Hey guys, found your forum browsing around for old tools. Been doin a little refinishing lately and thought I'd post some pics. I prefer "tiger wood" or "tiger maple" when I can find it. Heres a few hatchets with before and after pics,.....

1st one is stamped "Evansville Tool Works Test-D"












2nd is a Dunlap

nice work! they turned out beautiful!  seem most of my handles are just tree wood....

Holy Mackerel! That little side ax is killing me!!
Could you please send out about 200 of those curly maple handles?
Yowza!!!
  Where do you live you even found such things?
         I never saw better handles in my life!

Also your finishing regimen is spectacular. Looks like a 200 year old rifle stock!
  Care to share your secrets? Pleeeeeeeze?
     yours Scott

I was helping a friend of mine split some maple for firewood last year and ran across some with the tiger stripes.  I pitched a couple pieces out and took them back to Florida to use for something.  They're still in my garage "seasoning"...at least that is what I tell myself.  After seeing how nice it looks I may have to get busy and make something.

Very nice!!

Mike

Those look great (and you've impressed Scott)!

Great stuff!!
Welcome to Tool Talk!
Question-
Is the Tiger Maple going to be strong enough as a hammer handle with the grain going across the handle?

Thank you guys for all the comments, been browsing through the forum; lots of good info here.

Papaw, honestly I personally wouldn't trust anything but hickory for any  length of time with Ash a distant 2nd. Just my personal opinion. As far as these refinish projects go,.....it is purely for me to get some experience of working with this type of wood for some future projects I plan on doing. As long as I own this little axe it will be in my shop or man cave area sitting on a shelf. I don't think it could take a whole lot of abuse as it seemed to be really dried out when I was sanding on it. The blade appears to have never been sharpened.

Scott, thanks a million for the comments but when I tell you my "secret" I think your going to be disappointed. I live in Leitchfield, Ky and pick up this stuff wherever I can find it, mostly on-line. If I see anything with a reasonable amount of "curl" in it I get it to the house and start sanding to see what happens, lol. I don't have a wood working background and almost no experience with finishing wood until I started with this stuff. The last few years I've been carving a little bit, which led me to doing a powder horn ( had a curly maple plug in it), which led me to the desire to swing at doing a flintlock rifle sometime in my future. Thus I thought I should do some practice before doing all that work on a rifle stock and then "jacking-up" the finish.

     Anyway to answer your question I don't have any secrets and glad to tell/show you my technique.  I have spent to many hours in other forums getting great info from people not to share when someone ask me. The 2 pieces posted above were done following these video directions to the "T" without any variation-


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBtfygy4cyI



I have some more pieces I'll try and post later.,,,,,,,,,,,

Thanks again,  -Aaron C

WOW, great work you got going. I have a feeling the pictures don't do it justice. I can just imagine how great it looks in person.


Thanks for sharing and welcome to Tooltalk

Great looking wood grain & finish, looks professional.

Quote from: Papaw on October 01, 2013, 03:20:26 PM
Question-
Is the Tiger Maple going to be strong enough as a hammer handle with the grain going across the handle?

The stripes are going across the handle, but the grain of the maple is still running the length.  No problem, except it would sting your hand when you use it -- no whip at all in maple.

I'm with Scott here!  Drop-dead gorgeous!  Figure, color, nice soft glowy finish  --  some of the prettiest stuff ever!

Branson,
                thank you for the comments,........just makes me want to do more of it :-)))   I had only planned on doing a couple of pieces and then going on to shape/carve/design my own axe handle out of a solid block of curly maple  (which I have ready to go). That type of thing really appeals to me in a way that I could really put my name on it; however, at the moment I seem to be stuck in tool refinish mode lol. I have found great satisfaction in taking old cruddy stuff with a glimmer of nice grain in it then trying to save it and see how it turns out. I'm having a good time,.....all that matters.

Best Regards,  -Aaron

Hah, My real name is Aaron C. as well!!! Hheehaawwww!!

There's two of us on here!!!

Quote from: aaronc on October 03, 2013, 11:15:47 AM
Branson,
. I have found great satisfaction in taking old cruddy stuff with a glimmer of nice grain in it then trying to save it and see how it turns out. I'm having a good time,.....all that matters.

Best Regards,  -Aaron

Oh, I think you will fit in just fine. Very nice work !

Quote from: lbgradwell on October 01, 2013, 02:16:01 PM
Those look great (and you've impressed Scott)!

There you go !  High praise from Happy Camp goes a long way here.

Brian