Favorite camp axe?

 
Hey all,
   I recently came upon an axe head buried in some redwood duff in my yard, its a Vaughan broad axe head.  I've been soaking it in vinegar all this week and it's cleaned up nicely.  Looks like HD will have handles for it. I'm thinking of hafting it with a 16" handle, and using it for a "Camp beater" I have a small hatchet I use for splitting kindling already.
  I plan to clean up its edge, hone it, so it'll shave! (That's the plan anyway, may not happen as planned )
  Show off your hatchets, tomahawks, and axes!

 

Vaughan makes the best hammer in my opinion.  When I did construction all I ever carried was a big 26 ounce Vaughan.  My one arm looked like Popeye, but I could drive a 16d with one hit.

I had a small hatchet that I used to use an Ammo pouch as a cover for it, it mounted on to my alice pack.  Was always with me on field exercises for over 20 years, till one day it got new walking papers and found a new home.

Gotta love the things that are hidden under the redwood duff.

I've found two splitting maul heads, two 6ft prybars, a leather tool belt, a cats paw, a post hole digger, and several pairs of pliers in the last 8 years, all from previous owners.

All I find is piles of scrap metal burried under the leaves & berry vines.  It comes out by the Ton, not piece!  Loaded the truck last night from bots & pieces of scrap I found on top & under my outdoor welding bench; 1500#.  Sad part .... that wasn't all of it.

Cool find.  I hadn't heard about the vinegar trick.  It will come in handy, as I have been known to pull to the side of the freeway to rescue axes and shovels.

 

  I wasn't aware of the vinegar soak to remove rust either, I read about it on another forum (BushcraftUSA) so thought I'd gove it a try and boy did it work great!  Was hoping to put new handle on it yesterday, but places were closed yesterday... Go figure
  I'll stop by my local Ace and see if I can get a decent handle for it, from that other site I need to watch for grain orientation in the handle, and ways to protect it.
 
  An other item I dug out of the duff, was a brake drum, and an old steel rake head.  I've got just bout 1/2 acre of duff, so there's no telling what else I might find buried! 

I want this one!


http://www.alloutdoor.com/2014/04/19/vipukirves-leveraxe-totally-axe-design/