I’m in the middle of restoring an old axe head of my own and all of your tool/product use explanation at the end was so helpful. Thank you! I’ve been in the woodworking game for awhile but I’m new to the metal game but fascinated by it
I've enjoyed 3 of your videos thus far, including the polishing by hand and making of an axe handle. I know that feeling of i'm over it as been restoring some hand planes. Thank you for taking the time to do your videos.
Man.. I'm glad I watched this video. I'm restoring an axe and have been doing it all by hand. The thought had crossed my mind to use my orbital sander but thought it would leave makes in it. You da real MVP
WOW!... That's all I can say. Your the boss! Beautiful weld repair and your polishing skills are tops. "I'm done with Axes", I feel your pain. If they are willing to pay for it, maybe. Great video,. Thank you.
It's a shame you're not going to do any more axes :( they have such character and you brought out the best in that one. I can't believe that the weld is not even noticeable! Not a trace as far as I could see.Beautiful work. Thank you.
You mix up your terminology a bit. You say the tip is harder because it was tempered, but tempering is in fact a process that reduces hardness, and increases toughness. That would decrease the edge retention of the tempered bit, and in turn make it less likely to chip.
Keep us posted on other items you polish up. I know I would enjoy to see more detailed steps involved when you made that axe handle. Everyone has a different technique to arrive at the same result but yours looked pretty good.
Disc or drum rotors, ball peen hammers, knives, and railroad spikes might be some good ideas for polishing, or some interesting things you have around the shop. Maybe a mirror polished small sledge hammer head would be cool as a paperweight. I kind of plan on doing that for myself sometime.
Wow Gilbert....another shinny one....you sharpen and shine so people can see that with some time and effort and a lot of patience what you can achieve,,,,patience is in short supply with a lot of people these day.....I say if the people watch its a lot better than the video that nobody watches....CHEERS and see you soon with the chicken hot dogs
I'm still using your old method of polishing stuff but I managed to find 320 grit flap wheels as the finest they come. I tried using an orbital sander like you in this video but noticed it was leaving swirl marks so I went back to hand sanding at 400 - 2000 grit sand paper. I did discover small 2" hook and loop backing pads for a drill or angle grinder and found small 2" disks in 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 2,000, and 3000 grit that I ordered that I will try once they come in from slow boat China. I hope that will solve the swirl problem I had with the orbital sander and hope to eliminate hand sanding completely since it takes forever.
Anthony O I found some company's have sandpaper that are not consistent in the grits and will produce swirl. I bought my backing pads from sandpaper.ca Good luck!! Cheers!
Tip for you: Use a light mist of Windex not wd-40. Wd-40 is too oily. Oil reduces friction and takes away the effect of the sandpaper. Hence, for example, why we put oil in our cars, to reduce friction.
I had a axe with a quarter inch crack coming off the eye going towards the bit on the top of the axe, it was relatively shallow and half of it was surface crack, I welded it and it filled the crack pretty good, in your experience do you think the axe will last a while? its a older hand forged axe and I read its common for them to have small surface cracks near the eye from the eye drifting process.
Great job on the welding, and the axe looks great - Don't take this as criticism, I'm just trying to save you time should you do another. I think that white (aluminum oxide) is like 600-800 grit in paste form. I'm pretty sure you could of got those same kind of results if you had skipped the 800 and 1600 grit paper and went to white rouge after the 400 grit paper on a sissle wheel then red rouge on the soft wheel. It looks great either way, nothing lost but a little time.
Pardon me for what may be a silly question: Could you have done little "spot" welds on some of the deeper pits in the axe? It seems to me that would have eliminated the removal of a bit of thickness in the axe from all the sanding. The camera work may have been misleading, but some of those pits seemed really deep.
I didn't realize you could fix an axe like that. Was that a high quality axe? Why would you spend so much time fixing an axe like that? I'm glad you did. It was totally cool! Thank you for showing us. I want to try it with one of my old axes.
Jameson Cross I did it for one of my subscribers. The axe looked like pretty good quality. I think the best axe are the one that Liam Hoffman makes and the Gransfors Bruks. Thanks for watching!
Great video. Was very happy to see you actually did a repair and not just a polishing video! I do think you do without the intense music. The sound levels are a little uneven and it’s not really adding to your great work!
I'm trying to erase very small streaks, (minute 6:58). I don't know if it's possible... but I'm in that learning process. Maybe I'm prevented by the limits of the type of steel used in an ax... I don't know, but I'm going to find out. Thanks for your knowledge... (I know from my own experience that it is not easy to reach that point of perfection that you achieved) 👍👍👍👏👏👏👏👏 From Uruguay, Daniel
I feel your pain, I’m polishing a meat cleaver and it will probably take 10-12 hours to get it right but I will use it when I’m finished for meat and veg not cutting down trees so keeping it shiny shouldn’t be to hard. Do you have any idea why the axe cracked like that? I haven’t seen that before. A suggestion please, either commentary (preferred) OR music but not both. When videos have music playing I don’t complain I just mute but it’s quite frustrating when there is music and commentary. Great videos. Cheers Stuart 🇦🇺
Nice job. I presume you are CDN. If so, can you pleas tell me where you find the hook & loop fine grit sanding discs here in Canada? I have found lots of sanding/emery paper up to 2000 grit & adhesive fine discs but can't find the hook & loop/velcro discs in finer grit than 400. Thank-you for any info you can offer. Cheers from the Left Coast.
Would it have been easier to fill the larger rust pits seen at about 3:07 with welding then to have to grind a lot of metal away from entire head to make each side even? I was thinking grind out with dremel tool then fill holes. Probably cut down on grind time.
Could this method and sized rotary sander be used for knife and small axe restorations for mirror finish? I’ve been looking for mini orbital sanders or die sanders for best results? Thanks
Out-frickin Standing. And thanks for the warning of the eight (8) hours of work. I have a couple of axe heads. Thanks for the info. A polishing I will go. WOW!!!
It looks great, and you do superb work. But, is it worth a lot historically or financially? I mean, you put a lot of work in with that, but can't you just buy a new one for 20 or 30 bucks?
When you said you used the white compound on the buffer, do you know the company that makes the white compound you used? By the way, really nice work on that ax! 👍
Very nice job! Finally someone with no Scraches in the "mirrorfinish" This is a actual mirrorfinish! I would love to know if it would make any difference if you would have gone to 5000 Grit before polishing
Where did you get the orbit discs? Highest I fine here in Vancouver Canada is 220grit
sandpaper.ca
Any good auto body shop should have what you need
Ridi
Looks to good to use for work coolest axe head ive ever seen
Ridik, go to Grizzly Tools. If you get down to Seattle, there's a wonderful store there that you can get all this and much more.
I never would have imagined a cracked axe could be welded and repaired. Excellent.
I’m in the middle of restoring an old axe head of my own and all of your tool/product use explanation at the end was so helpful. Thank you! I’ve been in the woodworking game for awhile but I’m new to the metal game but fascinated by it
I have never seen an axe head with a mirror finish like that. Very impressive.
8 hrs. For a masterpiece work of art... I'd say it's worth it....excellent work my friend!
I've enjoyed 3 of your videos thus far, including the polishing by hand and making of an axe handle. I know that feeling of i'm over it as been restoring some hand planes. Thank you for taking the time to do your videos.
Very nicely done sir! You just gave an axe, that most people would've thrown away, a second chance at life! I love restoration.
The finished axe head is unrecognizable from the start! Great work.
Please make more polishing videos! Such a pleasure to watch!!!
I can't believe you showed the crack of your axe on UA-cam. I'm shocked! Shocked, I say!
Man.. I'm glad I watched this video. I'm restoring an axe and have been doing it all by hand. The thought had crossed my mind to use my orbital sander but thought it would leave makes in it. You da real MVP
I've got a vintage #10 cleaver that I've been wanting to restore. This has totally motivated me to get that going. Thanks!
WOW!... That's all I can say. Your the boss! Beautiful weld repair and your polishing skills are tops. "I'm done with Axes", I feel your pain. If they are willing to pay for it, maybe. Great video,. Thank you.
The intense music while you work is such a trip I love it
that axe head turned out simply stunning! great work!
Excellent work. It is very nice to see an axe not only repaired properly but to see such excellent work in the grinding and polishing.
You sound so much like AvE it’s creepy...excellent video mate! Always happy to see old tools restores to like-new!
You sir are a true craftsman. Thank you for the video.
Great job! never seen an axe that shiny before. Thanks for sharing.
you never would of guess thats was the same axe great job
Who ever gave you that axe will never belive its the same axe.Great job man.
Very impressive end result man!...I wouldn't even want to use it anymore ;))
It's a shame you're not going to do any more axes :( they have such character and you brought out the best in that one. I can't believe that the weld is not even noticeable! Not a trace as far as I could see.Beautiful work. Thank you.
I just love how you didn't round off the crisp edges of the axe.
Great job!!
A pleasure to see somebody who doesn't spend all day with a mill file!
So satisfying to watch that shiny metal piece! Thanks for sharing.
The best axe restoration video I've seen by far. So on point! Love ur job! 👍👍👍
Very impressive. You do great work. Thanks for sharing the video.
That’s awesome to repair refurbished something that was broken and discarded
Beautiful work sir! Had chuckle quite a bit when you said "...nope, no more polishing the axe head..." It just made me laugh
That was the best job of polishing I have seen on UA-cam , you made it look easy but I know there was alot of skill in doing it
I am 70 years old and want to fix up a very old hatchet for my grandson - going to give it a try
Top job that turned out really neat and it's probably better than new it was a awesome transformation.
Cheers
Tim from Wood 4 Nothing
Nice work, my man. Either do it right or don't do it at all. That axe head is beautiful.
That is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!! Great job man!!!!
F... hell what a resut! Impresive work!
Fabulous!!!
Definitely the best axe video I’ve seen.
You mix up your terminology a bit. You say the tip is harder because it was tempered, but tempering is in fact a process that reduces hardness, and increases toughness. That would decrease the edge retention of the tempered bit, and in turn make it less likely to chip.
the summary is perfect: the polishing masterpiece's done, never gonna do this again! ))))
Unreal. well done. You have inspired me to restore some of my axe heads.
you are best of the best , nice work mate
I love how the power tools cue the epic music
That's crazy good. Keep 'em coming!
Outstanding result, I'm impressed!
You should keep polishing axe's it make me and other viewers happy 😄
Man that's one hell of a polish.i wouldn't even wanna touch it
It worked out perfectly! Thanks for the video, like and subscription!
this is the 2nd video of yours that I have watched. you have new subscriber. good video and brilliant work. thank you for sharing
That turned out incredible! Good job, it’s a lot of time and dedication, but time well spent I think.
Keep us posted on other items you polish up. I know I would enjoy to see more detailed steps involved when you made that axe handle. Everyone has a different technique to arrive at the same result but yours looked pretty good.
Anthony O thanks for the compliment. If you have any idea what else I could polish, let me know. As for the axe handle, Liam Hoffman is the pro.
Disc or drum rotors, ball peen hammers, knives, and railroad spikes might be some good ideas for polishing, or some interesting things you have around the shop. Maybe a mirror polished small sledge hammer head would be cool as a paperweight. I kind of plan on doing that for myself sometime.
Beautiful mirror shine, buddy.
Beautiful results from all your hard work! 😀
ofc you're finished with axes when you just passed final level of axes polishing. Amazing job
What a beautiful back ground!
Wow Gilbert....another shinny one....you sharpen and shine so people can see that with some time and effort and a lot of patience what you can achieve,,,,patience is in short supply with a lot of people these day.....I say if the people watch its a lot better than the video that nobody watches....CHEERS and see you soon with the chicken hot dogs
I'm still using your old method of polishing stuff but I managed to find 320 grit flap wheels as the finest they come. I tried using an orbital sander like you in this video but noticed it was leaving swirl marks so I went back to hand sanding at 400 - 2000 grit sand paper. I did discover small 2" hook and loop backing pads for a drill or angle grinder and found small 2" disks in 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 2,000, and 3000 grit that I ordered that I will try once they come in from slow boat China. I hope that will solve the swirl problem I had with the orbital sander and hope to eliminate hand sanding completely since it takes forever.
Anthony O I found some company's have sandpaper that are not consistent in the grits and will produce swirl. I bought my backing pads from sandpaper.ca Good luck!! Cheers!
Did you mean to write more? Doug?
Amazing job!
From Brazil.
Nice work I think it might be too pretty to use now. Really impressive results!!!
Perfect polishing, mate. 👍👍
Good work and well worth the time and effort. Thanks for doing it.
Tip for you: Use a light mist of Windex not wd-40. Wd-40 is too oily. Oil reduces friction and takes away the effect of the sandpaper. Hence, for example, why we put oil in our cars, to reduce friction.
Awesome work. Is there something we can do to protect the iron over time and to remain like that?
Amazine work sir. Great job. Thanks for sharing I'm glad you want in Gators channel. Have a good week god bless
Great video. Thanks 👍
I had a axe with a quarter inch crack coming off the eye going towards the bit on the top of the axe, it was relatively shallow and half of it was surface crack, I welded it and it filled the crack pretty good, in your experience do you think the axe will last a while? its a older hand forged axe and I read its common for them to have small surface cracks near the eye from the eye drifting process.
Nice repair and finish. I would not want to use that for any chopping work though. Too nice to get it marred up again.
Great job on the welding, and the axe looks great - Don't take this as criticism, I'm just trying to save you time should you do another. I think that white (aluminum oxide) is like 600-800 grit in paste form. I'm pretty sure you could of got those same kind of results if you had skipped the 800 and 1600 grit paper and went to white rouge after the 400 grit paper on a sissle wheel then red rouge on the soft wheel. It looks great either way, nothing lost but a little time.
Nicely done, I have several that I need to do....maybe this year I can get one completed 😆
The music editing is on point aswell beautiful work
Pardon me for what may be a silly question: Could you have done little "spot" welds on some of the deeper pits in the axe? It seems to me that would have eliminated the removal of a bit of thickness in the axe from all the sanding. The camera work may have been misleading, but some of those pits seemed really deep.
I didn't realize you could fix an axe like that. Was that a high quality axe? Why would you spend so much time fixing an axe like that? I'm glad you did. It was totally cool! Thank you for showing us. I want to try it with one of my old axes.
Jameson Cross I did it for one of my subscribers. The axe looked like pretty good quality. I think the best axe are the one that Liam Hoffman makes and the Gransfors Bruks. Thanks for watching!
Great video. Was very happy to see you actually did a repair and not just a polishing video!
I do think you do without the intense music. The sound levels are a little uneven and it’s not really adding to your great work!
Very nice that shine looks great.
I'm trying to erase very small streaks, (minute 6:58).
I don't know if it's possible... but I'm in that learning process.
Maybe I'm prevented by the limits of the type of steel used in an ax... I don't know, but I'm going to find out.
Thanks for your knowledge... (I know from my own experience that it is not easy to reach that point of perfection that you achieved) 👍👍👍👏👏👏👏👏
From Uruguay, Daniel
That is beautiful. Just amazing.
Nice work from Poland
I've found my new favorite channel!
Well thank you very much. You have made my day!
After polishing, what do you use to protect against rust? Ever blue any of them?
Beautiful job. To get a finish like that from where you started is just amazing.
You make very clean and shining...it's looks too good ....make another video..plzzz...
soon
Looks like I'll be using my orbital sander then! I don't have a polishing wheel but a machine buffer so hopefully that will work
great job...other than that its funny how you interrupt an epic music when you talk
Not to mention the crickets that take over at the same time...
(Still a great video from a fellow French Canadian, though...)
Pretty amazing work there!
I feel your pain, I’m polishing a meat cleaver and it will probably take 10-12 hours to get it right but I will use it when I’m finished for meat and veg not cutting down trees so keeping it shiny shouldn’t be to hard. Do you have any idea why the axe cracked like that? I haven’t seen that before. A suggestion please, either commentary (preferred) OR music but not both. When videos have music playing I don’t complain I just mute but it’s quite frustrating when there is music and commentary. Great videos. Cheers Stuart 🇦🇺
Have no idea why there was a crack. Ya my videos are better now
Would the quality come out the same if you started with orbital sandpaper up to 400 and then finished by hand?
very fin work od that axe, nice job!
That orbital sander is incredible! Every time you start it, it plays dramatic classical music! Can you get it to play some Rammstein?
That's a nice paper weight you got there
Nice job. I presume you are CDN. If so, can you pleas tell me where you find the hook & loop fine grit sanding discs here in Canada? I have found lots of sanding/emery paper up to 2000 grit & adhesive fine discs but can't find the hook & loop/velcro discs in finer grit than 400.
Thank-you for any info you can offer. Cheers from the Left Coast.
Imightberiding try gluing said grit to get a used Velcro pad. Just a thought
Would it have been easier to fill the larger rust pits seen at about 3:07 with welding then to have to grind a lot of metal away from entire head to make each side even? I was thinking grind out with dremel tool then fill holes. Probably cut down on grind time.
Could this method and sized rotary sander be used for knife and small axe restorations for mirror finish? I’ve been looking for mini orbital sanders or die sanders for best results? Thanks
Out-frickin Standing. And thanks for the warning of the eight (8) hours of work. I have a couple of axe heads. Thanks for the info. A polishing I will go. WOW!!!
francis auld thanks for the compliment and thanks for watching!!
That’s impressive, if you didn’t know you wouldn’t know...you know
Great work CHAMP!!!
hi man. very good video ...could you tell me about white compound.. what is it? Thank from CHILE
It looks great, and you do superb work. But, is it worth a lot historically or financially? I mean, you put a lot of work in with that, but can't you just buy a new one for 20 or 30 bucks?
When you said you used the white compound on the buffer, do you know the company that makes the white compound you used? By the way, really nice work on that ax! 👍
Awesome job man! thanks for sharing
Is this an improvement in axe function of only looks ?
Very nice job! Finally someone with no Scraches in the "mirrorfinish"
This is a actual mirrorfinish!
I would love to know if it would make any difference if you would have gone to 5000 Grit before polishing
InFlamesOfSorrow ya it would be even better. Less time with the buffing wheel.
Are you using anything to keep it from rusting?