Sharpening service schedule change annoucement: Topsham, one time only

Vern Burke, SwiftWater Edge Tool Works

Skowhegan, Maine

This week, I’ll be postponing my usual weekly sharpening stop in Topsham, ME (serving Topsham, Brunswick, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Richmond, Gardner, Augusta, and surrounding areas) from Tuesday 11/1 to Wednesday 11/2. This is a one time only change and the schedule will revert to normal next week.

I’m making this schedule change to allow me to pick up the new mobile sharpening rig tomorrow. This equipment upgrade will allow me to continue to sharpen and provide restored vintage tools in bad weather and right through the winter, as well as speed up setup and allow me to expand out to more regular sharpening stops across central, southern, and coastal Maine!

Sharpening shop tech: 5 axe mistakes.

Vern Burke, SwiftWater Edge Tool Works

Skowhegan, Maine

I’ve been doing a lot of vintage axe restorations and customer axe work the past few weeks, so I thought I’d take a minute and list out the top 5 axe mistakes. Some of these are merely annoying, most are outright dangerous, so be sure to avoid these!

1. Working with an axe with a loose head.

This should be a common sense one, but I get a lot of customer axes in here to sharpen with the heads loose. Flying sharp axe heads are BAD!

Forget trying to shim the handle or add extra wedges. If the handle is loose, it needs to have the old wedge removed, the head reseated, and a new wedge put in.

2. Crazy wedging.

The correct fore and aft wedge for an axe handle is wood, with a small metal wedge at an angle side to side ONLY if the eye end of the handle isn’t as long as the eye.

Back in the day, there were a number of steel main wedge designs, none of which were really great. Never attempt to use modern narrow steel wedges or anything not intended to be a wedge in a handle (I just replaced one that was wedged with square cut horseshoe nails!).

3. Wrong handle size (eye end).

The most important dimension for a properly fit axe handle is the fore and aft length of the eye. If the axe handle eye end is significantly shorter than the length of the eye, attempting to wedge it tight will probably end up splitting the handle. Do NOT ever attempt to shim a too small handle into a too large eye!

4. Wrong handle size (length).

Back in the day, it wasn’t uncommon to see heavy axe heads paired with short handles for “kindling axes”. Putting too heavy a head on too short a handle (such as a 4 lb poll axe head on a 28″ handle instead of the proper 36″ handle) makes the axe hard to control, especially since the tendency is to want to use the shorter handle one handed. Remember, if you have problems controlling the axe, a missed swing with a too short handle means that sharp bit is coming right back at your leg or foot.

5. Abusing the poll.

The poll (back side) of a poll axe is fairly soft steel and should NEVER be struck against anything metal. Abusing the poll results in mushrooming of the poll and possibly even distorting the eye and ruining the head.

If you need to pound splitting wedges, buy a splitting maul or sledgehammer for that purpose!

Be kind to your axe and it will treat you right!

Vintage tools, treasures from the rust: Kelly Rockaway Axe

Vern Burke, SwiftWater Edge Tool Works

Skowhegan, Maine

I’ve played the “antique picker” from time to time, looking for old tools in “barn fresh” condition to restore for my inventory. Lately, I seem to have acquired my own army of pickers who drop by my spot in Topsham, Maine (on Tuesdays) or my table at the Arundel Flea Market (on Fridays) with all sorts of strange and interesting goodies, thoroughly rusty and cobwebby, of course . You just never know what’s going to show up.

This week’s prize was a pre-1930 Kelly “Rockaway pattern” poll axe. If anything screams “antique axe” to me, it’s the shape of this head!.

The handle of this axe was a great dark mellow brown finish, unfortunately, whoever installed it did an absolute butcher job of getting the rounded lugs cut in, not to mention wedging it with square cut horseshoe nails. YEEK! I’ll rehandle this axe with a new hickory handle in the same length as the old one and treated with an old fashioned linseed oil finish.

The head cleaned up very nicely leaving a great looking clean burnished finish. I’ll polish the bit back to the original polish line, give it a good sharpening, and it should make a great classic axe!

Mobile sharpening services schedule change, Arundel Flea Market

Vern Burke, SwiftWater Edge Tool Works

Skowhegan,ME

Announcement

Due to the nasty bad weather in progress here and predictions that it’s going to get worse during the day tomorrow (Friday, October 14), I’m going to cancel my normal Friday appearance at the Arundel Flea Market with sharpening services and restored vintage tools.

In place of this cancellation, I will be at the Arundel Flea Market on Sunday, October 16, with sharpening services and vintage tools (the weather report is clear and sunny!). This is a one time schedule change only, after this week, I’ll be back to normal on Fridays.

Sharpening shop questions and answers: chipbreakers, balancing saw blades, and more!

Vern Burke, SwiftWater Edge Tool Works
Skowhegan, Maine

Wow, the questions have been coming in fast and furious! Time for another question and answer session already!

1. (question about balancing an 8 tooth grass cutting blade)

The 8 tooth circular blade for weed whackers is referred to as a knife edge or grass saw blade. Generally speaking, since this blade is such a small diameter, as long as reasonable care is taken in sharpening, it’s difficult to get one of these out of balance enough to produce objectionable vibrations.

If one of these does vibrate that bad and the problem can’t be spotted by eye, I’d junk the blade, they aren’t expensive enough to warrant a lot of effort trying to balance.

2. (question about sharpening chip breakers)

The chip breaker, used on Bailey patent hand planes and some wooden body planes, serves to stiffen the cutting iron and to make the shaving from the iron curl. The leading edge of the chip breaker sits flat against the iron, so it doesn’t get “sharpened” persay. If the leading edge doesn’t sit flat against the iron, it should be reground to, otherwise shavings will stick under it.

3. (question about removing the arbor nut on a cordwood saw)

Removing the arbor nut from a cordwood saw can be a major pain but it has to be done to get a proper sharpening job on the blade. The usual process of heat, penetrating oil, and large wrench (I use 3/4″ drive sockets) is pretty much it. Remember to be VERY careful with the heat to avoid warping the blade and check to make sure the arbor nut is a right hand or left hand thread!

SwiftWater Edge Tool Works
Visit our web site or give us a call to arrange a pick up or on site sharpening!
Visit us on Fridays at the Arundel Flea Market, Rt 1, Arundel ME for on the spot sharpening and refurbished tool sales!

Questions and answers from the saw shop: replacement plane irons, antique saws, and more!

Vern Burke, SwiftWater Edge Tool Works

Skowhegan,ME

It’s time again to gather up and answer some of the questions I’ve been seeing come through from search engine hits on both the blog and the sharpening service web site. Here we go!

1. (question about finding a replacement iron and chip breaker for a Fulton plane)

In general, most of the bench planes derived from Leonard Bailey’s patents are clones (produced are the patents expired) of the original Stanley planes and will happily use Stanley irons and chip breakers (still being produced new by Stanley and third parties, or look for vintage carbon steel irons for the best edge) and follow the Stanley sizing. Match the width of the replacement iron to the plane and you’re good to go!

2. (question about whether a crosscut saw is an antique)

There are a couple of simple ways to visually separate classic saws from modern junk. The presence of a nib on the back of a handsaw blade near the toe dates to pre-1900. Saws that are too shiny or refuse to rust are a clue (lots of chrome, basically stainless steel) to ones to avoid. The old high carbon steel blades are generally dull gray and, even when fairly polished, will not mirror up like “chromey” ones. Finally, saws with light blonde finishes on the handles are a red flag.

3. (question about replacement saw handles)

Saw makers varied handle shapes and mountings radically between models of saws and even between years in the same model of saw. I have the same model of Disston saw in 3 different generations with 3, 4, and 5 handle screws. This makes it unlikely to find a bolt on handle replacement for a saw.

SwiftWater Edge Tool Works provides mobile sharpening services across Maine and mail in services around the world for handsaws, carbide blades, planer knives, hand planes, chain saws, knives, scissors, hair clippers, router bits, and almost any blade!

Vintage tools: picking the right axe.

Vern Burke, SwiftWater Edge Tool Works
Skowhegan, Maine

After my post on vintage tools for survival yesterday, I thought I’d talk a bit about how to choose the proper axe. Working with an axe that’s too light, too heavy, or the wrong type can be dangerous as well as inefficient.

1. Types

Hatchet- The hatchet is the lightest and smallest of the axes with a single bit and has a one hand only handle. Suitable for small limbs, saplings, splitting fine kindling wood.

Hand axe- The hand axe is a bit heavier than the hatchet with a handle that can be used either one or two handed. Suitable for a little larger kindling splitting.

Boy’s axe- The boy’s axe is a single bit axe a bit smaller than the poll axe at 2 1/2 lb head and 28″ handle. The boy’s axe is a good tradeoff between weight and all around chopping and splitting use.

Poll axe- The poll axe is the heaviest of the single bit axes with 3-4 lb heads and 28-36″ handles. The poll axe is suitable for heavy chopping and splitting of stove size firewood.

Double bit axe- The double bit axe ranges from 4-4 1/2lbs head weight and normally sports a 36″ handle. This axe is intended for felling and limbing trees.

2. Picking your axe.

Picking an axe is a combination of picking the right type for the work that needs to be done (see above) and picking the right combination of weight and handle length.

In general, pick an axe big enough to accomplish the job (heavier is better, to a point) but not too big to control. DO NOT pick an axe too heavy or with a handle too long to control safely! A sharp, out of control axe head is highly dangerous and short handles make the problem worse, since missing the target means that axe head is coming right back aimed for leg, ankle, or foot. If you weigh 98 lbs wringing wet, a 4 1/2 lb felling axe is almost certainly a bad choice .

As always, make sure that any axe has an undamaged and solidly wedged handle before using it. Never use and axe with a loose handle until the handle is reseated and correctly rewedged (don’t just drive wedges in haphazardly).

3. Things to avoid.

Avoid oddball specialty axes. Hudson’s Bay axes have wide bits but little mass behind the bit, limiting their effectiveness. Plumb “Puget Sound” pattern axes have a lot of weight but extremely narrow bits that may make them harder to control safely.

Also, avoid axes with odd blades that require special tools or stones to sharpen. The best bet is to stick with the classic poll axe or double bit axe patterns.

Stay tuned for my next post on rewedging and repairing axe handles!

SwiftWater Edge Tool Works provides mobile sharpening services across Maine and mail in services around the world for handsaws, carbide blades, planer knives, hand planes, chain saws, knives, scissors, hair clippers, router bits, and almost any blade!