It was a really involving and enjoyable activity.
The axe was very rusty... I've essentially mis-used it for the past 12 years - since inheriting it from the previous owners of my magical medieval quarter home - and it was pretty well-used before I found it! It might even be an historical artifact!
I began just sharpening it, with some fine files and sandpaper wrapped around a wee block of wood...
But then I got really into just sitting quietly here in the cobbled street, and channelling the old ways.
It's truly a beautiful meditation to fix an essential tool like this - to have it lovingly restored, and to have it do its job really efficiently!
It was particularly satisfying to re-set the head: I dismantled it by removing the wee bits of wood and old nail that'd been hammered into the handle through this hole, above... I then split an old door wedge, and hammered it into the hole, then sawed off the length left sticking out.
Then I kept sharpening it some more... I could have done the sharpening quicker, but I enjoyed the very slow way of watching it change with every little scrape of the file or the sandpaper...
These are some of the tools I used - the old file was found also in my old home, when I first moved in. I love old tools!
I'm very happy with how solid the head is now - all the years I had this wee axe, the head wobbled a lot, and it made the work not very efficient. The blade was less sharp than a butter knife - or maybe, a spoon.
Now it's not tooo sharp, but ssoooooo much more powerful than before. I feel ready and willing to do the wood prep now, for my big stove :-D
Blessings and cosiness to all this midwinter!
