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.
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.
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