Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)
Well our daughter called me one day and said Daddy can you make me an axe? Or clean up an old one for me? She had joined several campfires / been camping and ended up helping the boys build the fires. One boy even commented how she had bested another boy in a kindling splitting competition. So I dug around the garage and found an old axe head & cleaned it up. Bought a hickory handle to re hang the axe but had to manipulate it to fit the head.
A friend of mine, who worked as a ranger in Yellowstone, shared a US Forest Service Axe maintenance manual with me. It is super interesting and full of best practices. ( if anyone is interested let me know and I can email it to you.) I followed this manual and after fitting the handle into the head, I soaked it in oil. Sanded down the handle with graduating levels of sandpaper.
Our daughter asked her name be burned into the handle & on the sheath as well.
The cow leather sheath has a piece of thick horse leather at the blade & is lined with sheepskin to keep the axe snugly in the sheath. Snaps shut.
She was pleased with the end result. Its rewarding to refurbish an old tool and bring new life in it. A bonus to meet a childs request.
Hope to look into crafting a new axe handle next time!