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Camp Axe

CaddmannQ

CaddmannQ

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I picked up this Vaughan camping axe today at Lowes. This is drop forged in the USA and the construction looks very good.

Of course it wasn't very sharp but so far I've just shaved some loose bark from this log. This is a bit shorter than the Estwing I was thinking to buy. It was also a few bucks cheaper.

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It occurs to me that if you were going to forge a halberd, this would be a good starting point.

That's a walnut log from an old orchard they took out near my daughter's house. I was hoping it would be big enough to make the stock for my 22 Savage Target gun.

But it may only be usable if I saw it into strips and make a laminated stock. This is too well seasoned already to make a solid wood stock out of it, but I might actually be able to make a laminated stock plus a two-piece bantam Stock for my 500 cruiser.
 
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I need to put an edge on it & I haven't sharpened an axe in decades.

I don't have a round hand-stone either.
 
The Collins Axe they had at Ace looked cheap and it was made in Mexico. The Kobalt axe at Lowes is made in China, and the Fiskars Axe doesn't really tell you where it's made.

This one looks like a real solid forging
 
I like this, especially made in the US! How much if I could ask? I may need an ax.
 
Council Tool makes all their tools in North Carolina from USA sourced steel and wood if you can't find that Vaughan anywhere in your area. They offer a buttload of axe models.
 
CaddmannQ said:
I need to put an edge on it & I haven't sharpened an axe in decades.

I don't have a round hand-stone either.
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A flat file will put a good working edge on that Vaughan. The round hand stone you mention, are you thinking of the Lansky "The Puck" Stone? I have one and when I want a decent working edge after the file I use the puck with kerosene on many of my sharpened tools. But just a file works well for many US Forest Service wildfire firefighters.
 
Cadd, do you have air tools at home? A 90 degree die grinder with a course scotch brite pad does good. And a 3M bristle disk will get a near honed edge. That's the cheating way of course. It's how I "tune up" my Ka-Bar and Ontario fixed blades. And as Brad can attest, they have a very keen edge.

Sent from my SM-G360V using Tapatalk
 
I need to take the grinder to it first.

It's too cheeky.
 
Rossignol said:
I like this, especially made in the US! How much if I could ask? I may need an ax.
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I think I paid $34 plus tax. The Estwing I was looking at was $70 plus tax and I may still buy it because it's such a cool axe. The Vaughan is a little more subtle I think
 
nitesite said:
Agreed with the angle die grinder and Roloc discs. They do a superb job.
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No I only have a 1/4" straight head die grinder.

But I have a couple of bitching bench grinders and a fat buffing wheel.

But I was actually going to take the Dremel to it, because I have this little adapter for that makes it kind of like a mini router.

All I've ever used in the past has been a flat file and a round stone. I did not see such a stone at the hardware store but I will try a different one.
 
I haven't done a lot of wood chopping in my life because I almost never had to heat with wood except when I was out camping.

But I've done a lot of ice chopping, for as a youth I lived in various parts of the great Frozen North.

Unfortunately I wasn't ice fishing, but I was clearing sidewalks and stoops from Ice. When an ordinary ice chopper wouldn't cut it, I used the axe. This means that the axe gets a dull a lot, when you misjudge and chop clear through to the concrete, and you get to sharpen it quite often.

So there is no mystery to it for me. I spent a whole hour working out with a file, dressing down the fat cheeks on this axe.

I say "fat" but the truth is compared to the axe I used to chop ice with this one is very slim. That was an old old True Temper from the 1950s and as abused as it was I wish I still had it.

But when I moved back to the desert, I knew I was moving there forever, and I left the old ice axe behind.
 
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I forgot to buy the puck when I was at the hardware store but I had an old craftsman sharpening stone and I just snapped a nice square piece off the end of that. There's really no reason the puck has to be round instead of square and this worked quite well.

I dressed the edge with the Arkansas oil Stone, which is about 1 x 2 x 8", and it's awkward but that just takes a couple of swipes and then you start stropping.

I need to get a suitable piece of leather. I am still using a rubber strop, which is the rubber back of an industrial carpet Square. Then I polish it on the carpeted side. I have all kinds of various blades and scrapers and stuff that I use for making things and I generally sharpen them all the same way.
 
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The yard boys were here yesterday doing some gardening and they put her away dirty.
 
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