can anyone see any major problems?

 

[spamel]

I think I get what you mean. My dad did the same for his oil stone, just cut a hole out of a block of wood, 1/2 the depth of the stone, and pop it in. It may be a bit of a job with a diamond stone though, I didn't think they were all that thick. How about mounting it on a block of wood with a glue of some kind, or even velcro?

 

[Paganwolf]

Get RM.s second set of his new series on dvd in the extras there is an excellent tutorial on axe sharpening and care ..

 

[Hoodoo]

I like to use wet/dry sand paper mounted on a sanding block made by gluing a piece of mousepad to a wooden block. This makes it easy to maintain a convex bevel on the axe.

 

[Motorbike Man]

D'oh, I'd forgotten I'd made a Hoodoo hone

 

[Daniel]

Superb peice of kit, moduser brought one down to the Dartmoor meet, just as well as one of the guys was in dire need of it, for doing repair work (flattening and regrinding an edge) I would say it is one of the best peices of kit I have seen, they are also reasonably small and light to carry

Is there much difference between the way the files sharpen the axe, and the way the round GB axe stone would?

 

[Bumblebee]

The file is used to remove any nicks etc from the axe and the stone to resharpen the edge (don't own either the stone or file myself yet but found this info on a Swedish site) so in theory you should never need the file

 

[leon-1]

The file is used to remove any nicks etc from the axe and the stone to resharpen the edge (don't own either the stone or file myself yet but found this info on a Swedish site) so in theory you should never need the file

As tommy has said the file is really for removing quite large quantities of metal quickly, as in removing nicks and it is very good at it.

 

[Daniel]

The file is used to remove any nicks etc from the axe and the stone to resharpen the edge (don't own either the stone or file myself yet but found this info on a Swedish site) so in theory you should never need the file

Cheers, I think I'll get a stone then. I guess I'll only need a file if I seriously damage the edge enough to warrant one (and they're more expensive than the stone) .