Ausbrooks
KNIFE MAKER
This was sent to me for restore so thought would do a WIP as I've done one before and process is pretty much same for me- in fact my very first post to KD was this same hatchet 5 years ago, and can almost lay over the pictures. You can buy a new one of these for $35 but to my benefit, they get attached to their cutting tools.
Here is "as received", plenty of rust and leather handle dried and rotted beyond repair.
I sandblasted it mainly to get the handle stripped clean, as the rest of the rust will be ground off.
Use the heaviest leather have on hand and cut into 1 X 2" pieces- I am using sole leather here. I have the head and shank ground clean in this picture. Use large wheels on head and 1" wheel to get in shank-to-head radius areas. I take it to a 400 grit finish on shank and 320 on head.
To generate the oblong holes in each leather piece, I drill 3 holes first, then connect them using an end mill in a drill press as shown here.
Fit all the leather and spacers onto handle as shown. It is necessary to taper the face of each leather peice on a flat platten so that they will stack tightly on the curved handle. This usually takes 2 or 3 fitting cycles to get perfect. The front spacer was missing so added a buffalo spacer with double white fiber spacers on either side of it.
To assemble, coat each piece of leather in a good quality slow cure epoxy and use a bar clamp to hold pressure. The small wooden block at top of stack has a pocket to allow stem of shank to poke through leather during clamping.
Here is restored hatchet. The leather was ground using 8" wheel and 80 grit belt, then taken down to 320 on slack belts. It was stained with 'saddle tan' stain and given tru-oil until it didn't take any more, then trag rubbed. The bare steel was shot with a good quality clear coat to control rust.
Here is belt sheath made for it. There is a belt loop in place for actual carrying if needed as well. All joints glued, riveted, and stitched for hard use.
Another enjoyable project complete!
Here is "as received", plenty of rust and leather handle dried and rotted beyond repair.
I sandblasted it mainly to get the handle stripped clean, as the rest of the rust will be ground off.
Use the heaviest leather have on hand and cut into 1 X 2" pieces- I am using sole leather here. I have the head and shank ground clean in this picture. Use large wheels on head and 1" wheel to get in shank-to-head radius areas. I take it to a 400 grit finish on shank and 320 on head.
To generate the oblong holes in each leather piece, I drill 3 holes first, then connect them using an end mill in a drill press as shown here.
Fit all the leather and spacers onto handle as shown. It is necessary to taper the face of each leather peice on a flat platten so that they will stack tightly on the curved handle. This usually takes 2 or 3 fitting cycles to get perfect. The front spacer was missing so added a buffalo spacer with double white fiber spacers on either side of it.
To assemble, coat each piece of leather in a good quality slow cure epoxy and use a bar clamp to hold pressure. The small wooden block at top of stack has a pocket to allow stem of shank to poke through leather during clamping.
Here is restored hatchet. The leather was ground using 8" wheel and 80 grit belt, then taken down to 320 on slack belts. It was stained with 'saddle tan' stain and given tru-oil until it didn't take any more, then trag rubbed. The bare steel was shot with a good quality clear coat to control rust.
Here is belt sheath made for it. There is a belt loop in place for actual carrying if needed as well. All joints glued, riveted, and stitched for hard use.
Another enjoyable project complete!
Last edited:
