SIGforum.com    Main Page  Hop To Forum Categories  The Essential Edge    Best way to sharpen an axe that has never been sharpened?
Go
New
Find
Notify
Tools
Reply
  
Best way to sharpen an axe that has never been sharpened? Login/Join 
Certified All Positions
Picture of arcwelder
posted
I took an axe from my parents house, a very nice double headed axe.

It has never been sharpened, but it is used, though it wasn't my father who used it. So it is old and dull.

What is the best way to bring it back?


Arc.
______________________________
"Like a bitter weed, I'm a bad seed"- Johnny Cash
"I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel." - Pee Wee Herman
Rode hard, put away wet. RIP JHM
"You're a junkyard dog." - Lupe Flores. RIP

 
Posts: 27124 | Location: On fire, off the shoulder of Orion | Registered: June 09, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Throwin sparks
makin knives
Picture of sybo
posted Hide Post
Draw file and use finer and finer paper on a paint stirring stick. I can make em shave hair!!
 
Posts: 6203 | Location: Nashville Tn | Registered: October 12, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Age Quod Agis
Picture of ArtieS
posted Hide Post
Thanks Sybo, fine for technique, but how do you choose or improve the edge profile?



"I vowed to myself to fight against evil more completely and more wholeheartedly than I ever did before. . . . That’s the only way to pay back part of that vast debt, to live up to and try to fulfill that tremendous obligation."

Alfred Hornik, Sunday, December 2, 1945 to his family, on his continuing duty to others for surviving WW II.
 
Posts: 13013 | Location: Central Florida | Registered: November 02, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Throwin sparks
makin knives
Picture of sybo
posted Hide Post
60 grit belt on a grinder or sander. Watch for excess heat, or send it to me. As far as degrees and measuring the angles, I've gotten good at eyeballing it.
 
Posts: 6203 | Location: Nashville Tn | Registered: October 12, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Avoiding
slam fires
Picture of 45 Cal
posted Hide Post
Belt sander is better than a file and safer also.
I now use a table top belt sander,gives better control of work.
 
Posts: 22422 | Location: Georgia | Registered: February 19, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
A day late, and
a dollar short
Picture of Warhorse
posted Hide Post
I was under the impression a round stone was the preferred tool to sharpen axes.

https://www.forestry-suppliers...temnum=33910&redir=Y


____________________________
NRA Life Member, Annual Member GOA, MGO Annual Member
 
Posts: 13727 | Location: Michigan | Registered: July 10, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Wait, what?
Picture of gearhounds
posted Hide Post
If it isn't a expensive fancy axe, a plain old flat file followed with a stone will do just fine.




“Remember to get vaccinated or a vaccinated person might get sick from a virus they got vaccinated against because you’re not vaccinated.” - author unknown
 
Posts: 15936 | Location: Martinsburg WV | Registered: April 02, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Certified All Positions
Picture of arcwelder
posted Hide Post
It's farther gone than a flat file, and my instinct was a belt sander. I've used that to bring back garbage chisels, just didn't know if there were a better way.


Arc.
______________________________
"Like a bitter weed, I'm a bad seed"- Johnny Cash
"I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel." - Pee Wee Herman
Rode hard, put away wet. RIP JHM
"You're a junkyard dog." - Lupe Flores. RIP

 
Posts: 27124 | Location: On fire, off the shoulder of Orion | Registered: June 09, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
Know any wood turners? Many of them have or know someone else who has a Tormek style - slow speed / water cooled grinder. Great for large blades, chisels or axes.
 
Posts: 1236 | Location: Moved to N.W. MT. | Registered: April 26, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
More persistent
than capable
posted Hide Post
Angle die grinder with rol loc sanding discs


Lick the lollipop of mediocrity once and you suck forever.
 
Posts: 1102 | Location: North | Registered: August 27, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of maladat
posted Hide Post
Just be careful with a belt sander or die grinder... it's pretty easy to get the edge too hot and ruin the temper of the steel.
 
Posts: 6319 | Location: CA | Registered: January 24, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
  Powered by Social Strata  
 

SIGforum.com    Main Page  Hop To Forum Categories  The Essential Edge    Best way to sharpen an axe that has never been sharpened?

© SIGforum 2024