So, last weekend I went to the local metal recycler and I brought home what I thought to be a Collins rafting axe with a crack running the length of its eye. Normally I would pass on an axe with a cracked eye but I don't have a rafting axe, the price was right and it seemed like a fun challenge. After hitting it lightly with a fine wire cup brush the makers stamp clearly revealed itself and sure enough this rafting axe is a Collins.
I then soaked it in distilled white vinegar for a couple days while periodically removing it to hit it with the cup brush, lightly sanding it and returning it to the vinegar bath. During this process I noticed something peculiar about this axe head. The vinegar bath revealed no heat treatment lines. I was expecting to see distinct lines across the cheeks and at the poll but there was nothing. In fact, while soaking in the vinegar this head turned quite black and uniform in color almost like the whole axe head was hardened.
Could this be the result of the axe head going through a fire? Then after it was rehafted someone eventually used it as a wedge? When they smacked it with a sledge or whatever it cracked because it was too brittle? My question now is if I get the eye welded up, how do I fix the heat treatment and tempering so that its hard and soft in all the right places?
Is it even worth welding?
I like this axe and hope its worth saving.