Old File to Wood Splitter

At each of my campsites I lit a fire and enjoyed the evening silence with crackling wood and playing shadows. Of course, the firewood had to be harvested, the dry wood selected, and cut into smaller pieces ... and preferably split for better burning ...

Taking saws and sawing is the easier part, but to break it is a dilemma - an axe or a froe ... it takes a different angle of blade to sprout than it does to a knife or an ordinary axe ...

In addition, the right good axe is heavy at least 600 grams ... raise it up, strike down ... and to hit the right place the splitting log is a skill, etc.

To carry, "my blade" - weighs 300 grams and hitting it with a piece of wood ... is much easier. So I decided to make a modified blade --- froe / kukri / maul / wedge blend ... and see the result.

Step 1: "Annealing", Bamboo Handle...

At the weakest point, I broke the blade and re-welded it, thinking that I was putting a "buffer" zone between the brittle steel and the handle to reduce shocks and vibration.

I had a bamboo stick as well as a piece of walnut and made a handle that I glue with epoxy resin.

Step 2: Holster....

I made holster for my splitter from cowhide with fur .... And finally is finished.

Data:
Old file thickness 8 x 32 mm lenght 230 mm

Bevel angle 25 mm : first step 25 mm x 12 mm concave grind, second step 25 x 18 mm concave grind...

to reduce side friction at splitting.

Finnished blade lenght 170 mm
Total lenght 300 mm
Weight 330 gr
It is made to splitt small logs, up to 150 mm dia
Video:

Sincerelly

Krešimir

Comments

[brewgoat]

Files are usually made from case hardened steel, which is very hard yet brittle. If you first slowly heat it up to 650 C and keep it there for 30 minutes, then slowly cool it down to room temperature it will remove the brittleness and make the steel more malleable. To cool, I usually place it in a container of perlite or sand or a mixture of the two and allow it to cool overnight.
This will remove the brittle nature of the steel and make is more malleable which will allow it to absorb more shock and not crack.

[itsmescotty]

Case-hardening or surface hardening is the process of hardeningthe surface of a metal object while allowing the metal deeper underneath to remain soft, thus forming a thin layer of harder metal (called the "case") at the surface. For iron or steel with low carboncontent, which has poor to no hardenability of its own, the case-hardening process involves infusing additional carbon or nitrogen into the surface layer. Case-hardening is usually done after the part has been formed into its final shape, but can also be done to increase the hardening element content of bars to be used in a pattern welding or similar process. The term Face hardening is also used to describe this technique, when discussing modern armour. Courtesy of Wikipedia.