New Hatchet Project

[Greg]

Need some advice...I bought a pair of old germantown hatchets on ebay many moons ago, and one of them just got brought back to me via my parents bringing up a pile of my stuff for moving into the new place with. I wanna set it up to use as a part of my kit since I'm not currently carrying a kukri and need a log splitting device/backup weapon.

It's a nice tomahawk-shaped blade with a notch in it (assumedly for nail pulling, but I just like how it looks) and a substantial hammer poll on the back. Problem is, the hammer side's waffle-faced.

Translation:


Not very period, eh?

Now, I wanna take a grinder to it or something to take the waffle face off, but I don't want to mess with the temper by heating it up too much while grinding, or make one part of the axe super shiny, as the bulk of it is pleasantly worn and aged. However, I can put up with the shiny-ness if necessary...I just want that waffling crap off of there. Anyone got any ideas? Note: That is NOT the axe. I left it at the house, and I'm not at the lake tonight; I'll post pics soon.

EDIT: only decent photo I can find of anything close. It looks close to this:

[Willrett]

if you beat if some concrete or a steel pipe. It would give it a smashed kinda look like it was used in battle against armor.

[Peter Remling]

You can use a grinder or bench sander to even out the face of the head. It will be shiny so useing clamps to hold it in place, put the face of the head down in a cup of Pepsi or Coke and leave it submersed for 3 days. Pull it out wipe it off and no shiny surface. The face will be an even aged metal look.

[kaelln]

Enquiring Minds Want to Know Question posed: What if "Just for Men"* was around in Middle Earth? Would it have been Gandalf the Brunette? Would it have helped with his female aquintances?

I don't know man. Chicks dig the long silver locks. Twenty somethings want to run their fingers through it.

[R.D.Metcalf]

Greg,

The temper will be fine just dont bear down on the work with the grinder and touch it ever so often while you work if its too hot to touch then its too hot, well...not technically...but thats a good rule of thumb to keep folk from getting over zealous with the grinder, if your still worried about the grinder use a file, its actually quite fast once you get your technique down, the key is to cut with the push stroke lifting the file from the work after each stroke, this keeps your files sharper longer and its surprising how much material you can move once you get a rhythem(SP) goin... I just thought I'd throw that out there because it amazes how many folk I've seen try to cut both directions with a file.

Pete I've been wonderin about using Coke to rust blue...Ever tried it?

[Eric C]

I agree with R.D. I've heard of a lot of stock-removal knifemakers that grind bare-handed. When the steel gets hot to the touch, they cool it before continuing. That way, they dont hurt the temper.

Let me clarify about "stock-removal." I don't mean guys like Tinker that grind out a blade blank, then have it heat treated. I'm talking about guys that take something like saw blade steel- like I use- and grind it to shape.

[Greg]

Finished!

I was throwing my hatchet the other day, and the 60+ year-old handle on this sucker split straight up the middle. Saw it coming.

So now I've got a fresh haft on it, straight from Ace hardware. I bought the wrong size on purpose (too big) and sanded the top end down. The one that would've fit in it stock was so wimpy a handle that it just didn't feel right for the size of the head. Now, I just have to get some miles on it so it develops a good well-worked dirty appearance instead of this fresh off the mill look.

[Peter Remling]

Take some fine sandpaper and sand off the thin layer of lacquer. If you want an inexpensive stained/aged look, steal a lesson from Mirimaran and wipe thick boiled down coffee on it. Wear rubber gloves as it will stain your hands. It will look aged, stained and raw, perfect for a well used tool.

[Greg]

Didn't come lacquered, oddly enough.

Like the coffee idea, though. Out in the woods, "the best part of wakin' up" can be my hatchet...

[Sam]

I just got visuals of Greg stumbling wide-eyed through the bushes, snorting up and down then length of his hatchet haft

[Greg]

When I typed that last post in this thread, I had pretty much that exact image in my head.

Or, at the very least, an image of a band of orcs finding me purely due to the smell of coffee that's sure to follow me for a few months after staining the handle.

[RikJohnson]

So now I've got a fresh haft on it, straight from Ace hardware. I bought the wrong size on purpose (too big) and sanded the top end down. [/img]

I did the same thing.
Found an antique hatchet head that looked medieval.. $3! Especially after a very little work with a disc grinder.
then bought an overlong haft at Ace and sanded it to fit.
wrapped the handle with cotton cord & glue, drilled a hole for a thong and made a cover from scrap leather.

Got a steel ring, some more scrap leather and made a frog to carry the thing.