Brother, that's cold, but I LOL.

No he just steps over the fallen timber...:cool:

That's a thing of beauty right there.

Bill, I was wondering if you might post a close up pic of the cross section of the head so I can see the grinding that Jim did to it?

Yes that would be enlightening. Also would be interested if a bench grinder heating up the edge bothers the ability to hold an edge.

Yes it does. My experience is the best grinders are those that you can change the RPMs. Consider making a slow moving 1/4 HP belt feed grinder with a soft stone.

I mean slow, real slow, like foot pedal slow. O.K., forget the whole electrical thing, just build a slow moving foot pedal grinder.

WD

OMG, wet dog is Roy Underhill!!!:D

Sorry, couldn't help it.

WD where did you find a stone that size? I haven't seen one like that since I was a kid.

In my own defense, that picture is not mine. I pulled it off the internet as an example.

I do however have one that still measures 15.5 in. Even after 3 generation of family (Swedish - Scot ancestry), 150 years have only diminished 1.5 in. of stone.

It's too old to use, it's just collecting dust in the shop.

Someday I'll put in the living room as a lamp base. I'm curently negociating with the GF to allow me to bring it in the house.

Wish me luck!!!

p.s. for those interested, I did buy two more on my last trip through rural Indiana looking for a milk cream seperator, found one. It set me back $250.

I bought the stones, no mechanics, $50 ea.

I am an officer and not supposed to do manual labor. If the axe should be sharpened by hand they should have included an NCO with it. :D

By the way, when I was a boy we had one of those foot pedal stones and that is exactly what we sharpened things with.

DJ,
Good idea.
will try and do this after SHOT Show.

Sharpness:
As sharp as the steel will allow. When finished a good high performance racing axe (like for competition) can take a shaving off the surface of a piece of dry newspaper without going through the other side. I've done this many times, it's not myth.
The single exception I've seen is a slightly coarser edge that seems to be fsater in some pine wood.
In harder the angle is determined by what will hold up or not. In Australia the common chopping woods are very hard.

The relief and shape of the axe body is for both ability to cut deep and also very important, to release from the cut.
Angles are very acute, from 17 degrees included angle down to 12 on the edge of the bit. There are many types of "grinds" depending on the type of wood it's being used in.

Polish of the cutting edge, usually stoned to around 2000 grit but never buffed.

The old loggers who hand felled timber would use shaving sharp edges. If axes were not maintained very sharp they couldn't produce what was expected to keep their jobs and a dull axe would fatigue the user very fast.

.... and neither of us bled this weekend while inspecting the axes... this is a good thing... now I have to find my hatchets and log cutters and sharpen them... Thanks Bill, more sharpening for me....:eek:

Bill... you are a bad influence, very bad, horrible... the camp hatchet is now sharpened properly and has no chips in the edge...

amazing what one can accomplish wit ha 10" mill bastard and a DMT after a conversation with a logger...

Oh, I also got my machete sharpened the same way...