Sharpening the ax with your own hands. Types and purposes of axes

For a quick and high quality firewood chop, you need to have a sharp ax. Over time, his acuity is lost. Therefore, you should regularly sharpen the ax. This procedure can be performed both with the help of a special master, who is summoned to the house, and with his own hands. Blunt device for sharpening the ax can harm the life and health of a person. First of all, during the splitting it can slide off the log and cause serious injury to the person. When working with a blunt instrument to achieve the goal, you should apply more force than with ground. Sharpening the ax should be carried out in accordance with certain rules.

General information

The ax is a special tool that is used for the processing or cutting of wooden elements. Such an adaptation consists of three elements: a sharpened blade, fixing a wedge and a handle. The last element, as a rule, is made of wood. The blade is made of various types of steel, which contains more than 0.7% carbon. This condition must be satisfied. As a metal, both special and conventional types are used. These two types of metals differ in the amount of impurities. In the first, their content is higher. In the production of metal, as a rule, add phosphorus, sulfur, oxygen, etc. Sharpening objects from ordinary metals have a short service life. Therefore, when choosing an ax, attention should be paid to the marking. The letter A means that the metal of the highest sample will last longer.

Before buying a tool, you must also determine its destination. Correctly selected ax helps to save time and effort, as well as to fulfill the task positively.

Kinds

There are such types of axes:

1. Multifunctional. Such a tool combines several functions. As a rule, it is manufactured in small sizes. As an example, you can use a small pickaxe, a nailhead or a kitchen hatchet.
2. Universal. Also it is also called carpentry. This is the most common tool that has a straight blade shape. In some cases, a rounded shape is used. The most popular model is the Fiskars ax used by carpenters and carpenters. To perform various types of work, you need to perform a certain sharpening of the tool. To this form, you can also include a kitchen hatchet, but only some of its models.
3. The ax is the cleaver. This large ax serves to split the wooden logs into pieces. The procedure is performed using a special blade, which in its form resembles a wedge. The handle of the ax-cleaver is made of a durable material of rather large dimensions. This is done to increase the force of impact.
4. Woodcutter. This is a big ax designed to cut sticks and trees of different sizes. This tool is characterized by a lot of weight. It can reach more than 2 kg. For stubbing branches and small trees, lightweight versions are used, the weight of which reaches 1.5 kg. The most popular model is the Fiskars ax.
5. Tourist. This tool is characterized by small overall dimensions and weight. It easily fits in a backpack and is used for various purposes. This is the ideal ratio of weight to fit and quality.

How to sharpen an ax

As mentioned before, it is an important building tool that is used to perform various types of work with wooden structures. After purchase it is necessary to perform its sharpening. This procedure will still have to be carried out regardless of the quality of the factory sharpening of the ax. It is better to spend some time on the sharpening of the blade, than then to suffer with a blunt instrument.

Preparatory work

Before you start sharpening the device, you need to make a template according to the following scheme:

• Take a piece of metal of small thickness;
• Select the desired angle of the ax grinding;
• Cut out the appropriate template;
• Attach the finished device to the ax blade;
• Find out the required angle of inclination to achieve the desired level of sharpening;
• Make the appropriate marks on the ax blade with a pencil.

Influencing factors

Sharpening of the ax is made after studying the following factors:

• Hardness of wood;
• Moisture of the wood;
• Type of work performed;
• Characteristics of the metal from which the blade of the ax is made.

When performing factory sharpening, only the last two factors are taken into account.

Correct angle of sharpening

Before performing this operation, it is necessary to determine the desired angle. The final sharpness of the blade is influenced by factors such as the size of the chamfer and the angle of sharpening. The latter characteristic is selected depending on the type of work expected. To cut or chop wood, use an acute angle. This indicator can be no more than 20º. Also study the characteristics of the proposed tree. For harder rocks, you should use an obtuse angle.

At home, as a rule, the blade is sharpened at an angle of 25 to 30 degrees. This is enough to perform small tasks for processing a tree (for example, to split logs or cut down small trees). For more precise work, experts recommend using a 15 or 20º angle. Sharpening with these parameters will help finish the wood. This technique is used in the manufacture of individual pieces of furniture.

Chamfer size

This characteristic affects the sharpness of the ax blade, as well as the tool life. However, changing this indicator at home is very difficult, in comparison with the choice of the angle of sharpening. To change the width of chamfers, you must attach a significant amount of physical strength and spend a lot of time. The procedure is no different from the usual sharpening.

Chamfer is the distance from the axis of the blade to the surface of the ax. In some sources, one can come across a name such as descents (although this is the same thing). Correctness of the chosen sizes can be met at known firms-manufacturers or notable masters. At the same time, such a tool does not need to be reworked, and sharpening of the blade is quick and easy.

So, to change the size of the descents, it is necessary to remove the excess amount of metal from the ax to certain sizes. To do this, use a method such as a pull-off blade. This is an ancient and common way to this day, which is to constantly refocus. In the end result, the tool is easier, which greatly simplifies the work. Most manufacturers use poor-quality metal in the manufacture of blades, so chamfering has become commonplace. For the quality of the felling to be higher, the dimensions of the sides should be slightly different.

Sharpening your own hands

In order not to resort to special workshops at all times, this procedure is carried out at home. Adaptations for sharpening the ax are bought in the store or made independently. The most common method is sharpening with an abrasive wheel. This device is fixed between two wooden beams. And the angle of their installation is determined by geometric rules. The abrasive circle is the hypotenuse, and the beams are the legs. The circle is fixed at a certain angle. The blade of the ax holds vertically and is found along the horizontal plane of the circle.

Sharpening the ax can be done in another way, but for this you need to purchase some additional tools:

• Rigid metal brush for rust removal;
• Sandpaper of different thickness;
• protective glasses;
• the cloth;
• Device for polishing metal surfaces;
• Gloves;
• Surface with a vice;
• Brush for removing metallic dust;
• file;
• Wax and engine oil;
• Grindstone ;
• Building ruler.

The work is done in the following order:

1. The blade of the ax is cleaned of rust. This is done with a special tool and a metal brush.
2. The surface is ground with a dense sandpaper in all directions, grasping each corner of the surface.
3. Repeat the previous procedure with an emery pad with softer stiffness.
4. The surface is polished using a cloth and polish.
5. The ax is fixed on the edge of the table or in the vice so that the edge of the blade hangs from the table, and the handle is snug against the surface.
6. Sharpening the ax happens with the help of a file. The angle is chosen independently, depending on the type of work to be performed.
7. Using a brush removes metal shavings.
8. The blade is sharpened by a double-sided stone in circular motions. Before this procedure, the surface is lubricated with oil or water.
9. Sharpening of the blade on the other hand follows the same method, but a less rigid stone is used.
10. After performing the work, a corrosion prevention agent is applied to the surface.

Conclusion

So, we found out how the ax is sharpened. As you can see, this procedure can be performed with your own hands.