Every man needs an axe
I’m a sucker for a pretty face, so when I stumbled onto a shabby, old, and rusted axe in a flea market in Colorado I immediately picked it up and brought it home. My previous axe was broken and lost in Baja some time ago, and the risks involved with tramping around forest roads without some means of cutting our way out of a fallen-tree was extreme. I argued for a long time that we needed a chainsaw, but Kerri kept me in check on that. A new axe was our compromise.
I had grand ideas of refurbishing it into a work of art that all would envy, knowing damn well that I could never accomplish it because a) I didn’t have the know-how, and b) I didn’t have the tools. What I had not taken into consideration was spending a few weeks parked in a forest with Brandon of @drivedivedevour , who did have the know-how and the tools. Over the course of a week or more, Brandon showed me all the things I needed to know, and supplies the tools and leather to make it all happen. Not 24 hours after the sharpening, it proved to me that just the slightest touch would result in a gash in my thumb. Hence the need for the custom sheath. And since we pulled out the leather, a custom collar to protect the newly finished handle was in order as well.
As much as I’d like to take credit for the work, it would be an outright lie if I did. Brandon did nearly all the work with me only doing some stitching and sanding. I did keep him company during most of it though, so I learned what to do for the next axe in my life… teach a man to fish and all. The end result turned out so much more than I would have thought up. What flaws were left in the axe head were left to show the real beauty of it all; it is a true work horse, not some hang-on-the-wall princess.
Wow, that is really some gorgeous work! It turned so nice!