That's awesome looking, good job!

I hope this will soon be mine found it while a friend was cleaning out his inlaws house

I lost where this thread was . I finished my axes up in time for Christmas, I was waiting on my buddy to finish the kydex masks while he was going through some personal shit. My brother in law got the prototype belt clip hatchet mask before we said "F all that" and went simple with them. I had to do a bit more profile work on the heads they were pretty chonky and blunt. I got them all pretty sharp but included an axe puck with each set if my Dad or BIL feel so inclined to make them sharper. With how light the heads ended up being I think they were only like 1.25-1.5# to begin with I can't remember off the top of my head now, I think it would have been a waste to go any longer than 18-19" they balance pretty well and the mask solution we came up with seems to work pretty well. I stripped the lacquer on the handles (couldn't find any unlacquered), torched them, sanded them and finished them with boiled linseed oil and kept oiling them once a week for a month until I gave them as gifts. I managed to get them all hanged and refinished in one night, the eyes were kind of all over the place size wise even though they appeared to be the same heads, some required a lot more refinement before I could get a proper fit, and then I finished them with barrel wedges just for extra insurance.

DAMN! those look amazing. awesome job.

So, about 5 or more years ago I wanted to get my son an ax for boyscouts.  Sportsman's guide had some "German military surplus ax" for cheap. 15 bucks maybe.

Picture they had. Looked rough but I figured German quality.
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Looked like shit when I got it, lots of pits, eye was misshapen,  handle loose. I got a better handle with a better foot for gripping and he used it a few times but not much.

I decided to finally shape it and clean it up. Wire brush and sanding mostly (the black coating was very tough so I left most on. Didn't like the wide blade so dremmeled off the top (I took too much off)

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Could tell the 20mm of blade end was hardened or welded on. Very hard, which was nice. Used a grinder to make it like a viking ax (bearded?). Did more sanding, grinding,  and finally cold blue and aluma Hyde paint.

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At the end, when searching for more info on the ax I found this guy's site and realized it's a German commie ax. Now I kind of wish I bought two and kept one as an original

https://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2017/03/east-german-military-ddr-nva-pioneer.html?m=1

To my mind, an Axe is a bigger version of a Hatchet, or vice versa, if you will.  Both are similar but designed for different tasks.  Tomahawks are "fighting" tools which "may" be useful for some other tasks.

Observations:

1) A good saw is always much "quieter" than an axe or hatchet, and possibly less effort/quicker.

2) Knowing how to re-haft one's axe/hatchet is an extremely useful skill.  Handles break.  Having a "semi-fitted" spare handle, or knowing how to make a field-expedient handle can make a huge difference.

Many YouTube vids on how to fit a wooden handle to an axe/hatchet.  It's simple enough to do once one knows how to do it.

I probably use them too interchagably (Axe and Hatchet).

1 - Agree. I have a bow saw I keep in my vehicle, but it gets stuck a lot sawing wood, maybe the blade is too twisted or something?  It's also too big to backback like an Ax - anyone ever use one of those folding versions?
2 - Very true. Also shovels - I have a very old True Temper (50 years?) and had to replace the handle which required some fitting

This is the saw I have.  There is a 15, 21 and 24 inch size.  Get the Sidney blade as well.  
You won't be disappointed.

Check out their ADK26 axe as well.  Neat concept but I already have enough axes, for now......

I have lots of axes, splitting mauls, hatchets, as well as splitting wedges.

IMHO, all of them become dull and require re-sharpening for best utility.

Learn how to re-sharpen your implements.

It's not hard, but it does require fairly inexpensive tools to do so, as well as some skill/labor.

That looks like a great folding saw. Will have to grab one. Thanks for the recommendation. Now that two piece handle on the axe? Not sure I believe that works.

For sure.

Many years ago I bought a Lansky puck for the axes as it was recommended highly, and it's truly been worth the few bucks I paid for it, works perfectly at home or in the woods for anything but super bad chips or re-profiling an old axe head.

Some time ago I bought an inexpensive 1"x30" belt sander (with a disk sander included) from Harbor Freight.  With some better belts, and an accessory "angle guide" that clips on, it has been a huge help in "re-profiling" some tools, as a belt sander is well-designed for such work.  I already have a number of fairly "high-end" sharpeners, but the belt sander saves a lot of time and gives a great place for final sharpening.

Go to YouTube, and search "1x30 belt sanders" or some such and see what you think.  The utility of the little belt sander is, for me, at least, right up there with bench grinder/wire wheel and drill press.  YMMV.

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