Bushcraft Axe Work: Sharpening

Description

Sharpening an Axe in the field with some basic tools.

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Video Transcription

hi there guys Smike from MC ki bushcraft here i've been out today doing a bit of work with a couple of the axis that I am and I've got them both in front of me here this one here is a grand first Briggs Wildlife hatchet and I've owned this one for just over four years now it served me pretty well fantastic for finer jobs and a great little hatchet to carry with you as it's such a lightweight piece of equipment second one is a fairly new addition to my kit although I've had quite a few years experience with it in other areas and it's a hultafors classic hunter with a two-pound head and it's 20 inches overall and it's a very nice axe I've put a leather collar on mine just to iron out any potential issues if I catch a bad hit and chip into the Hickory around the neck of the axe and it also gives you something to hold on to when you're stacking up close and doing a bit of carving but again a very nice axe quite a pleasure to use in this video today we're going to have a look at sharpening one of these this hultafors classic hunter is razor sharp and it arrives with a mirror finish I was quite impressed with it and even though I've been splitting with it in quite a lot of work it's still very very sharp shaving sharp as you can see it's just taking the skin off the end of my thumb that and I don't really need to do anything to it I'm reluctant to touch it because I'd rather maintain a good edge than just a sharpen it for the sake of it so this one's going to go to one side and he can be sharpened another day but the one that does need a bit of attention is this Grampus Brooks wildlife hatchet and the edge on this is really taking a bit of a beating over the years and it could do just a little bit of refinement it started to just go slightly dull you can tell it's just not kind of biting the skin anymore clipping too much off the nail and it could just do with honing just very slightly I'm just going to show you some of the equipment that I use to sharpen an axe in the field and look after one and it's very basic gear that you can pick up almost anyone I've got a leather bag here and this is just a little maintenance kit of odds and sods that I carry with me on a mat in the woods just to help me do various jobs and we've got a tin here and this contains some fat I use this for cooking for making candles out of and it's also good for maintaining tools and oiling them to stop them corroding when you're in wet conditions I've also got a pebble that I found on the beach and this is what I use as an axe puck this is quite a fine and hard Beach State and I've rubbed a bit of oil into it just this stuff here the fat and it just makes quite a nice puck for just touching up the edge on an axe but I have other tools as well I have a DC for sharpening stone which is fairly useful for sharpening knives and this can be used to sharpen an axe as well much like a puck allow us to have some stropping compound which I've talked about in other videos this is called Smurf poop or Starkey blue and you can use this with a piece of leather like a strop and it will just hone the edge on a blade back to shaving shop at the end of the day

there are only two things we're going to use out in the maintenance kit for the time being and that's the puck and the fat and that's it we'll have a look at the stropping compound at the end because if you like your axis sharp as your knife you're going to want to strop it and that'll really hone the edge and make it shaving sharp and it also makes it a lot easier to maintain as well because continued stropping is a fantastic way of just removing minimal amounts of material but getting the edge back to shaving sharp at the end of the day but there is something else you can use if you're at home or bring out with you you know perhaps you carry a field Journal my carry a field Journal I carry a pencil with it but if you carry a pen you may carry something like this this is a sharpie or a felt pen and this is kind of like a secret weapon if you're new to sharpening knives and axes and you're having trouble finding the right angle with the stone on the blade and we'll have a look at that next it's a fantastic way of just getting things right to begin with so the first thing I like to do it's just put a bit of oil or fat in my case on the stone and it'll just behave a little bit better and allow it to grind material away a bit better

then we can take the mask off take our felt tip pen and just run it down the edge of the axe like this just to create a black line and you'll see now the edge is perfectly highlighted so when the stone starts to touch for that part of the metal it's going to be removing material and you'll see it being taken away and know you're at the right angle but you want to get comfortable before you do this so I'm nice and comfortable I've got the back of the axe tucked in to my chest there and I'm holding the head of the axe like this and I can start just rubbing the stain against the actual blade on the axe and see when I get the right angle because it will start removing some of the felt it pan and you just want to rotate it up and down the blade watching your fingers if you're using a pebble like me it's obviously a puck is a bit thicker and bigger I'm not pushing particularly hard either just pushing quite firmly but not overdoing it you can see I've left that bit deliberately because it is taking away the felt tip pen so I know I've got the right angle now and if I move then there it'll start to take it away there as well and I'm just going to focus on this side for about a minute this axe Amy needs a touchup it doesn't mean regrinding or anything just need toning at the end of the day and I let it I've let it get a little bit too dull it needs to go on the stone there are a few Nick's in it as well do the ironing out there we are that's one side and this fine stain is giving it quite a nice mirror finish not completely but it's done an okay job and we're ready to focus on the other side now so obviously I've got to do the other side of the edge and I don't have a long handle to support into my chest so I'm just going to push the head of the ax against the base of my knee there this is why it's important to get comfortable you'll really just help you get things done and the face of the axe is just pressing against my wrist stuff so I focused on that side for about a minute and there's always a good sign where material starts building up on the other side of the edge which means bits of dirt and stone are being dragged down the blade like that it's obviously getting sharp because it's cutting into the stone which is kind of what you're looking for

well that's looking pretty good so I think what we'll do is we'll just take a quick look at this a bit closer it's shaving sharp just from using a stone but there's a better way of testing it and that's just by placing the axe on a nail and dragging it and it should just shave off little pieces of the nail it's almost resilient to move or resistant to moving I'm dragging it right and eventually if you put enough pressure it should just peel off a little bit of fingernail but it's definitely very sharp and that's a pretty good edge so you may want to leave your axe just like that I certainly wouldn't need it any sharper than that if it's shaving hairs then it's pretty sharp and that fine pebble just off the beach it's so fine that it's just put a slight mirror finish back on the edge and honed it so it won't need to be touched for some time and it can do find jobs quite easily but if you do want your axe to be as sharp as your knife and you're really looking for it to be incredibly sharp then you're going to want to strop it and you can strop on many things you can strop on your hands if they're coarse enough you can strop on piece of denim or cardboard or other bits of material but if you've got a nice piece of leather and some stropping compound that'll really make a difference we're strong these days we usually use my belt it's quite a nice piece of leather I have a few things on it there so I'm just going to make sure I don't drop them and lose them on my fire steel an actual holster or sheath for the axe but you can see this is just a nice big flat piece of leather and I usually just take this piece here put the stropping compound on light on a flat surface I usually make a flat surface as well out of a fallen tree but you can split a piece of wood and like you're making a half board for a bow drill set or a friction fire set you can lay the strop on and then begin working with it but I'd avoid dropping off of trees unless you really have to over long periods of time it can kind of ruin bevels and round them off a little bit too much but that's mainly on knives I'm sure an axe is a it would take an awful long time to do any real damage if we just move a few of these things out of the way and I just get the stropping compound you can see this surface is flat enough this is the inside of the leather belt so this is the outside the shiny side and I'm stropping on the coarse side just keep putting the compound on you get any bits flaking away don't worry then you can just start dragging the ax at the desired angle up the strop and the material thus dropping compound should start to darken quite quickly and go gray where it's taking away dirt and very minut amounts of metal you want to put a lot of pressure down push down nice and hard I've got a dedicated strop at home a strop book which I've shown on other videos which I would use when I'm out in the field like this I try not to carry too much replication of items and this belt can do the job I want it to provide it are you can provide the belt with a flat surface so you can see that the stropping compound is just giving it a mirror finish and that's only about 30 seconds so you don't need to do too much it really will make a difference for you we'll apply a bit more compound more use it the better it gets as in the easier it applies just focus on this side for another 30 seconds there we go so it should have a really nice mirror finish on both sides and that should be scarily sharp now and we'll give it a little test

so in this video we've had a look at maintaining the edge on an axe and really just the edge alone but all I really do if I need to maintain the edge and it isn't particularly dull is just drop it and that's pretty much it this one I let go a little bit too much and just got to a point where it needed some attention so I needed to put it on the stone and it really has helped just get that mirror finish back and maintain the edge a bit more and it's a shaving sharp again but I won't really wouldn't need it any sharp than it is now I don't normally have my axes as sharp as my knives the knives are for the fine work the axis for slightly heavier work but they can do fine and work if need be and if you know how to make an axis sharp as a knife and you carry those tools than you can but under a microscope after you've put a bladed tool like this on the stone it often looks like a saw blade it's very jagged and quite rough and by stopping it you're just eliminating those mynique pieces of metal because all the stropping is it's just sharpening another term for sharpening but on a much finer level and just refining that edge a little bit more so you're just getting rid of all those jagged pieces and taking it to a much smoother edge and when you do that it has better edge retention it's also easier to get it back to the way you want it to be if you let it go a bit too far it never goes too far wrong if you see my meaning so I hope this videos helped out and also if you're new to sharpening axes remember just use a felt tip pen and a sharpie and it really will help you find that angle a lot quicker but if you're interested any of the gear that I use any other products that you've seen in this video there are links in the description below as well as social media links so thanks again for watching guys hopefully I'll see you in another one very soon take care