Proper Way to Sharpen Axe Without Buck Rogers Equipment?

[Steve H Graham]

I decided to try to find a decent quality axe, without spending my life's savings on something from Sweden. I have a Council Tools axe on the way. Now I want to know: what's the best way to sharpen an axe? Maybe I should put it another way: what's the best way to sharpen an axe without buying a Tormek or some other exotic tool? How did knowledgeable people sharpen axes 50 years ago?

I have a belt grinder, a belt sander, a bench grinder with white aluminum oxide wheels, files, and rotary tools.

I picked Council Tools because it was affordable and American, and I figured it had to be better than a Chinese axe from the store. The reviews for the axe I bought were interesting. People said a lot of nasty things about the handle, but it seemed like no one complained about the head. If the head is good, I don't care about the handle. I can replace that for ten bucks.

Another question: how sharp should an axe be?

[Pete Taran]

10" Mill Smooth File is all you need. If you are feeling extravagant, finish up with a medium india slip stone.

[Steve H Graham]

So axes are soft enough to be cut with files!

[Tom M King]

I've never used anything but a file. I usually use an 8" Smooth. When I taught Boy Scouts how to sharpen an axe, I'd lay a white piece of paper on the head, so they could see the filings accumulate, and they could get an idea of how I did it, compared to how they did it. For them, we used little 1/4" plywood guards between the handle, and the file. It's not a use where you want to use the file without a handle.

[Chris Parks]

I used an angle grinder with flap wheel on one I didn't have much regard for and it turned out OK for the job which surprised me. Quick and dirty is the phrase I was looking for!

[Dominik Dudkiewicz]

I use waterstones as per my other edge tools. Although I haven't had to start from a completely damaged/blunt edge.

391687

[Luke Dupont]

I use a small hatchet for general woodworking (carving and shaping as well as chopping/splitting) sometimes, so usually sharpen them with an India stone and finish on an Arkansas for a keen edge. A file or a really coarse diamond stone works if you need to take out chips or change edge geometry, and might be all you need for coarse work.

[Jon Shank]

Pretty much what everybody else has said. If it needs cleaned up or reshaped at all use a file, course if the shape is all wrong or huge chips out of it, fine if it's just nicks or minor reshaping to get a smooth curve or some such. For normal sharpening I use an old axe puck because I have one from my dad. It's just a round 2 sided stone, course carborundum on one side and fine india on the other. I have used a fine arkansas to polish a bit before but that's really kind of silly for an axe or hatchet, not needed to work well.

Jon

[Barney Markunas]

I'll pile on - Pete and the others have given you the straight scoop. A flat file should put you in very good shape, particularly if this is a brand new axe that has never been used by a Tenderfoot to chop roots and rocks. How sharp? Listen to Abe Lincoln: "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." A sharp axe is much safer to use than one that is not. In my experience the only time that a super sharp axe might not be preferable is when you are splitting wood; a fairly blunt edge seems to work OK then too unless it is elm; then you are better off splitting with your chainsaw.

[Warren Mickley]

How did knowledgeable people sharpen axes 50 years ago?

Another question: how sharp should an axe be?

I was taught to sharpen axes in 1962,so I get into that "50 years ago" range. We used a file or a stone. I like to use a file if the axe is in bad shape and a stone for routine sharpening. Stones made specifically for axes are 1X4 discs, rather coarse. I like to polish the bevel with fine stones also. A polished edge is a little stronger and more rust resistant and a little sharper. You don't have to eliminate all scratches like you might with a plane iron.

[John Gornall]

My dad long ago always said use a file to reshape the axe edge but polish with a stone to remove all file lines which can result in cracks and chips on the cutting edge

[Bob Glenn]

If you need to grind the bevel, I find it easier to get a good controlled bevel by using an angle grinder rather than a bench mounted grinder. After shaping, as previous poster said, use a flap wheel. I then follow up with diamond stones to the degree I want.

[Jim Koepke]

Barney beat me to the Lincoln quote:


Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. -- Abraham Lincoln

With what you have your only question is what will work best to maintain the style of axe you have.

Most of mine work fine with my Veritas Mk.II Power Sharpening System, which is a flat spinning disc with abrasive sheets. This does have a problem with my hewing axes which have slightly curved cutting edges. The difficulty is on the single bevel side.

A problem with an extremely sharp axe is it can get stuck in the work if one isn't careful. This may be more likely with a hollow grind than with slightly convex bevels.

If the axe is too dull, it can bounce off the work without removing chips. This can be embarrassing if your kids are watching.

jtk

[David Bassett]

... If the axe is too dull, it can bounce off the work without removing chips. This can be embarrassing if your kids are watching.

Forget what the kids think, it can hurt. A lot. (Your body parts cut a lot easier than most wood.)

[Andrew Gibson]

I have a couple of Plumb Axes that take a really nice edge that I picked up at swap meets. Reshape the edge at the belt sander if needed, refine and fine tune tune with a 10" mill file, from there it is just like any other edge in the shop coarse diamond, 1k, 15k. Both my Plumbs will take an edge keen enough to shave and hold the edge surprisingly well. Anything past the file is overkill for splitting IMO, but for limbing the sharper the better.

[John C Cox]

I will pile on and say “Depends on what you are doing with it”.....

Here is a critical thing that it sounds dumb to say out loud... but I will anyway...

Axes set up for chopping and limbing are push cutting - they don’t slice... As such - they need to be sharpened to achieve push cutting performance - not for slicing... why do I say this? Because 99% of “sharpening experience” most people have is knife sharpening.. and 98% of knife sharpening is geared for slicing not push cutting. And so there is a whole bunch of stuff that works awesome on knives that makes for an extremely short lived axe edge....

So for example - you may file or stone for the geometry and then polish the edge so it push cuts... Over-Stropping axes is super effective. They won’t slice worth a lick - but they will push cut like mad..... on the other hand - if you form a burr, then straighten it like you would on a knife - it breaks off the 1st chop and leaves a chipped, ragged edge behind which might slice fine but it won’t chop anything.

[Jim Koepke]

I will pile on and say “Depends on what you are doing with it”.....

[major edit]


For hewing, a slicing cut is good. For splitting a slightly convex bevel works well. For limbing, a hollow grind may be acceptable.

jtk

[Steve H Graham]

This is good information. What does a slicing profile look like?

[Steve H Graham]

I have a nice present for the board.

https://www.pcta.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/an_ax_to_grind.pdf

There is also a Youtube video that goes with it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIv7RegtxwQ

Not about sharpening, but still nice to have.

[Rob Luter]

I’ll echo the sentiment that it depends on the axe and depends on the job. My splitting maul gets sharpened every 5 years or so with a coarse file. My double head trimming axe sees a smooth file and occasionally a stone. My hatchet gets sharpened with progressively finer abrasives just like a plane iron. I can usually shave with it. It’s silly to do this but it makes me happy, so.....

[Wayne Cannon]

I'll second Jon's recommendation for an axe puck -- out slips easily into your pocket for fast repair in the field with the coarse side or quick touch up with the fine side. The puck is easy to maintain the angle of the edge.

As with turning tools, it really helps to touch up the edge frequently while working.

A file works great in the shop, but the puck is much easier to use in the field -- axe in one hand and puck in the other, without having to set down the axe to have a solid support for filing without rounding over the edge.

[bill tindall]

Agree on both points. I use an ax regularly and that is what I have used for decades.

[Jeff Ranck]

Like most have mentioned, a single cut mill bastard file and a round stone is all you really need. Check out any old Boy Scout handbook. Learned to sharpen an ax when I was around 12.

[Jim Koepke]

What does a slicing profile look like?

The hatchets/axes of mine used like this are for hewing. They have a single bevel so they are right and left handed. The bevel is pretty much flat but the better of my hewing hatchest has a slight curve to the back and the bevel. Kind of like a wide ~flat sweep gouge.

391923

My favorite is on the left.

jtk

[john zulu]

I did not find sharpening an axe on a bench grinder easy. Can't achieve consistency. On a belt grinder more so.

[Pat Barry]

Really good video Steve! Thanks

[Steve H Graham]

Since starting this thread, I have gotten my hands on a single-bit Plumb axe head and also a double-bit Collins. I applied a file, and it bounced off both. I am wondering if the people here who recommend files are sharpening softer axes.

It doesn't matter, because I'm planning to use a belt sander. I only tried the file to find out how hard the steel was.

The Collins is going back to the Ebay seller. It turns out the eye is pushed in at the top. I guess someone hit something with the side of the axe. A new handle won't go in all the way unless I open the eye up first.

I ordered another axe which is SUPPOSEDLY a Mann. Hoping for the best.

[Tom M King]

I don't know who made this broadaxe, but most of my other axes, and broad hatchets are either Plumb or Collins. I've never used anything but a file on any of them out of the shop-usually an 8" Smooth Mill. This whole process, and what the beams were used for, is on the "Structural" page on my website.

http://historic-house-restoration.com/images/tombroadaxe.JPG

[Peter Christensen]

You can buy axe files. They have a handle formed into them rather than the usual tang. They also do pretty good at sharpening a shovel too. ;)

[Steve H Graham]

Today I hung my Plumb axe. I removed the old wood (not easy), cleaned up the eye, shaped the new handle, put it in the axe, removed the varnish from the handle, applied paste wax, and got everything ready for the wedge. I used the belt sander to sharpen it. It was a joke. Took two minutes and did a great job.

Unfortunately, after I did all this, I realized I hadn't checked the grain. The growth rings in my new handle run across it instead of parallel to the axe. I don't know if this really matters, but it's really annoying.

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[Ron Kellison]

I have an Iltis "Oxhead" felling axe fitted with a great oiled hickory handle. I think for a winter project I'll take it up to a shaving edge just to see how much difference there is in use as compared to a regular file sharpening.

[William Fretwell]

,Hopefully the people making the handles know how to pick the right grain but some are always better. It usually won’t matter until you miss hit and the handle is the first thing to make contact, after a few of those you will find out.
The Swedish axes are very good steel by the way, I can shave with mine.

[Jim Koepke]

,Hopefully the people making the handles know how to pick the right grain but some are always better.

In my experience they don't seem to bother aligning the grain. That is for the person buying a new tool or a replacement handle.

Every time a new shovel, other wooden handled tool or a replacement handle is purchased my first point of inspection is how the grain is aligned.

It is so rare for one of my shovel's handles to break, my memory of the last one to break is of someone else breaking a handle.

One of my shovels broke in the metal. The handle was salvaged and used on a different shovel head. When my neighbor moved he had three or four good shovel heads with no handles. He likely broke the handles and replaced the whole shovel instead. A couple of these were of good heavy gauge steel.

A good handle will often cost more than a cheap shovel.

jtk

[Ryan Mooney]

Surprised no one has brought up "An Axe to Grind" from the forest service yet. This is probably one of the better intro's to axes out there.

www fs fed us/t-d/pubs/pdfpubs/pdf99232823/pdf99232823Pdpi72pt04.pdf

Replace the spaces with dots to get the link (I can't ever keep track of what links are /are not allowed here so just assume none are).

The grain running sideways makes the handle more likely to split in use (some handles will split, some won't depending on the use and wood). I tend not to inspect pretty closely and only get the ones with mostly decent grain because they do tend to fail at just the wrong time.

For removing the old handle, cut it off right below the head, then drill out as much as you can, then use a punch to knock the rest out. Watch out for metal wedges when you're drilling. Even with a hand drill it only takes maybe 5 minutes to get it pretty clean that way.

I have two axes that you cannot sharpen with a file (even a NOS really good file). I don't use those for heavy chopping as they tend to be a bit chippy, but they do take an awesome edge for shaving and fine hewing, luckily the one I mostly use in that category is a hewing hatchet. Both also required significant refurbing before they were useful, some combination of an angle grinder judiciously applied and a belt sander got them within sharpening stone distance. All of my felling an limbing axes sharpen reasonably well with a file and a medium stone, the one felling axe does eat files a bit bit but unless I'm do something bad with it (no knots!) it doesn't usually have to go back that far.

[Steve H Graham]

Surprised no one has brought up "An Axe to Grind" from the forest service yet. This is probably one of the better intro's to axes out there.

See this, above:


I have a nice present for the board.

https://www.pcta.org/wp-content/uplo...x_to_grind.pdf (https://www.pcta.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/an_ax_to_grind.pdf)

There is also a Youtube video that goes with it.

[Ryan Mooney]

See this, above:

Well there you go at least someone was paying attention :) I was looking for the fs fed us url..