Axe Refurbishing WIP

Just a small project that I've been putting off for a long while while waiting for parts for my drill press to arrive. It's a True Temper 3lb Black Prince, but I'm not sure which pattern it was, if anyone knows please let me know. I got the axe head from a flea market in Kingston roughly a year ago for 5 bucks, but never got around to rehanging or cleaning it up. The corners were chipped and rounded, and the head a little was mushroomed, but those cleaned up nicely with a file and some hand sanding. I also re profiled the edge to allow for better chopping, as the angle put on by the previous owner was too obtuse.

Most of the heavy pitting had to be removed with a soak in rust remover, sandpaper, and a soak in some boiling citric acid solution for final rust removal and forcing a patina for rust protection.

After putting on a patina, the fun part: hafting the axe. I got the hickory handle from House Handle Company in Tennessee given that I couldn't find anything decent anywhere nearby in Toronto. It was more or less a process of constantly going back and forth with checking for how far the axe head went onto the handle and going to town on it with a file and rasp to shave it down, rinse and repeat. Needless to say, it was quite tedious and I'm glad that part's over with. 

After a final sanding it was time to drive the wedge into the head of the handle (with a small hammer very slowly to avoid cracking anything) , followed by a coat of tung oil to finish the handle. After about 4 coats I'll be making the leather sheath to go along with it. 

(the ancient Delta Milwaukee DP220 I'm working on hiding in the background) 

More to come later - stay tuned!