Axe? Please educate me

[trevitrace]

And here it is a couple of months later. Wow. Highly polished. Any marks are the preservative that I didn't fully wipe off. 3 lb - 5oz on my scale. 6" from the edge to the poll. The eye is roughly 2-1/8" x 7/8" at the top. Now I just need to figure out the haft. Tuatahi shows a 23" handle on theirs. This needs something sexy. Hmmm.

I do have to laugh that the package was marked 'fragile' - it was very well packed - rubber edge guard, wrapped tightly in several layers of newspaper, then in a box with wooden spacers for support, a double layer of bubble wrap, and then the outer plastic shipping bag.

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Yeah, I ordered one, too.

Payed at the end of March so I'm guessing it'll be a couple more weeks. Even though I'm pretty sure the handle will be too short, I figured I'd give it a try. Can always rehang it.

I look forward to more pics once you get a new handle on it and to hear how it performs.

 

[TRfromMT]

And here it is a couple of months later. Wow. Highly polished. Any marks are the preservative that I didn't fully wipe off. 3 lb - 5oz on my scale. 6" from the edge to the poll. The eye is roughly 2-1/8" x 7/8" at the top. Now I just need to figure out the haft. Tuatahi shows a 23" handle on theirs. This needs something sexy. Hmmm.

I do have to laugh that the package was marked 'fragile' - it was very well packed - rubber edge guard, wrapped tightly in several layers of newspaper, then in a box with wooden spacers for support, a double layer of bubble wrap, and then the outer plastic shipping bag.

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View attachment 1569930

Not sure if you have a haft selected, but check out Thrane Axe & Sawmill's blanks.

Axe Handle Blanks | Thrane Axe & Sawmill

Category: <span>Axe Handle Blanks</span>

thraneaxeandsawco.com

You're welcome

 

[klugtrane]

Yeah, I ordered one, too.

Payed at the end of March so I'm guessing it'll be a couple more weeks. Even though I'm pretty sure the handle will be too short, I figured I'd give it a try. Can always rehang it.

I look forward to more pics once you get a new handle on it and to hear how it performs.

Curious, what did shipping and customs work out to? Thanks!

 

[trevitrace]

Curious, what did shipping and customs work out to? Thanks!

It was just under $80.

 

[AR-Trvlr]

Not sure if you have a haft selected, but check out Thrane Axe & Sawmill's blanks.

Axe Handle Blanks | Thrane Axe & Sawmill

Category: <span>Axe Handle Blanks</span>

thraneaxeandsawco.com

You're welcome

Ahhh. So the question is if I should go with something fancy like walnut or quarter sawn white oak, or more traditional like ash or hickory....

 

[TRfromMT]

Ahhh. So the question is if I should go with something fancy like walnut or quarter sawn white oak, or more traditional like ash or hickory....

Making a user or a wall hanger?

A bit of both... I'd go curly ash and do a forced patina finish using potassium chloride salt stain before finishing with oil. PM me if you like. I can send you some salts. It's easy.

 

[AR-Trvlr]

Making a user or a wall hanger?

A bit of both... I'd go curly ash and do a forced patina finish using potassium chloride salt stain before finishing with oil. PM me if you like. I can send you some salts. It's easy.

Looks like all of the curly ash is out of stock for a curved handle / single bit felling axe / 24". My options are pretty much limited to:
Ash (1" or 1.25")
Black Locust (1" or 1.25")
Elm (1")
Hickory (1" or 1.25")
North American Beech (1.25")
Quartersawn Red Oak (1.25")
Quartersawn White Oak (1.25" or 1.5")
Walnut (1" or 1.25")

 

[h7per]

Tuatahi all the way. Work axe, kind of the beast like Behemother and Camp axe, easy to handle around but yet powerfull like MC

Love those wings on work axe.

Great axes, great design and geometry. For smaller version my go all around is Gransfors Wildlife Hatchet. Also quality axe but low end when compared with Tuatahi.

 

[Fonedork]

Tuatahi all the way. Work axe, kind of the beast like Behemother and Camp axe, easy to handle around but yet powerfull like MC

Love those wings on work axe.

Great axes, great design and geometry. For smaller version my go all around is Gransfors Wildlife Hatchet. Also quality axe but low end when compared with Tuatahi.

Have you used one?

 

[h7per]

Have you used one?

Ive ordered Work axe 3 months ago, so I will recieve mine in around 2 months. They have that kind of time frame after placing order, jt takes 5-6 months to grt one in your hands.
Ive choosen Work axe as I love bigger things tho its twice havier than their Camp axe. Camp axe isnt that big but from what I have seen its yet efficent in chopping due to being lighter and easier to swing around, most folks get tired after swinging Work axe as its around 6 lb but I have no problems with that due to my physical condition.
For "weaker" folks camp axe is great alternative, weighting around 3 lb but with yet large geometry. I love tuatahi because their axe heads are god damn huge lol.
work axe head is around 7" long and 7" wide.
camp axe is 6" long and 6" wide.
Also they have damn beautiful leather shealth for work axe, which I have ordered also.

Honestly Im eyeballing camp axe also but cant really decide now until my work axe arrives. Oh and also I have ordered m toth work saw which is also huge like their axes

As for Gransfors axe its my go all around small hatchet, love it and been using it for 3 years already, havent enjoyed any other hatchet thst much.

I wanted to have big and small axe, so I had wildlife hatchet and that why Ive ordered work axe, as it can cut everything and also split like splitting axe.
Now im thinking should I get 3rd axe? Middle sized one, like tuatahis camp axe, tho not sure how middle sized is that one

 

[Fonedork]

 

[Lorien]

^

 

[AR-Trvlr]

Awesome info. This later pattern with a fawns foot is what I'm going for with the handled for my Tuatahi camp axe head.

 

[bluemax_1]

 

[Lorien]

my kid made me a spotify playlist, and it has that song on it. Might be one of my new favourites

 

[abbydaddy]

Hey Fonedork , Where are these images from? I was doing an archaeological dig in a CCC camp from the 1930s, and one of the things we found was a 7.5 inch long double-bit axe head with (based on your images) a Wisconsin/swamp type shape. The head was small, I'd guess 2lbs or less (we haven't weighed it or put it in the electrolysis bath yet to see if there are any legible makers marks under the rust). And I am just trying to dig up information on older style axes. The camp was just Depression era, so not really old, but the CCC and WPA system was very important to the course of 20th Century American history, so it is nice to get to do a little digging into that part of the past.

 

[Fonedork]

Whoops, double post. Some of them are from Eric Sloane’s Sketches from American Past 1962. Some from American Barns and Covered Bridges, 1954.

 

[Fonedork]

Hey Fonedork , Where are these images from? I was doing an archaeological dig in a CCC camp from the 1930s, and one of the things we found was a 7.5 inch long double-bit axe head with (based on your images) a Wisconsin/swamp type shape. The head was small, I'd guess 2lbs or less (we haven't weighed it or put it in the electrolysis bath yet to see if there are any legible makers marks under the rust). And I am just trying to dig up information on older style axes. The camp was just Depression era, so not really old, but the CCC and WPA system was very important to the course of 20th Century American history, so it is nice to get to do a little digging into that part of the past.

I stole them from Imgur, the guy who posted them there said they are from Eric Sloane’s America, American Barns and Covered Bridges, 1954.

 

[BIGDORK]

Hey Fonedork , Where are these images from? I was doing an archaeological dig in a CCC camp from the 1930s, and one of the things we found was a 7.5 inch long double-bit axe head with (based on your images) a Wisconsin/swamp type shape. The head was small, I'd guess 2lbs or less (we haven't weighed it or put it in the electrolysis bath yet to see if there are any legible makers marks under the rust). And I am just trying to dig up information on older style axes. The camp was just Depression era, so not really old, but the CCC and WPA system was very important to the course of 20th Century American history, so it is nice to get to do a little digging into that part of the past.

Finds like that are certainly exciting.
Found this guy a couple summers ago.

We had 7" of rain overnight, caused washouts all over the place. This was laying on the edge of a field 50 yards from where the old western reserve railroad used to be. I think they built that around the 1850's.
Someone told me I should not clean it off to avoid causing damage, I stuck it in a filing cabinet and forgot about it.
Now I have noticed a few spots where the rust has expanded and exposed fresh metal.
Any advice on what I should do to preserve it from here?

 

[abbydaddy]

Finds like that are certainly exciting.
Found this guy a couple summers ago.

We had 7" of rain overnight, caused washouts all over the place. This was laying on the edge of a field 50 yards from where the old western reserve railroad used to be. I think they built that around the 1850's.
Someone told me I should not clean it off to avoid causing damage, I stuck it in a filing cabinet and forgot about it.
Now I have noticed a few spots where the rust has expanded and exposed fresh metal.
Any advice on what I should do to preserve it from here?

Unfortunately, we really don't have a lot of conservation expertise here at my museum. I'm a part of the research division, and our main focus with ferrous objects (if they are distinctive and worth preserving) is to use an electrolysis bath to halt the corrosion, because the rust will spread. But then we just seal it up with some dessicant to avoid putting any compounds on the object. We just try to arrest the oxidation, because it will just continue to propagate until the object is consumed. We try to get off as much red as possible.

If that axe were mine (and I didn't have access to our electrolysis bath and the lab manager to remind me how to run it) I would boil it in distilled water to turn the rust black (halting the active corrosion), take off as much rust as I can, repeat until there isn't any more red rust, and then I would oil it. Don't take that advice as actual expert advice, I am not at all a conservator. I dig stuff up, analyze it, and hand it off to someone else to store.

That is a super cool axe for sure.