Restoring an Estwing Hatchet

[Deerslayersh]

I am restoring an Estwing Hatchet my uncle bought for my dad many years ago. My uncle passed away this year and I found the hatchet in my shed in pretty gnarly shape. I thought it’d be cool to fix it up and give it to my dad for Christmas.

The handle is made of stacked leather disks that were rotted away. It has been my biggest challenge. I had never seen a handle like this but decided to try to replicate the design. I purchased some sheets of leather on Amazon, used a punch to cut a hole for the handle tang, and slide the disks on. I compressed them every dozen disks or so by mashing them towards the top of the hatchet. I had to cut off the bottom metal cap since it was peened on.

Anyway, here’s my problem; as I got to the bottom of the handle, the leather didn’t align flush with the end of the tang. So I took a few disks off and epoxied the end piece to the tang with the thought I would either cut a wood shape or use a hard epoxy at the bottom. I plan to finish the handle with shellac or something to weatherproof it (after I sand it to shape more, obviously).

I’m second-guessing myself, so I’d like some suggestions on finishing the handle (shellac, leather wax, ???) and how to do the end of the handle. Thoughts???










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[Triple 7]

man that's pretty cool. I don't have any advice but I will be following.

[White Falcon]

Good start.

[hog_down]

Do you have the end cap?

looks like you are somewhat following how this guy did it, but he only replaced a few pieces, and you are doing the whole handle:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC0zHX5ZqlQ"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC0zHX5ZqlQ[/ame]

how does the leather work on the bench sander?

In for results, and great project, best of luck to you. I think you are on the right track.

[Deerslayersh]

Do you have the end cap?

looks like you are somewhat following how this guy did it, but he only replaced a few pieces, and you are doing the whole handle:

how does the leather work on the bench sander?

In for results, and great project, best of luck to you. I think you are on the right track.

How did I not find that video when I was looking??

I have found that widdling the leather with a pocketknife is much more effective than the sander. The sander makes a ton of dust and is pretty hard to control. For the fine-detail work that is remaining, I am planning to hand-sand and file it into shape. A sanding disc on the dremmel worked better than the belt-sander, too.

[dclifton]

I wonder if a tiger disc on a 4-1/2inch grinder would help you to take some of the bulk leather down faster.

[Hardware]

Did you glue each piece of leather as you put on handle?

[devingreer]

Very solid

[3ChordTruth]

Nice project, following to see how this ends up, good luck.

[Beardedbuck]

You'd be way ahead in the game if you got yourself a pneumatic angle grinder with a scotchbrite pad on it to smooth/grind away at the leather. I use one for shaping and cleaning various aluminum and steel items at work and it works quite well. I used it to reclaim the surface of my Estwing Axe that I bought at an auction. I just need to redo the handle part and dip it now.

Keep up the good work, it'll be interesting to see how it turns out!

Greg

[Deerslayersh]

Did you glue each piece of leather as you put on handle?

I did not. The leather is compressed tightly & is surprisingly stiff. There is zero movement.

[Deerslayersh]

You'd be way ahead in the game if you got yourself a pneumatic angle grinder with a scotchbrite pad on it to smooth/grind away at the leather. I use one for shaping and cleaning various aluminum and steel items at work and it works quite well. I used it to reclaim the surface of my Estwing Axe that I bought at an auction. I just need to redo the handle part and dip it now.

Keep up the good work, it'll be interesting to see how it turns out!

Greg

I will look into this. Thanks.

[Deerslayersh]

The plate at the end of the tang popped off when I tried to compress/wedge leather into the gap shown in the pictures above.

I ended up cutting a rectangular hole in the endplate to slide over the tang; then compressed the plate down against the leather using a big vice; and JB-welded the plate to the tang. It seems to have worked great from a practical standpoint but will need some grinding for aesthetics.

[FLASH_OUTDOORS]

This is cool. In for finished product.


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