Hi everyone
Well Jim for starters I would look very closely at the axe head to see where the axe is in its useable life is presently, As I look at your picture of the axe, and being it is presented to the readers on its beveled side it is very hard to ascertain how mch tool steel is left.
But from what I can gather it appears that there is not much tool steel left looking at it from this side. If you turn the axe head over you will have a better view of the conjoining line between the tool steel and the mild head steel.
What I would do if there is yet some tool steel left is this:
--make sure the tempering is good
--just file out the chip and make it as good a cutting edge as possible
--Go ahead and use it, eventually the chip will disappear from filing and sharpening the blade, Now you may not see this happen even if you used it every day for the rest of your life but eventually it will disappear
--I use a 10 inch head and this seems to be just right for me and the size of man that i am, now my partner who weighed in at 300+ used a 12 inch broadaxe a much heavier head to raise and use continuously
Personnaly when the axe head gets down to 7 or 8 inches in width in my books it is not a suitable width, these axes were not meant for men to use maybe boys. Most men that I knew could easily use 10 inch heads and up in width.
Some really small men were quite strong in their arms and could hold their own with larger men when it comes to strength and using their arms.
Here i am getting carried away again getting back to your question
I would take emery cloths and wd40 and keep polishing the head to get a good patina on the surface of the steel, then for storage wipe on a light coat of machine oil.
I hope this helps,
NH
