My tool rehab project

[reuben_j_cogburn]

I have been needing some additional pioneering tools, but when the local hardware store changed franchises they dropped some of the tools I have been wanting.
Most notably I have been wanting a pulaski for some time.... But the nearest would have been Wasilla...
Well... a few years ago I was on a job, and was allowed to scavenge a bit. I ended up with a pulaski head, (true temper), a heavy Collins axe head, and a double flat blade pickaxe.... (it may actually be an adze but it doesn't seem heavy enough, and I can find no into on it..)..
I also ended up with a light (2-2.5 pound) Norlund camp axe, with handle intact.
I had forgotten about them until recently when I re-discovered them while spring cleaning. I decided to rehab them, and have spent my free time, the last few day's removing rust, resharpening, and painting...
About all I have left to do is buy the handles... The pickaxe may be an issue as the handle is round, and the the eye is tapered, and opens up about 2 tenths of an inch.. much like a traditional pick with a non fixed handle...
The Norlund axe is really nice, and I have been using it to make kindling. It puts my Coleman boyscout hatchet to shame!! The handle is ugly but seems good otherwise..
I'm making a video on the process and will post it soon.....
I'm actually really looking forward to using the pulaski, and while I am not a huge fan of collins axes, the weight of this one is intriguing, as it is very heavy!! It feels heavier than a 4.5 pounder, but I have never seen one heavier than that. I'll also post a video on their use!!!
The pic was taken during the painting process.....

Tools is cool.....

 

[Kevin]

Those look good!

I bet those pioneers would have loved an electric chainsaw though!

 

[CLAYPOOL]

The axe head on the left is great for digging with roots...

 

[bobski]

I got so many tools........I faint when I look at them all wondering which land fill will they end up in.

 

[toysoldier]

I've been purchasing axe, hatchet, and adze heads at yard sales for years, when I find them cheap and salvageable. I have a few to re-handle, but have run out of oak and hickory stock. Guess I'll have to get to the local hardwood supplier and see what I can find.

 

[coach]

I have an old Stanley axe head, that appears to be the same size as your Norund, that I put a small handle on. It’s perfect for splitting kindling. The smaller handle makes it easy to control one handed and I’m not tempted to use it for big stuff, and the heavy head will split good size pieces with ease. That reminds me I want to recondition some wedges to get some of mushroomed metal off the end. It’s too hot here to split wood but it will be fall soon enough.

 

[reuben_j_cogburn]

Kevin, I think they would have loved electricity, period!! and probably a hiway rather than a rutted trail...

The pulaski is what the smoke jumpers use, and digging out old rotten stumps and fern balls will be it's primary job...
I hope that Collins axe head works out, but I have plenty of axes, so it's only a curiosity thing...

I also grabbed a few steel wedges, but I am afraid to use them as the tree's here are not so big, (except for the cotton woods), that I can't use other methods... The thought of ruining a chain so far from town is my main concern.. (plastic wedges are your friend!)
I am making a video on how I drop tree's that are leaning the wrong way, but I am just not happy with the footage so far.

I have to wait for another payday to buy the handles.. Getting the Stihl ms391 paid for is the priority..(winter is coming)... :shock:

 

[gramps]

Can you not make handles from local wood?
gramps

 

[reuben_j_cogburn]

Can you not make handles from local wood?
gramps

I have considered that, but the only real hard wood here is birch... and some aspen...
I'm not sure if they would make good handles, and it would be almost 100% hand carved except for ripping down to basic length, width, etc...
I'm not sure I have that much interest!!.... :lol:
A new handle is about $18, and that seems to be a better use of my time and money. Although I wouldn't mind learning a new skill set for when the zombie apocalypse happens and I need a new axe handle!!

Anyone know how birch would work for an axe handle??

 

[protoolman]

I'd stick with the factory hickory handles. No hardwoods in your area I'm aware of. Oak hickory or ash would be best. That Norlund will impress you. Very good quality!

 

[blume357]

I'm trying to remember the self made documentary that I think Disney aired many years ago about the guy who was flown into the Alaskan out back one Spring and his plan was to build a cabin over the Summer to live in the next Winter and the tools he brought with him were like above and he had to make the handles for them out of local trees.

 

[reuben_j_cogburn]

For $18 or so it is much better to buy than try and make.... I'd be day's at one handle even if I had hickory lyin around... Not to mention the throw aways!
I keep my tools out of the weather as well. I always bring all my wooden handled stuff inside, or at least under shelter... No axes stuck in my chopping block at the end of the day!!... :wink:

Blume, I think you are thinking of, "Dick Proenneke".... he homesteaded in the Lake Clark area, (Alaska), in the sixties... He spent over thirty years living there at his cabin... although he did travel out a bit as he got older...
"Bob Swerer Productions", made the documentary "one man's wilderness", based on a book that one of Dicks friends compiled from his journal, after his death... Also called, "one man's wilderness"....
Dick was a carpenters mate in the navy and was quite the craftsman..... I have both the book and the documentary.... The book is much more detailed....