This video is about turning a broken old flea-market axe into a nice working tool. Processes included: fixing a split handle, applying a pigment and linseed oil wood finish, sharpening an axe head, making a hickory wedge, and setting an axe head to its handle.
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Head shape / edge (bit) / geometry:
In the future, I may want to tighten up the edge by lowering the angle of the file, just to make the axe 'cut' more. This means removing more material from behind the edge. Every axe head is forever a work in progress, I think: and you can't put material back on. As such, I will ease into where I think the shape should be, starting out with a rather blunt shape and working 'sharper.' The basic idea is as follows: a more blunt edge lasts longer, but it does not cut as well. A blunt edge that quickly spreads is more appropriate for splitting, because it separates the pieces quickly without getting stuck. A tighter edge makes deeper cuts, but it will not separate the two halves by very far unless it rapidly widens, so it's not appropriate for splitting.
Much of determining the shape of an axe head is in first determining what the axe is being used for. If it is an appropriate shape, it will be able to balance the tasks it is used for; namely, it will handle some cutting and some splitting without requiring a sharpening too often. There will always be some maintenance with a cutting tool, but that is the price that we pay for utility. In fact, all tools require maintenance. Let me repeat for emphasis: all tools require maintenance. More expensive axes and hatchets may have harder steel, but that also means they will be harder to sharpen. Less frequent sharpenings that take longer- is that what you want? It's a balance, and the answer depends solely on the context. So don't listen to all of the “right way to do it” advice that's out there. There are no authorities.
Note that "blunt" and "tight" were used just here to describe high and low angled edge grinds, respectively. For examples, a 45° angle would be like some beastly old homemade maul, and a 30 or 25° would be more like a sharp axe, which must cut quickly to remove wood chips. There is, I'm sure, a more formal nomenclature for these ideas out there, but I am totally not interested in joining another clique with yet another set of deliberately exclusive jargon, so don't lecture me on what you believe to be the 'actual' descriptive terms just because you read about them on the forums of your favorite Swedish axe company's website. How many times do I have to axe you to remember that labels are arbitrary and only necessary in applications requiring extreme levels of standardization? If you are smart enough to understand what I'm saying, then stop yapping about how I say it already. A rose by any other name, remember?
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Music:
"Backbay Lounge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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