Bushcraft Axe Making

Bushcraft axe making – Part 1 – metal working.

How to make bushcraft axes tutorial using repurposed steel. Series on bushcraft axe making on how to make a full tang high carbon steel survival axe. This axe making tutorial will take you through the steps of making two axes from start to finish. A plow disk will be used to make the axes because this metal is high carbon steel and will take the abuse and stand up to the test in the field. The plow disk I will be using for this project is 3/16″ thick and is a sod disk you can find thicker disk and they are called rock disc and are used where there are a lot of rocks in the field being plowed. The thickness of the rock disk is 1/4″ and is equal to O1 steel or 1095 as far as carbon content and is just perfect for making bushcraft axes with full tangs.
If you like the axe making video please check the like button. If you watch all four parts of the series I think you will like what you see.
This is a light weight axe that is perfect for bush crafting it’s not the only axe you will need but a good lightweight ax for hiking a long way and not being weighted down by heavy gear.
Thanks for taking your time to watch this axe making tutorial.

Bushcraft axe making – Part 2 – metal working.

How to tutorial to make your own bushcraft axes using re purposed metal and steel. Once the handles are roughed out I use a 80 grit to grind down close to my pencil mark and then determine the right and left side of the handles and do some more pre-shaping and fitting and then set the handles aside for a while. It’s time to hammer the edge onto the axe face rather than the stock removal method. Also re inspect the the axe for straightness from tang to axe head and straighten if necessary to make sure the axe is straight before heat treating.

Bushcraft axe making – Part 3 – metal working.

Heat treating steel and fitting the Micarta handles on these handmade bushcraft axes.
Before I secure the handles I need to heat treat the axe, axes I start by belt sanding both sides with an 80 grit belt on my 2″ X 72″ belt grinder to remove the crust that developed when I hammered the cutting edge on the face of the axe and straightened the tang. As you can see my 2 X 72 belt sander/grinder is a homemade affair and it works great I have been using this for so long I can’t even remember what year it was put together. Axe making tutorial. I purchased the idler and contact wheels from a knife making supply house in Florida called Sheffield Knifemakers Supply, I have not purchased anything from them in along time because I am here in north Texas and I have a supplier a little closer to home so when I order grinding and polishing supplies I can usually have the order the next day or two.

Bushcraft axe making – Part 4 – metal working.

How to Make Bushcraft Axes – Tutorial Part 4 Finishing handmade bushcraft axes How to video tutorial. Handmade bushcraft axes are designed to be worn on you belt and will not weigh you down but don’t let that fool you these axes pack a powerful punch because they are sharp and made good steel.
Axe making start to finish with Bruce Cheaney. In this video clip it is time to heat treat the bushcraft axes I start off by heating the axes up in the propane forge and when they reach the proper temperature a non magnetic state, now it is time to quench the axe in oil. I use olive oil for quenching my knives and axes you can use motor oil and special quenching oils but I prefer olive oil because it works for me.

After the axe has been quench it is time to clean the oil off of the axe as well as the fire scale this can be done with a 120 and 320 grit sanding belt on the belt sander/grinder. Now it is time to temper the full tang axe I do this by preheating my kitchen stove to 450 degrees and putting the knives and axes in for one hour at 450 and then turn the stove off and let the blades and axes cool down slowly. The end result is what expected a very sharp piece of steel that holds a good edge under normal use.