New aquisitions:

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd481/Weaverofduart/2012-06-05124501.jpg

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd481/Weaverofduart/2012-06-05124518.jpg

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd481/Weaverofduart/2012-06-05124539.jpg

For the Americans using a 20c piece as scale is probably not very useful. The Mortice axe is about 52mm wide.

Hello,

That's interesting to see. Holdfasts have much to offer I have found in the way of flexibility - literally and figuratively.

This one I just picked up yesterday but I'll be passing it on I'm afraid. While it has a true ringing tone, the back is flat, and there is hardly a thing amiss I am just not smitten by her.





Greetings,

Don Wagstaff

Jees the bit is really deep. Is this a difference in style or does it indicate that the ones we usually see have just been used a lot more?

I would have left the patina in place. I buy old tools because I want my work to appear as if it has not been touched by a machine tool. The experience is spoilt for me if the tools I'm using have obviously been touched by a machine.

How much will you be letting it go for?

sharpening the mortice axe is tricky. Its too heavy to flatten as you would a chisel but not wide enough to flatten as an axe

Back in the day how did people get things flat? when making a plane or a level how did they get a dead flat surface to then use to make other flat surfaces?

You see many old foot powered grinding wheels used for sharpening axes and the like but how was the back of a single bevel tool done?

Does anyone know how the Japanese flattened their sharpening stones?

You make a flat surface by taking one reasonably flat surface and using it as the basis for a plane. The surface it makes is slightly flatter, and you keep repeating this process until you have a very flat surface.

In other words, planes have become more accurate over time.

As for using a round wheel, if you use the side, there you have a flat surface.

Not sure I quite understand your first example.

As for using the side of the wheel how did they get that flat?

Hi Stuart,

It's not very old or very much used and so still maintains the form close to what it would have originally been and that is roughly the standard for this kind of broadaxe.

I also think that somebody went to far in trying to clean it up but it hasn't effected the functional state of the axe at least, no damage done that a little time won't heal, but it's one of the reasons for me personally I'm not so enthralled. And it was from the beginning something of a compromise in that the form is right, and left handed versions are not so common in any form, other than new. I hope to get 85 euros for this one at least and then keep an eye out for another.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff

Toshio Odate says when he was young he would take the stones on the sidewalk and flatten them. two stones can be rub together to produce reasonable flatness. The author of the village carpenter said that they used to sharpen across the stone instead of along the stone because their stones were not easy to flatten.
Brandon

If it was perfectly flat, it would have a tendency to dig. It's like having a chisel or slick that has a curved back. Only the modern chisels, slicks, and axes have perfectly flat backs for the whole length. It works either way, it just takes a few minutes to get the feel of each tool.