MK: DIY Survival Axe

I made this very simple and lightweight tool to use it while camping, hiking or fishing, my favourite activities in nature.

Materials: old saw blade, rope, matte black paint.

Tools: angle grinder with grinding and cut off wheel, belt sander, drillpress, shop torch.

Step 1: Cutting the Shape

I cut the rough shape using angle grinder with cut off wheel. I first tried to cut the axe with jig saw but the saw blade was just too hard for it.

It was really difficult to make the curves and the corners with angle grinder, so I spent lot of time on that.

Then I shaped the "raw" piece on bench grinder, but it could be easily done with grinding wheel on angle grinder.

Step 2: The Blade

For beveling the axe I used belt grinder with special jig (shown in the video) made specifically for this purpose. I attached the axe with screws. Then I just made several passes making sure I didn´t overheat the blade by cooling it between passes.

Then I quenched the blade using propane torch and sunflower oil.

Finally I sharpened the blade with wet stone.

Step 3: The Handle

For handle I used rope about 5mm (3/16") thick. It looks nice and also if you really need it, you have about 2 meters of rope to use in emergency situations.

I first roughly aproximated the lenght that will be needed and then I tied the rope around the handle with simple over under knot.

Pro tip: always cut significantly more rope than you think you will need, my proximations are always wrong. :-D

Step 4: The Axe

This is rather small and lightweight tool to take with you to short trips in nature, it´s not intended to cut big trees, just smaller ones, or branches for small camp fire, or other fun uses :-)