Edged... but not a knife. Old axe anyone? - iKnife Collector2024-03-29T00:24:45Zhttps://iknifecollector.com/forum/topics/edged-but-not-a-knife-old-axe-anyone?feed=yes&xn_auth=noThank you DLKG,
I am right th…tag:iknifecollector.com,2022-02-20:3181080:Comment:16959312022-02-20T02:13:47.725ZKevin Dhttps://iknifecollector.com/profile/KevinDrummond
<p>Thank you DLKG,</p>
<p>I am right there with you on getting rid of the rust. Keep the pitting since that is part of it's "history"... but the rust really needed to be dealt with.</p>
<p>Since there were no replies advocating anything to the contrary, I went and cleaned it up carefully. During my initial cleanup, I had the metal in the main body of the axe shot with our x-ray gun to determine the type of steel. Very low carbon content. 98% iron. Barely steel at all really based on the…</p>
<p>Thank you DLKG,</p>
<p>I am right there with you on getting rid of the rust. Keep the pitting since that is part of it's "history"... but the rust really needed to be dealt with.</p>
<p>Since there were no replies advocating anything to the contrary, I went and cleaned it up carefully. During my initial cleanup, I had the metal in the main body of the axe shot with our x-ray gun to determine the type of steel. Very low carbon content. 98% iron. Barely steel at all really based on the alloying elements. But there is an very obvious band of different steel along the edge. I plan to shoot it on Tuesday to verify my suspicion that the edge band is a much higher carbon content steel.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I do have some cracks right at those sharp corners. Obvious stress riser locations, but I was a little surprised to see the cracks given the metallurgical makeup of the steel in the axe body.</p>
<p></p>
<p>To provide a little bit of rust inhibition, I went and did a single cycle of rust bluing. It is actually looking pretty neat now. </p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10136381490?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10136381490?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="300" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Those sharp impact dings are the worst surface defects that I see on the entire axe (other than the cracks). I did not see those either until I cleaned the axe up.</p>
<p>All in all, not too bad.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Now I just need to make a nice handle for it. :)</p> All I can say is that the Und…tag:iknifecollector.com,2022-02-18:3181080:Comment:16955222022-02-18T23:41:26.674Zdead_left_knife_guyhttps://iknifecollector.com/profile/deadleftknifeguy
<p>All I can say is that the Underhill name is familiar, but antiques really aren't my specialty. If it was my axe head, I would have probably just gone forward with the cleaning and rehandling process. Personally I'm fine with some pitting but I really don't like rust on my axes. What I can say, though, is that the lack of any mushrooming on the poll makes this a really nice specimen of antique axe head. Nice score!</p>
<p>All I can say is that the Underhill name is familiar, but antiques really aren't my specialty. If it was my axe head, I would have probably just gone forward with the cleaning and rehandling process. Personally I'm fine with some pitting but I really don't like rust on my axes. What I can say, though, is that the lack of any mushrooming on the poll makes this a really nice specimen of antique axe head. Nice score!</p>