A Weird Restoration on an Estwing Hatchet
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2024 12:29 am
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.
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.
. I've done a few "restorations", maybe better described as "improvements" (and some might argue that point is debatable .... 
).