Thread: bit of both

Good stuff

I'd buy one of them if I could

Pete

Thanks for posting that. Fascinating stuff, although I would have liked to see him wear some eye protection during the hammering process.

I think a few steps were missed out too, perhaps in the interests of keeping a few secrets. As an example I didn't see the head tempered.

Nevertheless a good one.

Regards
Paul

The tempering of the head is in there.

Originally Posted by

The tempering of the head is in there.

Must of missed it. Thought I saw the initial heat treatment but not the tempering. I will have another look this afternoon.

Regards
Paul

I still stand by my original statement, but I reserve the right to be shot down in flames. In fact I have my asbestos suit parked nearby and I can tell you it has seen some action in its time.

The axe is at least red hot when it is plunged into the quenching medium, which I am presuming is oil by the way it lights up. This would be the original hardening of the steel. Quenching, to relieve the brittleness, I would expect to occur with the steel a straw colour and he does not show that. Having said all that we don't know exactly what steel he is using. My comments would be appropriate for high carbon steel but he may be using something a little more exoticand there may be a different technique involved.

Where are the metallurgists when you want them?

Incidentally he also has a video showing the creation of a slick chisel and you can find that alongside the first video on utube. Again he does not show the tempering stage. I found it fascinating the way he fashioned the socket for the handle. He uses an interesting balance of old and new technology in both steel and wordworking.

Nothing he did in the second video let me to believe he works really safely. Hard to credit his skin isn't more battered from holding the other end of a hot slick with his bare hands. Still impressed with the product.

Regards
Paul

Paul, I think the heat treatment and tempering is all being done at once.

The steel insert that is the blade is the part he would be concentrating on I think.

Originally Posted by

Paul, I think the heat treatment and tempering is all being done at once.

The steel insert that is the blade is the part he would be concentrating on I think.

I confess it is a technique not familiar to me. I am unable to comment further. Me, speechless! Wow.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

I confess it is a technique not familiar to me. I am unable to comment further. Me, speechless! Wow.

Regards
Paul

Me neither but that is what it seems to me. Pretty good though.

Those videos are almost romantic in a way. Thanks for sharing!

The axe is at least red hot when it is plunged into the quenching medium, which I am presuming is oil by the way it lights up. This would be the original hardening of the steel. Quenching, to relieve the brittleness, I would expect to occur with the steel a straw colour and he does not show that. Having said all that we don't know exactly what steel he is using. My comments would be appropriate for high carbon steel but he may be using something a little more exoticand there may be a different technique involved.

But when he has it on the grinder the trail of sparks is more indicative of high carbon steel from what I can see. Maybe there is just a lot of editing for the theatre of it all. The quenching oil catching fire etc. Probably shot over a number of days using a number of axe heads. I like the no hair on the arms at the end