Any axe is a fine axe, with few exceptions. However it's fitted and hung. I think I like the upside down canoe profile best, but maybe Mike's son should get to cast the deciding vote? I hope he likes it.
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Happy Winter Solstice! 🌇🌃
G
Guest
Guest
Hanging Ugly Baby
I trimmed the head of the handle down to size, leaving about 1” to protrude from the axe to be cut off once hung with the head seated fully in the throat. And likewise cut the wedge to fit-able width. heck, I even rounded off the sides of the wedge so it would better fill the top of the eye. In for a penny, in for a pound.
I had high hopes that THIS handle would magically slide into place with minimal shaping and sanding. No such luck, and once again it took me as long to file and sand the handle to fit as it takes Alan to install carbon fiber on a set of gunwales.
Like any novice learning new things this refurbishment and hang has taught me several lessons:
Polishing the axe head down to at least 600 grit can reveal small cracks and imperfections.
Rounding off the square edges of the wood wedge helps better fill the eye when seated.
And, the newest lessons. It helps to lightly run a file through the inside of the eye to remove any debris or burrs inside the hole. Same with running a saw blade through the wedge slot on the axe handle; the file extracted a small pile of rust and debris from inside the eye, the saw pulled bits of waxy stuff from the slot.
Ugly baby is now well hung, as BIL Bart requested. He “voted” for capsized canoe. Who cares, hang your own dang axe next time brutha. However his better half, my favorite SIL, also voted for capsized canoe
As you wish Jessica.
I laid a small bead of G/flex along the base of the axe head against the throat of the handle, Although that area appears fitted quite tight I want to G/flex fill the small voids at the top of the eye with the axe held upright, and don’t want to chance epoxy dribbling out the bottom.
Ugly Baby. She is nothing if not well hung.
Yes “she”. Given the radical surgery the axe head has undergone I’m pretty sure this is a transgendered implement.
Gawd, what would she bring on the LGBT Lumbersexual market? If a simple Council Tool felling axe runs $350 in NYC I’d think Ugly Baby, with her damaged and abused resurrection backstory, must be worth thousands. I’ll even throw in a worn flannel work shirt. I see an emerging market.
I want to give the epoxy fill at the top a few days to fully cure before turning to sharpening the edges. What the heck, it may be unusable, but it’s going back sharp.
A little Mann Company history:
http://yesteryearstools.com/Yesteryears Tools/Mann Edge Tool Co..html
I trimmed the head of the handle down to size, leaving about 1” to protrude from the axe to be cut off once hung with the head seated fully in the throat. And likewise cut the wedge to fit-able width. heck, I even rounded off the sides of the wedge so it would better fill the top of the eye. In for a penny, in for a pound.
I had high hopes that THIS handle would magically slide into place with minimal shaping and sanding. No such luck, and once again it took me as long to file and sand the handle to fit as it takes Alan to install carbon fiber on a set of gunwales.
Like any novice learning new things this refurbishment and hang has taught me several lessons:
Polishing the axe head down to at least 600 grit can reveal small cracks and imperfections.
Rounding off the square edges of the wood wedge helps better fill the eye when seated.
And, the newest lessons. It helps to lightly run a file through the inside of the eye to remove any debris or burrs inside the hole. Same with running a saw blade through the wedge slot on the axe handle; the file extracted a small pile of rust and debris from inside the eye, the saw pulled bits of waxy stuff from the slot.
Ugly baby is now well hung, as BIL Bart requested. He “voted” for capsized canoe. Who cares, hang your own dang axe next time brutha. However his better half, my favorite SIL, also voted for capsized canoe
As you wish Jessica.
I laid a small bead of G/flex along the base of the axe head against the throat of the handle, Although that area appears fitted quite tight I want to G/flex fill the small voids at the top of the eye with the axe held upright, and don’t want to chance epoxy dribbling out the bottom.
Ugly Baby. She is nothing if not well hung.
Yes “she”. Given the radical surgery the axe head has undergone I’m pretty sure this is a transgendered implement.
Gawd, what would she bring on the LGBT Lumbersexual market? If a simple Council Tool felling axe runs $350 in NYC I’d think Ugly Baby, with her damaged and abused resurrection backstory, must be worth thousands. I’ll even throw in a worn flannel work shirt. I see an emerging market.
I want to give the epoxy fill at the top a few days to fully cure before turning to sharpening the edges. What the heck, it may be unusable, but it’s going back sharp.
A little Mann Company history:
http://yesteryearstools.com/Yesteryears Tools/Mann Edge Tool Co..html
I think it looks kinda proud now that it's well hung...one of life's lessons that has slowly stuck to me...personality beats looks every time!
Nice work, Mike. You have more patience than I. I tried fitting a couple axe handles about 13 years ago with my first foray into woodworking and it was enough to put me off the hobby for a few years. One of these days I'll give it another go; the handle on my splitting axe is starting to look a little worse for wear after 20 cords. Or maybe I'll just send it to you....
Alan
Alan
G
Guest
Guest
Putting an edge on Ugly Baby
Even though Ugly baby is a purely display axe I can’t bring myself to return her dull.
BIL Bart had sharpened one side before sending her my way. I needed to reprofile some dings on both edges, so I dulled his work before doing much else. I’d like sharpening the edges to be the last thing I do.
In sharpening Ugly Baby I finally spent some up close and personal time with the edges. OK, no question the head has been massively re-profiled. The bevel on the blades does not match from side to side, and the eye, while centered on the bottom, is an inch from the blade edge on one side and 1 ½” on the other on top.
Even so, at the right angle Ugly Baby shines like a diamond in a goat’s arse.
I expect whoever radically re-profiled the edges used a high speed wheel and destroyed the temper. Or maybe used a wheel to sharpen the head, killed the temper, busted a chunk off in use, and then massively reshaped the head to make it somewhat even. Somewhat.
Poor Ugly Baby.
Even so, I can’t bring myself to put her to the belt sanders. Mill b*st*rd file and stone. Trying to even out the bevel on opposing sides of the axe with the file was all but impossible (meaning possible, but I gave up). I can’t imagine someone grinding away a couple of inches of axe head by hand.
OK, that got scary sharp with the stone. I’m not sure about hanging something that sharp on display, so I went back and dulled just the razor edge just a bit, lest someone knock it off the wall and lose a toe.
Of course having seen what I could do now that I have a sharpening stone I need to go back and put a better edge on the Council Tool Michigan Double and the Hytest Boys axe.
A coat of paste wax on the head for rust prevention and Ugly Baby is done. Re-born at 30 ½” total length, 4 lbs, 3oz total weight and she balances 3 ½” down the handle.
I think this is mostly Oldie’s fault. Where is he?
Even though Ugly baby is a purely display axe I can’t bring myself to return her dull.
BIL Bart had sharpened one side before sending her my way. I needed to reprofile some dings on both edges, so I dulled his work before doing much else. I’d like sharpening the edges to be the last thing I do.
In sharpening Ugly Baby I finally spent some up close and personal time with the edges. OK, no question the head has been massively re-profiled. The bevel on the blades does not match from side to side, and the eye, while centered on the bottom, is an inch from the blade edge on one side and 1 ½” on the other on top.
Even so, at the right angle Ugly Baby shines like a diamond in a goat’s arse.
I expect whoever radically re-profiled the edges used a high speed wheel and destroyed the temper. Or maybe used a wheel to sharpen the head, killed the temper, busted a chunk off in use, and then massively reshaped the head to make it somewhat even. Somewhat.
Poor Ugly Baby.
Even so, I can’t bring myself to put her to the belt sanders. Mill b*st*rd file and stone. Trying to even out the bevel on opposing sides of the axe with the file was all but impossible (meaning possible, but I gave up). I can’t imagine someone grinding away a couple of inches of axe head by hand.
OK, that got scary sharp with the stone. I’m not sure about hanging something that sharp on display, so I went back and dulled just the razor edge just a bit, lest someone knock it off the wall and lose a toe.
Of course having seen what I could do now that I have a sharpening stone I need to go back and put a better edge on the Council Tool Michigan Double and the Hytest Boys axe.
A coat of paste wax on the head for rust prevention and Ugly Baby is done. Re-born at 30 ½” total length, 4 lbs, 3oz total weight and she balances 3 ½” down the handle.
I think this is mostly Oldie’s fault. Where is he?