Please forgive me cross posting like this.
 

Well, I got a present a couple days ago. The kid had found it in his yard.
  He is a plain lucky kid, I tell you.
  He found one of the best antique bottles I own on the porch of a house he rented. Now this, from the next house he rented.

   I decided to try something here. A picture I can put in, and another I can attach and if this works right, you can crawl around inside.
The reason I did this is,
Well 2 days ago this was under-the-barn fresh.  It was solid crunchy 50 years of rust.
  No handles, and the guard was broken off.
Welding and grinding took their toll. And in the process of fitting the handles (purpleheart wood, the kind the Atlantic City pier is made out of, btw)  I had to take it to here.
The original crust had to be skuffed off.
Besides brand new handles on a relic would look like lipstick on a pig.
So here I am.
I can smooth over and blue the frame leaving its shallow pitts intact.
This would be the best preservation of the logos.
Then skuff part of the blue back off and let it rust brown up in time. Distress the handle some.

  Or I could make it into piece of candy and mirror polish the whole thing.
Maybe some checkering on the handles. Or carving.

BTW This little ax is a serious ax.  Its tiny, but exceedingly solid.  Webster Marbles (the inventor / maker) was an outdoor genius. This tiny thing, with a good edge and determination, can do some heavy work, for its size.  The guard swings completely away and disappears into the handle.
  It has a hefty spring that works in both positions too. It "walks and talks" as they say in knife collecting. The guard will snap into either position as soon as you go past the middle rest, if you let go.
   It will not accidentally disengage either position, either.


Click on the attachment to crown all over it like an ant heeheheheh
   yours Scott

leaving some patina just adds to the character, scott!

Is that what they call a marbles safety axe??

Nicely done.

Just laying in the yard, wow.  But no before pic?  The head looks decently hefty, but I still consider hatchets just a little step above a toy, may as well go the whole polish. 

ScottG I tried the attachment and just got numbers.  But I just noticed your website and clicked on it Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!! NO MIND BLOWING!!!!!!!!!!  It will take several days to assimilate.  Now as to the hand ax, I like the bluing idea.

> Webster Marbles (the inventor / maker)

The inventor, Webster Marbles of Gladstone Michigan, in 1898! (Pat: 604624)

That thing is awesome :)

I like the bluing idea too.  Working with living history programs, having tools that looked like they had just come off the rack at Home Depot just wasn't right.  A little bluing made them look right until they could develop a patina all by themselves from working.

I can't pass up an ax or hatchet.  My largest is a Pennsylvania pattern broad ax, and my smallest is a small boy's toy/tool made by the Hmong.  It teaches them beginner's lessons, but it is also the tool of choice for in-letting the wood sheathes they make for their knives.  I've managed to get a long-hunter's hatchet (probably about 1820) and a Pennsylvania pattern hatchet just about as small, 8 inch handles, both.   I use them all when I can.

That Marbles is quite a little piece, and lucky to have found its way to you, Scott.

Quote from: Branson on November 27, 2011, 12:55:36 PM
Working with living history programs, having tools that looked like they had just come off the rack at Home Depot just wasn't right.

If Home Despot was the best I could do, no way I would even start.
Tiffany, at the original downtown location, is the look I would shoot for.

   But I'll probably just let it be old instead.  heeheh
  yours Scott

I got a couple more pix with the guard at the 1/2 stop and another fully open.
The third is showing that the handles aren't flat. I don't do flat.
  yours Scott 

Quote from: Branson on November 27, 2011, 12:55:36 PM
I like the bluing idea too.  Working with living history programs, having tools that looked like they had just come off the rack at Home Depot just wasn't right.  A little bluing made them look right until they could develop a patina all by themselves from working.

I can't pass up an ax or hatchet.  My largest is a Pennsylvania pattern broad ax, and my smallest is a small boy's toy/tool made by the Hmong.  It teaches them beginner's lessons, but it is also the tool of choice for in-letting the wood sheathes they make for their knives.  I've managed to get a long-hunter's hatchet (probably about 1820) and a Pennsylvania pattern hatchet just about as small, 8 inch handles, both.   I use them all when I can.

That Marbles is quite a little piece, and lucky to have found its way to you, Scott.

I was told about a hand forged broad hatchet.  When I looked it had been abused so bad that the eye was cracked and someone, not knowing that it was a broad hatchet, had bent the blade to make it look like a regular hatchet.  GRRRRRR I passed

Here is my little ax now.
yours Scott

Simply gorgeous.  Kudos!

Great job once again. Here is another one crying Help Me Please.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/150716533699?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Scott,
Did you heat blue it or chemical blue?

John

Quote from: Lewill2 on December 09, 2011, 08:02:10 AM
Great job once again. Here is another one crying Help Me Please.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/150716533699?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Thanks Guys

   Holy Mackerel
That one is mint compared to what I started with!

Oh and John its just cold chemical blued. Technically dark gray.
   yours Scott

That's just beautiful ScottG.  I wish you lived less than 2000 miles away so I could sit at your knee and soak up skills.