Findley's hatchets

From the Findley are two great hatchets: one is a Wards, the other is a Hackett Diamond. both are brilliant hatchets from his family's past. it has been great fun working on these Americans. both of these are to be in the hands of the next generation, gifts to outdoorsmen: used and relied on.

both are and will be treated differently. 

the Wards here is to be brought back to an earlier age where the new bearer (a nephew) will make his great grandfather's hatchet age as he did. this is the original patina. the tool itself was well taken care of.

testing the temper, this is a very functional tool.

with a bit of work the initial polish shows good shine and the cutting edge angle was tightened up.

a sharper angle will give this tool better cut and more function. 

the Hackett is of an older era (older that the Wards) and was one of those real treats to work with. after all it was in the hands of great great grandfather. from the patina to the old school modifications, this tool read to me like a real sense of reality (a "give it a fix so i can get back to work" feel). with this in mind, we wanted to do less shine and more leave it as it is look. 

had to remove the older handle. i did save the handle and the eye hardware so Findley could use them for later. i do try at not letting anything go to waste, especially if they have some significance from the past. 

this hatchet shown NO use of modern grinders, so i was not worried about the temper. in fact, his hand filing was so obvious i could see a slight curve in the file marks. just like words on a page i could actually read the movements of his great grands sharpening technique, right down to the direction his hand favored when applying pressure to the file. good book.

this hatchet was about leaving a bit of the past; therefore some of the patina. there was some rust, so oil and some hand rubbing reduced its impact. for a bit of show, the hatchet's steel was removed to show it in a more original state. this photo does not do it justice, GREAT steel and great shine.

this cutting edge was also tightened up. 

both hatchets need a final polish (mostly the Wards) and cutting edge hone. as well as re-handling( i have had to order some new Tennessee hickory handles for these) and flash.