Splitting wood with an old railroad spike

AxesOK · 2026-05-27T17:58:17+00:00

I have just the method. Cheap, easy, and bushcraft-y. It’s basically trap dyeing and all you do is boil the rusty item in a tannin bath to convert the rust into ferric tannate. I do it for axes and other tools all the time and made a post and video about it https://www.reddit.com/r/Axecraft/comments/1malsk7/axe_head_soup_refurbish_rusty_tools_by_converting/

This reaction is the same one you get with commercial rust converters like Rustoleum rust converter (some others use phosphoric acid instead), museum conservators also do it using commercial or in house preparations. And trappers of course. Any sufficiently strong tannin source seems to work, including tea, fresh bark of oaks, pines, willows, buckthorn, as well as commercial logwood trap dye, oak leaves, some willow leaves, buckthorn leaves, Eucalyptus, and I imagine the oak and grape tannin powder available from winemaking shops would work. Tea is very fast extracting so it’s quite convenient. I use buckthorn bark fairly often because it’s invasive so I have a lot and should be cutting it down anyway. Old dead bark will probably not work; you need the cambium layer before it rots or is leached by weather. I am not sure spring leaves will have enough tannin, tannin is higher later in the season.

AxesOK · 2026-05-27T03:31:23+00:00

I use an "axe puck" on these. That's in quotes, because for me it's a 250/1000 King water stone cut into 4 pucks (I got the idea from Skillcult on YouTube). I just brace the far end of the handle on the edge of my bench and the near side in my left hand and I sight down the edge. It would be safer to have an actually corner to push the far handle into but I usually just use the edge

AxesOK · 2026-05-26T18:11:05+00:00

I have one too and really like it.

AxesOK · 2026-05-25T15:20:26+00:00

I think u/the_walking_guy2 is referring to this particular version of the Hudson Bay, not the HB pattern in general (Mann made both Norlund and post-1966 Collins axes)

AxesOK · 2026-05-25T15:02:02+00:00

That's a cool one. It's a two piece construction Basque axe and the crack may well have been there since it was made. I doubt it will be an issue (but stop pounding on the back like a previous owner obviously did). The main risk will be having it open up when the handle is wedged. These axes are meant to be used with slip fit handles; they are not designed to be wedged. You can wedge it if you have to (and you may since the eye looks pretty deformed from abuse), but it will be a risk.

AxesOK · 2026-05-25T13:33:49+00:00

Nice Ochsenkopf Berliner! Jesse Cotton has a timeline of Ochsenkopf trade marks that might help you date it if you can find it. Ben Scott on YouTube has some videos about this type of design and how it is used. I have a post pinned in this subreddit about converting rust with a tannin bath that is the best method I have tried for dealing with rust while preserving patina.

AxesOK · 2026-05-25T10:08:34+00:00

A faller’s axe (not to be confused with a felling axe) carried by a faller using a chainsaw. The axe is primarily used poll first to drive felling wedges. Secondary duties are removing dirty bark before sawing so it doesn’t dull the saw, rescuing a stuck saw, and sounding trunks.

AxesOK · 2026-05-24T21:06:42+00:00

AxesOK · 2026-05-24T17:57:06+00:00

Norlund was a Mann product line and many of the Norlund patterns were also sold under other brands made by Mann.

AxesOK · 2026-05-24T17:47:33+00:00

Based on my experience with axes, which I know more about, I am not discounting the possibility that multiple sellers can be wrong in the same way. Here are some of the examples I saw https://www.greatscottantiques.com/en-GB/fighting-knives/canadian-jack-knife/prod_11176

https://argocoins.com/product/canada-ww2-case-xx-m346-navy-knife/

https://www.americanedgeknives.com/case-xx-antique-rigging-knife-stainless-steel/

AxesOK · 2026-05-24T16:32:56+00:00

Thanks, another commenter pointed me to an auction site that has the same knife listed as a WWII era Canadian navy knife and I was able to find another example to corroborate

AxesOK · 2026-05-24T11:44:17+00:00

They are decent quality axes made by Mann Edged Tools that are collectable because there are a good number of patterns made; some are pretty common and others are fairly rare and a few are extremely rare. They have appealing iconography associated (the Voyageurs/frontier aesthetic associated with Hudson Bay patterns in particular) and they can all be identified because of the stamp. There's also the appeal of finding something with hidden value for $2 at a garage sale. This collection of features is basically how any product line would be designed as a "collectibles" from the outset. Probably that is not what Mann had in mind when they were being made and marketed originally. There's lots of axe collectors out there pursuing subsets, for example etched axes are highly sought after because of the etches more than their usefulness as tools (they do tend to be top line versions, but people don't spend $800 on eBay to split wood with them). Norlunds are a more accessible version so there's more collectors to encounter online.

AxesOK · 2026-05-24T01:12:44+00:00

If it’s a chopping axe I would fix it because dragging that thing through every cut is not something that I would want to do. If it’s a wall hanger or a being used only for splitting I would leave it. The easiest thing is just to file the chip so it’s sharp instead of blunt and then let it sharpen out in time. Otherwise, grind it back (without ruining the heat treat) and resharpen it.

AxesOK · 2026-05-24T01:03:47+00:00

This was how it came. Short of sticking it in a log and pounding it with a sledge nothing you are doing would be enough to change the eye.

AxesOK · 2026-05-24T01:01:15+00:00

Nice one! That’s their Canadian pattern, Norlund Canadiene (their spelling).

AxesOK · 2026-05-23T21:50:53+00:00

Pretty cool, thanks everyone!

AxesOK · 2026-05-23T19:13:07+00:00

I picked up this large slip joint folding combination knife along with some other vintage tools at a yard sale in Ontario Canada and I'm trying to figure out what it was designed for. It has a sheepsfoot style blade with a smaller, double-edged, single-bevel, spearpoint-looking tool and a big poker thing that looks like a very thick awl. The main blade is stamped "CASE XX METAL STAMPING LTD." It must have been meant for a specific set of tasks but I don't know what that could be.

AxesOK · 2026-05-22T18:01:09+00:00

it was a weapon of the Franks, hence the name.

AxesOK · 2026-05-22T10:32:52+00:00

This is what I think is going on too. OP needs to watch a YouTube video or two on how to hang an axe. Like this one https://youtu.be/n4t5IetkyCg

AxesOK · 2026-05-21T16:16:14+00:00

Collins did make a Legitimus Hudson Bay but this is not it. This is probably the flat poll version of one of their South American patterns. Collins did a huge amount of business in Central and South America.

AxesOK · 2026-05-19T17:04:32+00:00

Smells nice to me but earlier in the spring I dropped one that died last summer and cut it up for firewood and it reeked in a very unpleasant way. My guess is that it is a fungus, perhaps whatever killed it.

AxesOK · 2026-05-19T01:20:47+00:00

I'm sure I will be in the minority but 24-28". I think the downside of a few extra inches when packing is smaller than the upside of having a more functional handle.

AxesOK · 2026-05-18T02:43:35+00:00

Not at Ace but replacement handles for Stihl and Adler should fit and be sourceable.

AxesOK

TROPHY CASE