Swedish style axe for £5

[ateallthepies]

Seeing as axes are a popular Bushcraft tool and in particular the Swedish type I got to thinking that they can be quite expensive and what to do if I could not afford one of those pretty axes?

I stumbled across a cheap and cheerful hatched on eBay. Thinking it's worth a punt I bought one for the princely sum of £5.99 delivered!

Overall I think it's a bit ugly and not the best finish. The handle is an unknown wood but feels too lightweight to be any good? The steel seemed ok if a bit rough and with that lovely Gold finish! I then drew a basic shape of an axe design I like, basically something similar to a Gransfors wildlife hatchet.

I set to it with an Angle grinder very roughly chopping away metal to the line. It was at this point the handle came off!

With the wood still in the eye I got to giving it a bash with a hammer and scuff up the head to give a faux forged effect. Go to town as much as you feel but you can add more later.

This was the point I put flame to metal with my trusty Mapp Gas torch. I got it as hot as I could and also burnt out the eye which had no staple but did have a plug of some sort of glue which stank so went outside. After a quench in water it had gained a more pleasing hue but still had remnants of that nice Gold paint.

Next on the list was to clean up the head and further define the shape. I added a bit more faux forging for luck.

Then came the second heat and quench cycle for no other reason than to get the colour right.

 

[ateallthepies]

Part 2........

Ok where was I, yes time for the handle! I had a couple of Hickory pick axe handles I bought about 10 years ago to make Bows with but never got round to. One one of them I drew out the rough form of the handle using the Gransfors as a guide.

After roughly sawing with the band saw I then used a drawknife to remove more wood. Hickory can be a git to work with where the grain suddenly changes direction and you have to be careful not to tear chunks out.

I quickly changed over to using a rasp going with a ******* cut to remove the bulk of the wood. There is nothing else you can do other than put on a pair of comfy jogging bottoms, sit down and rasp away. Using power tools at this point can wreck some hard work and cause one to throw things across the workshop!! Take your time is the key.

At some point you will get to a rough handle shape. I went ahead and marked where the head would sit and drew the shape of the eye on the top. This is where I left it for tonight and decided to leave the fitting of the head until another day, plus Judge Judy starts in a bit and I gotta have me Tea

2 hours 20 minutes work time so far.

 

[ateallthepies]

Part 3..........

 

[Zingmo]

You should have stamped your initials in it!

Z

 

[ateallthepies]

May do that at the end with the dremmel?

 

[Gooner]

Nice work looks like a fiver well spent.

 

[ateallthepies]

Thanks, if the steel temper comes out ok your right! I did this mainly to replace my Condor Scout Hatchet which I sold as I could not get on with the softer steel.

 

[Samon]

Loving every bit so far!

 

[bilmo-p5]

Nice work. Look forward to seeing the end result.

 

[ZEbbEDY]

nice one man, cant go wrong for a fiver if you've got the tools

 

[woof]

Enjoyable thread, I've something similar in my tool box, but I do need an axe I can abuse so don't want to spend time on it.


Rob

 

[topknot]

Looks very good

Topknot

 

[Bearded Bushcraft]

how did this little axe fair ;D?
did you re heat treat and temper it?

 

[crosslandkelly]

Looking good, nicely done.

 

[ateallthepies]

Not done any more yet as work went a bit crazy, part 3 should be up next week.

 

[ateallthepies]

Forgot all about this build. So I finished this axe, came out ok. I took the picture then decided to narrow the handle so the completed axe is a bit different. The metal seems fine, takes a good edge though would need to do a bit more thinning to get it hair popping sharp?

One bushcraft axe for £5.99!!