Some knife and axe work over the last couple days

[Draven]

Howdy folks! Been doing some work on my knives and axe today and last night so I figured I'd post a few pics, some of which are fairly random And the techniques I use.

Firstly, how I oil knife handles. If the wood is fairly light (toffee coloured or lighter) I'll probably char it a bit with a blowtorch, the gas hob or heat gun to bring out the grain a bit. Sometimes works better than others - hickory, I just found, can look very nice. Oak, not so much (at least the oak I have). Pine looks lovely. I'll apply a bit of oil and wipe it off before burning, though I'm not sure if it makes much difference. Afterwards, I apply more oil and let it cool, then sand - this will back off the charred look a bit where it didn't penetrate as deep and give a nice contrast. More oil, and wire wool in circular motions. When it's looking as lovely and satiny as it will get, I dip it in oil and hang it up (making sure that the excess oil drips into a container so it doesn't go to waste). Here's a pic of how I hang the knives:

The belt and string are hanging from a broom handle resting on the open cupboard doors Advantage is that once all the excess oil drips off, everything soaks deep into the handle, it's very easy to just dip it in a jar of linseed oil again and let the process repeat. Neither of these knives are new, but in my experience the finish will often get dull after a lot of use and it's nice to spruce it up a bit.

This was all done while waiting for my axe to dry!

First thing done was emptying the oil bottle into a jar. The oil bottle is flat and wide, a little bit bigger than the axe head by all sides, which is perfect for this. One of the thin sides of the bottle was cut open and the axe head put in. Make sure the lid is on Then I filled it with linseed oil, using a Lucozade Sport bottle with the bottom cut off and the rubber seal torn out as a funnel. Then left it to soak, and when that was done I oiled the handle the same way I do the knives, then set it out to dry. It's going for another soak now that it's dried, I'll leave it there overnight and then empty the bottle into the jar again (which can be tricky, because of the cut to fit in the axe - I use a funnel made from a 2l dr pepper bottle) and leave the axe in the bottle for a few days to dry out. Axe head has to be given a wipe off to ensure that it doesn't get a thick, gummy surface but other than that, the oil will just help rust prevention.
And the dry pic:

Pretty rubbish excuse for an axe mask I must say The leather came with the axehead, I just trimmed it a bit, copper riveted it together and lashed on a buckle. The excess leather thonging from the lashing it tied together to hang it from. I'm probably going to commission a nice one when I get the money, or make another one, but I need to decide what I want first.

Roughing out a scale for a Mora blade with my axe...

My aim as far as splitting goes leaves a bit to be desired

A note on safety. Firstly, notice that I left the wood a few inches long so even if I hit too high, I wont hit my fingers or wrist. Also notice that I'm holding it with the heel of my palm with my fingers curled as high as they'll go so I don't whack them off on a bad hit. I'm wearing my boots, but my toes are still pointing out, away from the general cutting area. My hand is leaning against my leg to steady it. I can't think of any way to make it safer, but if you can, feel free to criticise to your hearts content!

Might be safe but it doesn't improve my aim! Won't be an issue though, after thinning and rounding of the scale it'll disappear.

And that's about it! The axe is soaking in oil again and I hope those of you that reached the end weren't too bored

Cheers for looking
Pete

 

[NatG]

that's a lovely looking axe, tell us more about it and the knives, i'd be interested to know. Did you make the knives yourself?

 

[Draven]

I wish I made them myself The smaller knife is a KJ Ericsson mora knife, with the red paint sanded off, handle charred and oiled. A really lovely knife - the handle is for another of the same blades, though I don't think it will ever truly replace the original. The Leuku is a Brusletto 9" blade, though I thinned it out a lot into a convex grind, as I just couldn't get a decent cut with the obtuse scandi grind it came with - quite possibly more to do with me than the knife. It still has a grind somewhat thicker than the axe though! Good splitter but I don't think I'll ever value a big knife over an axe - the ability to choke up for detail and accuracy while still maintaining a good weight behind the edge, and the ability to get your hand behind the cutting edge, is far too valuable to me. If I was going for a long trip I would invariably want both with me, though.

The axe is a rather lovely Alan Finlay one - I bought it as a kit with a block of wood, axe head and leather for the mask. I messed up the first handle, so made this one instead. The metal wedge was kindly given to me by British Red Somewhat thinner than the SFA (I've not used the SFA, this is based on someone else's comparison review... do a search on Finlay in the review section and it'll show up ) with a longer bit, though a bit lighter too IIRC. If I got really into axe carving I'd probably go for something with a straighter, longer edge and a bearded profile but this is great for now - the seasoned oak I was cutting the handle out of started spitting off chips as soon as the axe came near Doesn't split great - too thin, with too sudden a change in angle as it gets towards the eye, but it will still do it. You just need to put a bit more force into it, and since splitting is secondary to cutting for me, I don't see it being an issue.

I did, for the record, try splitting the same wood with a different axe, and I was still off, so the problem really is my aim rather than an off-balance or badly aligned bit - unless they're both bad I just seem to swing slightly to the left - I'll have to stay aware of that.

Cheers!
Pete

 

[spamel]

Lock your elbow in at the waist so that the only part moving is your fore arm. That way you'll minimise the amount your arm will swing about and your axe will hit the same spot regularly. Us e a chopping block off to the side of your leg and sit down. Don't straddle the block, you'll cut your pecker off!

 

[Draven]

Lock your elbow in at the waist so that the only part moving is your fore arm. That way you'll minimise the amount your arm will swing about and your axe will hit the same spot regularly. Us e a chopping block off to the side of your leg and sit down. Don't straddle the block, you'll cut your pecker off!

Locking the elbow is a good tip! I find that I generally do a lot of carving using mainly my wrist, but I might need to start doing this.

Not with an axe, but I did almost have a nasty accident a week or so again when cutting leather on particle board (covered in that slippy contact paper stuff?) with a snap-off blade knife when it slipped off the board and in my fumbling, the board slipped off my lap :yikes: Reckon it could've been scarring (emotionally and physically!) if I didn't have a habit of holding the blade in place with my thumb (on the tab thing) rather than using the lock - and, of course, the fact that I wear jeans. The jeans didn't stop my carving knife though! Luckily just my knee...

Pete