budnder
Member
My daughter mentioned she wanted a hatchet to use when she goes camping. She shares my fondness for vintage things, so thought she would appreciate it if I restored an old one, rather than Amazon her a new one. After a bit of research, I decided on a roofing hatchet, as there seemed to be some utility in having a hammer end for tent stakes and such. From my reading, Plumb was one of the respected brands of yore, so found picked up an old Plumb roofers hatchet head on ebay for $20.
Cleaned up the rust and corrosion with vinegar and a wire wheel and it shined up pretty well. I put a new 25 degree edge on it with a metal file and sandpaper. Fashioned a handle out of a cherry tree that went down last fall, and finished the handle off with a couple of coats of BLO. I'd not done any leather work before, so the cover was a new experience, and actually not as hard as I thought it might be.
Normally, I gather this type of hatchet would have a straight handle which allows for use of both ends equally. I decided to do a classic dog leg handle shape out of the cherry, because of the look and I didn't mind optimizing for the hatchet end. It feels good in your hand, in any case. One nice thing about doing the custom handle is it allowed me to make a smaller handle than what you could buy (my daughter is petite). It's a couple inches shorter and the grip is a little narrower than normal.
I'm still mulling over hitting it with a final coat of a BLO/Turpentine/Beeswax mix (is there a name for that?) for a little added protection and perhaps a wee bit of shine.
Cleaned up the rust and corrosion with vinegar and a wire wheel and it shined up pretty well. I put a new 25 degree edge on it with a metal file and sandpaper. Fashioned a handle out of a cherry tree that went down last fall, and finished the handle off with a couple of coats of BLO. I'd not done any leather work before, so the cover was a new experience, and actually not as hard as I thought it might be.
Normally, I gather this type of hatchet would have a straight handle which allows for use of both ends equally. I decided to do a classic dog leg handle shape out of the cherry, because of the look and I didn't mind optimizing for the hatchet end. It feels good in your hand, in any case. One nice thing about doing the custom handle is it allowed me to make a smaller handle than what you could buy (my daughter is petite). It's a couple inches shorter and the grip is a little narrower than normal.
I'm still mulling over hitting it with a final coat of a BLO/Turpentine/Beeswax mix (is there a name for that?) for a little added protection and perhaps a wee bit of shine.
