Sharpening an Axe

I'm going to draw what would be a section a cross-section through the edge of an axe with that being the edge this is kind of a camel grind you see that we're just a gentle radius down to the cutting edge the other way is a straight grind which is certainly another way to do it this is a stronger edge you see how it's immediately backed up by a little more mass than it is on a straight grind although a straight grind particularly at an abrupt angle is strong also axes are typically not ground anywhere near the profile of a knife because they're taking impact and so there has to be enough mass right behind the edge to withstand the shock we're going to put a camel grind on this little single bit Swedish axe one mistake that people make is in running the file back and forth it doesn't do any good in fact it dulls your file a file only cuts on the push so once I've come around a few licks and sort of created this back edge then I'll begin to kind of gently raise my file up and get closer to where I'm actually removing material from the cutting edge file for a little while take it out and look at it got a couple little chips right here on the edge I'm going to turn it over work on this other side for just a little bit a file itself is a cutting implement and files get dull but when a file is sharp it is actually pulling metal shavings out of the workpiece can you see those little shavings that are hung up in the teeth when you continue to file on top of those for instance draw filing the face of a knife it these will put nasty scratches and scores in your workpiece and it clogs the file there's two things you can do you can turn it over and knock it off we see they're still in there so you take your file brush brushing parallel to the teeth on the file you remove those pieces now we're gonna do the same thing on this side now this is not a big deal in fact it's not a deal at all but it's kind of pleasing to me to try to keep this line the juncture between the newly cut work and the old work fairly smooth see how I the curve is a little erratic there I'm going to try to bring the whole thing back to about that point just because it feels good there are some little dips some forging in consistencies right there that make it impossible to keep that line smooth you can see I'm down to where I've almost taken out those little notches those little Nick's right there almost gone I'm going to stay on this just a little longer let's go back to the other side so let me point something out when you see me capping to dislodge the shavings I'm not striking the edge that I'm sharpening I'm back up here on the flat of the X you do the same thing when you're filing a chainsaw I'm beginning to get just a little bit of a wire edge standing up which means we're down to kind of zero between the two opposing faces that's good you see I'm changing a stroke instead of just perpendicular off the edge I'm beginning to run it back around I wouldn't say that's important but it just makes a nice smooth cut around the circumference or the edge looks good probably doesn't cut any better I don't know how well focused you are but we've got a pretty well-defined wire edge standing up right there that's a little bitty thin I don't know how thin half a thousandth probably sheet of metal that is beginning to emerge as we cut away the base material it folds over from each side that we're working on it'll cut you it'll also wear off in a hurry okay one more pass over on the other side and we'll have it let's see how it looks so an axe for working on wood does not have to be shaving sharp but you can get an act shaving sharp it's often true with axes as with knives that you're more often cut with a dull knife than a sharp one because you horse it and you force it and you get frustrated you move quickly the same with an axe so this is a traditional way to get an act sharp you would then get on a stone this is an oil stone it was fairly recently oiled so axes can be sharpened much faster with a power tool the risk is that you're inputting friction so fast that you can heat that cutting edge past about 400 degrees and begin to soften it to the point that your axe is no longer heat treated and it will the edge will essentially roll over so if you're in a hurry or you're competent you want to use a grinder or perish the thought an angle head grinder maybe with a flap disc do it barehanded and I'll show you the reason for that so you can check it see if you see if you're gathering heat no that's still cool but you got to check it often so if you're going to do it like that check it because if you get even close to 400 degrees you're going to get a little straw yellow when the yellow starts showing up you better get off of it because the next color is a bronze if you don't get off of it then your next color is going to be a full purple and then you get to a blue and then you get to a light blue and you have wrecked your cutting edge now you may not have wrecked it all the way back but you've wrecked it right there so do if you're going to do it with a power tool will do it barehanded check it often keep it cool once you get the edge in the shape whether it's a straight grind or a camel grind that you want you can put it on a polishing wheel and acts as a beautiful tool it deserves to be treated with respect be nice to your ex we have a lot of cool stuff on our Channel come check it out please like please subscribe thanks for watching [Music]

Channel: Essential Craftsman

Views: 303,084

Rating: 4.9803734 out of 5

Keywords: Axe, Restoration, Tool, Artisan, Sharpen, Bit, Ax, Craftsman, DIY, Hack, restore, fix, repair, hand tools, boys, manly, gift ideas, men, project, garage, craft, crafting, woodcraft, sharpening, framing, anvil, essential craftsman, blacksmith, wood, lot

Id: t7M1-frzpPs

Length: 7min 56sec (476 seconds)

Published: Mon May 22 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/upvoatsforall]

This guy has some great stuff. He would be great to work with for a year or two. I feel you'd learn a lot.

[u/BroadStreet_Bully5]

Neat. Break from all the knife making. I just wish he showed it being used at he end.

[u/[deleted]]

I have to ask this guy a few questions.

[u/nonothingnoitall]

Whats the HR of the carbon core an axe supposed to be? Why can a file cut it??!

[u/Mackinstyle]

This is where my annoying friends would talk all about "honing" a blade vs. "sharpening" it. =)