Alot of people commenting on how much faster and easier it would have been with power tools. Some people don't have power tools and specifically search out videos like these. Also, when you get finished with a project like this it is so rewarding when done by hand. Some people just enjoy the aesthetics of doing it this way. Lastly, some people love having one arm look like Popeyes and the other arm looking like Olive-oil's!
i found a big 2.5" anchor bolt at the tesla plant going up in austin TX. im wanting to do this with it and use it as a paper weight. could not have made a better video myself.
I completely agree. If I’m doing it for someone else or doing it knowing I’m going to sell the finished product, I’d prefer to use a buffer machine. But things I plan to keep in the collection I like to do by hand I enjoy knowing I put the time and effort into it more.
@@Biggchad for sure. When I ‘restored’ my first couple of pieces I only had hand tools. Later, I acquired some power tools and did a few and it was quicker but not as satisfying.
Just a little tip, always fold your sandpaper in thirds. It keeps it from sliding around all over the place, as well as giving three surfaces to sand with as it is difficult to apply pressure at the edges of the sand paper.
I use wet sandpaper as lubricant just water. I go through grits: 180/240/320/400/600 sometimes 800 but i find for knives i always use 600 is enough....there will be scratches anyway. I never go higher because i dont like mirrow polish....i think mirrow polish finish is for posers.....;)
Hardening (heating to red hot and quenching in oil) makes the Blade hard, too hard it will be brittle and can break. Sorry english is not my fist language i may used the wrong word i meant tempering. With tempering you heat the blade again but slower and not as hot as when quenching. So with tempering you get some "flexibility / softness " back so the blade can be used, it is than hard enough to hold an edge, but not too hard so it would chip. Annealing is making it soft again by heating to red hot, and letting it slowly aircool.
Thats impressive i repair and restore axes for friends and family and ine guy asked me if i could do a mirror finish. Knowing i do everything by hand i just loved to see this video.
This is absolute madness. Ever since I polished my first knife I wanted to do it on an axe head too , but knowing how much work it will take I never did. Thanks for sharing it with us. I would love to see the shine after a buffing wheel. Only then all this work with the sandpaper will pay of.
it really is quite time-consuming when you do it all by hand. whenever I'm watching TV at 10 to sit and sand one, it takes a lot of the bore out of it LOL.
You wore me out on this. You can make the handle with power tools. It'll take me a week to get over the Axe polish. Thanks very much for your time and effort.
Wow, thanks man. For enduring all this although havin power tools available. And all the expertise. It helps in getting an intuition without having to go all the way yourselves which I think most of us are here for. Keep it up!
Great job on the video. I purchased a tanto knife blank and want to polish it up. I dont have much time for hand polishing without power tools but this video gave me some inspiration. Thank you.
I was looking for instruction on polishing a cast metal part. This video was instructive on technique. I can apply this information to my task. I have some sanding to do!
Now that is beautiful!- Great job- I restore antique Military swords , bayonets etc. and know exactly how long it takes to do what you have done on this axe head. I just finished restoring a 1907 British Sword Bayonet and I'm tired. It's amazing how sore you get polishing metal by hand. When I restore I'm not in love with patina - I love the mirror finish look. Anyway great video
Very nice work. I'm going to do the same with an antique sword. Maybe not as mirror finished as yours but it will shine again. Thanks for the lesson. Cheers from Montreal.
Trick from a guy who restored a couple of medieval armor replicas: Let your 600 and 1000/2000 grit sandpaper clog up some as you work and get mirror finish in less time with the same car metal polish and no more than 2000 grit. Just keep sanding when your 600+ seems clogged up and see how it goes from there...
@@marcn8750 As it gets clogged up, it becomes smoother and the grit seems finer, as if it was a higher grit sandpaper, but broken in. If you go for a new sheet of higher grit paper from there, you'll have to break that one in while making the surface dull again.
@@Flashahol interesting. I’ve always wondered why my older used sandpaper seems to be more gentle. So it’s basically less aggressive snd will give a shine faster IF the surface cuts are “ready” for it. The slag on the used paper is basically steel dust mixed with the lubricant. The abrasive on the paper is either worn away or covered by this slag. Correct?
@@phantomcreamer It's better that he is in his shop and being useful somehow than to be one of those child "men" who play video games all day and are being totally useless around the house with zero practical skill- or/and knowledge - or even worse, one of those men that are being unfaithful or use drugs and what not. A handy man will at least be able to build things around- and inside the house. A man is not made to sit around his wife all day and braid her hair so to speak. It's a big misconception about how a relationship should be like - that a man and a woman need to have everything in common in order for a relationship to work - and one of the reason why many fall apart today. It's all lies pushed by dumb feminists and beta males. Marriages lasted much longer when men and women married without having anything in common, when each knew their place. A man is a man and should do man things, a woman is a woman and should do woman things, a plant is a plant and should do plant things.
Nice job. In my experience, normal cloth towels and paper towels are abrasive to mirror polished surfaces. I think that's why you had scratches in the end. Try to buff off with clean microfiber with gentle pressure if you can and see the difference.
He needed to buff with Tripoli after sanding and before polishing. It removes the fine scratches that sanding doesn’t get unless you go to 15 or 20k grit. I do this at my job.
@@lydiaajohnson do you have a good outlet for higher grit paper? I usually only find stuff that goes up to 7 K maximum, I've never found anything higher than that except for a few on Amazon that seem like crap quality.
That's neat. But the fact that you can do that with a buffing wheel in about an hour makes it seem silly. Then again I just spent 20 minutes watching someone polish an axe...
I am a man with a lot of patients but you put me to shame lol... Your efforts are worth it in the end. That's a beautiful polish. I have a double bit axe I want to fix up. Maybe I will try this. Thanks again for sharing your video with us.
I feel your pain... I restore and sell norlund axes on ebay with exotic handles. Most polished.. I do use a flapwheel for primary grind, but i hand sand the rest. 60(flap) 120, 180, 220 320 400 600 1000 1500 2000 then black then white compound on a wheel. It takes me about 4 hrs start to finish on a polish.
You're the first guy that i see on youtube that really cares for a perfect final product. Great job on that axe! Please continue with your amazing work.
I agree with the process, that is, up until the polishing. the mag polish is for magnesium, not steel. if you change to a German metal polish like Semichome, as well as, keeping your polish stokes straight and not going around in circles, it will produce a clearer reflection. The thing to also take note of is for people trying to do this, make sure you remove "ALL" the scratches caused by the previous sandpaper. If not, you will get a distorted reflection (kind of like a carnival mirror). If you would like to keep the polish, you will need to seal with a metal lacquer to prevent it from oxidizing. However, for me personally, I would have used machines, it's just a little faster.
Agreed. Though, I wouldn't bother to polish the whole axe head in the first place, just the primary bevel with the cutting edge. The remainder would be fine with a 600 grid finish. But I guess the video still fits its intended purpose, except for the use of an unsuitable polishing compound.
It sounds light the paste and/or cotton wheel could be too coarse, or you are applying too much pressure when applying it to the buffing wheel. Make sure your buffing wheel is clean and you are using a very small amount of your paste and let the bracelet bearly touch the wheel.
If you look at the video though, the container says "for polishing all metal" right on the front of it. I think he got the intended result and the product seemed to work just fine!
I am polishing an axe head by hand as well, this gave me a great guide, as I have never done so before. Please make a handle, I havent done that either. Very instructive and helpful video, Thank you! I am also Canadian!
Well it seems that is the way to go, when guys use the grinders and power sanders you can really see waves, high/low spots in the metal that ax turned out perfect, looking forward to you making the handle.
Glad I found this video. I want to polish my hatchet, but I don't have any power tools. Actually, I'd prefer to do something like this by hand, it feels more satisfying.
first off ....I`d like to tell you that you have about 1000 times the patience that I have Gilbert and that a big compliment because ask my daughter....I don`t give too many compliments....I love to see the axe handle with now power tools because....some time I want to make one with a sample J.P father gave me that come from his father which makes it over 100 years old and do it out of ironwood....when I come up I will bring you a piece of Ironwood if you want one....a friend of mine brought me a few big pieces.....CHEERS
I've been using this (and other videos) as a reference for trying to clean up the finish on a firearm from 1891 (don't worry, it's not an heirloom or rare/expensive, it's basically just a project) I'm in an apartment and besides the occasional dremel there's not much I can do besides hand work, it's some good exercise after a while I'll give it that lol
I did this with a Wade & Butcher 1830 (guestimate) hatchet, starting with 60 grit, thru to 2000 grit (the best I had available) ... then using cymbal polish nicked from my mad-drummer father. I could have pulled out a power tool or two, but was more interested in seeing what could be done with sandpaper and compounds. Mine has many pits and blemishes, but the shiny parts are awfully shiny ... even though the hatchet is basically blunt. I haven't tried to sharpen it yet. Great video. I lived the experience myself ... just not as meticulous or fastidious. Cheers $0.02
Nice work, congrats! It is always nice to see this kind of art, if we could say so. No power tools, but a lot of time invested. Unfortunately I don't have so much time to waste for that, for me an axe is just a tool, it only needs to be sharp to get the job done, and that's it. No bling, as the bling is hard to be maintained on a working tool, it is time consuming. Nice to see it finished though.
For the heavy rust I just soak in white vinegar for about a day or two. Saves energy and time does all the work. Same with baking soda and water, good for touch ups on kitchen knives after use to halt corrosion and rust also very light abrasive.
That's great, I doubt when new it looked half as good. Only the ones in video games look better, so use the wheel to complete the task. The point is taken, you can only go so far by hand. The scratches gives the personal touch, a piece of human soul.
