Guest Post: Bringing Back an Axe, by dunko

A few weeks back I saw a great post by dunko, showing a step by step restoration of an old axe. I thought he did a great job, and it is information that other people might like to have. I asked if he would be willing to guest post on my blog, and he thankfully agreed. Dunko might be starting his own blog in the near future, so keep an eye out. 

Bringing back an axe!

I've been in the market for a midsized axe for a little while. Since I found a decent head in an antique shop I decided to make a project of it. This is my second axe referb job. I'm no professional but it was fun to do, and I'm happy with how it came out. Seems like the head is put on well but we'll see if it survives a function check. If it does then I'll sand and re-stain the handle.

So with no further adieu...

My axe build:

The head (if anyone has any info on this axe would be great!)

Store purchased 28" handle and supplies:

Steel wooled the rust, and cleaning with naval jelly:

Cleaned up, its not so shabby!

Used a bastard file, stone, and 600 grit sandpaper to sharpen it up a bit. Unfortunately I'm not great at sharpening, but its sharp enough for me.

Sanded to fit the handle, then glued and tapped in the wedge. After the glue dried I sawed and sanded down the excess leaving a 27.5" long axe.

Tapped in a metal wedge.

Added a little stain to the sanded areas, and fin...

Not the prettiest axe ever but it fits the bill for me. I need to make a sheath and a give it a good function test before I'm satisfied, but so far I'm happy.

Thanks for looking!

Dunko