Restored my grandfathers Billnäs 612 carpenter axe from 1950's(?)

bucke

115962

Obligatory finished product first. The head is from a 1950's(?) Finnish Billnäs 612 carpenter axe that originally belonged to my grandfather.

Found it like this

The wire wheel did do much so I went for the angle grinder and a flap sanding disc.

Decided I would not keep the lettering as I was going for a polished finish

First I sanded it with the angle grinder.

After the angle grinder came a lot of sanding by hand. Started with P150 then 320, 600, 800, 1000 finally 1200.

Phew...

Finished sanding with P1200

Polished with Autosol metal polishing.

Found a piece of teak to make the handle from and used an old handle as rough template.

Another Billnäs 612 carpenter axe and some draw knifes was used to make the handle.

After a LOT of fitting....

Shiny shiny

Also made a custom leather sheath.

[deleted]

8 years ago (deleted Dec 16, 2017 6:56 PM) |

anastrophe

It looks beautiful, but no, you did not 'restore' it. You took what was a Billnas 612 axe head, and turned it into a generic hunk of metal.

8 years ago |

sixothree

Obligatory joke about replacing the axe head.

yomahnn

I agree that it's not a restore, but OP made a fantastic refinished product! Congrats on your sexy axe.

HowToBeSuccessfulAsaSerialKiller

Do people really not understand antiques? Way to destroy a piece of history.

revelator

It's just an axe. It's not like it's the one George Washington used to chop down a cherry tree.

loydoy

not an expert, but would sandblasting it work better? to retain any branding?

Perhaps, but detail will always be lost in the sanding and polishing. And if OP wanted a near mirror finish, the logo would be very annoying

Much better. But even sand blasting can reduce the value of an antique, defending on circumstances. The patina helps show age and value