A Weird Restoration on an Estwing Hatchet

[ThatWeirdKnifeGuy]

I bought this from our very own, TripleF, with the intention of restoring it with my oldest son. The leather stack was long since gone and replaced with some cardboard, adhesive, and a quick whipping of green para cord. The "style" of restoration is one that I've had fun with on a few other projects.

After we cleaned up the surface we lacquered the handle with a few coats to prevent rust beneath the main body of the handle, the "scales". These are water tight shrink tube packets jam packed with survival gear that are then glued in place with a judicious amount of E-6000 construction adhesive.

Over this is a wrap in a style the kid's might call cobra, but you might recognize as a series of reef knots. This is done in two types of cord; one is a reflective red, the other is a specialized survival cord. It has a few different types of inner strands for various tasks. One for fishing, sewing, tent repair, and a cotton strand for catching a spark.

The packets include: 50ft of fishing line, 6 hooks, 4 sinkers, a 3 inch ferro rod and 3 inch hacksaw blade striker, 3 inch steel tube with 6 inches of waxed string, 2 "jet fuel" fire plugs, victorinox sd knife, 2-stage water purification tablets for 1 gallon of water.

I thought to bring this camping, but I might keep it in my van. Next up is a repurposed seat belt sheath for it. My son did what bits he could, helped with some, and watched the rest. He started knots, I helped to straighten and tighten. It's his project, but I did need the knots to actually function for safety.

It's thick in the hand, but feels nice. It's lighter than the leather would have been but still feels properly balanced. The geometry of the knot design keeps the handle from being too round and makes it easy to index for effective swings and chops.

Last was to slap an edge on it, then take a picture.

[TripleF]

Very, very well done!!! And thank you sooooo much for reporting back!!!

[doglegg]

I bought this from our very own, TripleF, with the intention of restoring it with my oldest son. The leather stack was long since gone and replaced with some cardboard, adhesive, and a quick whipping of green para cord. The "style" of restoration is one that I've had fun with on a few other projects.

After we cleaned up the surface we lacquered the handle with a few coats to prevent rust beneath the main body of the handle, the "scales". These are water tight shrink tube packets jam packed with survival gear that are then glued in place with a judicious amount of E-6000 construction adhesive.

Over this is a wrap in a style the kid's might call cobra, but you might recognize as a series of reef knots. This is done in two types of cord; one is a reflective red, the other is a specialized survival cord. It has a few different types of inner strands for various tasks. One for fishing, sewing, tent repair, and a cotton strand for catching a spark.

The packets include: 50ft of fishing line, 6 hooks, 4 sinkers, a 3 inch ferro rod and 3 inch hacksaw blade striker, 3 inch steel tube with 6 inches of waxed string, 2 "jet fuel" fire plugs, victorinox sd knife, 2-stage water purification tablets for 1 gallon of water.

I thought to bring this camping, but I might keep it in my van. Next up is a repurposed seat belt sheath for it. My son did what bits he could, helped with some, and watched the rest. He started knots, I helped to straighten and tighten. It's his project, but I did need the knots to actually function for safety.

It's thick in the hand, but feels nice. It's lighter than the leather would have been but still feels properly balanced. The geometry of the knot design keeps the handle from being too round and makes it easy to index for effective swings and chops.

Last was to slap an edge on it, then take a picture.

Great work and meaningful time spent with your son.

[ThatWeirdKnifeGuy]

Great work and meaningful time spent with your son.

Thank you sir. He learned this para cord wrap before learned to tie his shoes!

Very, very well done!!! And thank you sooooo much for reporting back!!!

Thanks buddy, and you're welcome. It's been a great learning opportunity, I'm happy to share it.

[OLDE CUTLER]

Is that the hatchet design that is referred to as a shinglers hatchet for installing cedar shake shingles?
Your handle replacement turned out great!

[Modern Slip Joints]

Is that the hatchet design that is referred to as a shinglers hatchet for installing cedar shake shingles? [...]

That model is Eastwing's Carpenter's Hatchet. Pre-pandemic Lowe's and Home Depot stocked them with blue synthetic handles. Eastwing still makes them with leather washer and blue handles. Ace Hardware and Tractor Supply have other brands with wood handles. The framing hammer version is a rig builder. Roofing hammers for modern shingles have an adjustable stud that is used for measuring over lap and checkered hammer faces. I think you'd want on a checkered hammer face on a speciality cedar shake hammer rather than a carpenter's hammer's smooth face.

[GSPTOPDOG]

I bought this from our very own, TripleF, with the intention of restoring it with my oldest son. The leather stack was long since gone and replaced with some cardboard, adhesive, and a quick whipping of green para cord. The "style" of restoration is one that I've had fun with on a few other projects.

I like the work you did, very nice . I've done a few "restorations", maybe better described as "improvements" (and some might argue that point is debatable .... ).

Here is some work on a small Plumb axe that had 10lbs. of rust on the head and a chewed-up handle.