Engraving a Fire Axe

[ArtisanAttributes]

I am new to this arena, and am really interested in doing some work on a firemans pick axe and/or a Pulaski. I am not confident at all in doing scroll work per se but am confident in my ability to do a nice bulino style engraving. Would the axe head present itself well for this application anyone. Thanks in advance for suggestions.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi Artisan and welcome aboard.

I would think that an firemans axe would be a particulary suitable application. I've got a tomahawk head I'll be doing one day. Axe heads are a very cool item.

The only thing that may (or may not) be tricky is the metal. It may be very hard and perhaps need annealing first..............there are others on this forum that would probabley know.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Bob Bullard]

engraved an axe head with some scroll and it went pretty good until I got close to the edge then it
Really hard. If I ever do another one which I do plan on I'll have it anealed.
Bob

 

[rhenrichs]

Engraved a axe once. It was so darn it couldn't be touched with a graver until I got it annealed after it was annealed it wasn't to bad to cut.

Roger

 

[firefly]

The cutting/striking surfaces should be the only hardened parts of the tool, but there's no telling how far back from the edges the hardness line goes. You could either test with a graver and define the area you want to engrave, or have the entire tool head annealed (softened) and then re-hardened after engraving.

Bulino is not likely to survive the process in the immediate areas re-hardened, though, as you can expect some discoloration and decarburization that will have to be refinished. Then again, if the piece is purely for display, it won't be necessary to re-harden anyway.

 

[Weldon47]

Hi,
Could I make an assumption and guess that this is for someone special, probably a retirement or promotion gift.?
If that is the case then annealing the entire axehead would eliminate hardness issues (there will be some, no doubt!) I check the approximate hardness of an item by taking a tool of known hardness and making a dent/scratch/cut (whatever I need to satisfy my mind) in an inconspicuous spot. If you can cut it there you can usually cut it everywhere unless the item has been spot hardened in specific areas.
Additionally, I would encourage you to take the time to properly prepare the work surface by filing or sanding until you have a clean area, clear of surface defects to work on. Most of our (firefighters) tools are big & tough but are not finished to the point that I would do bulino work on them.
As another suggestion in case the axehead itself is to difficult; you might be ahead in doing your engraving on a silver piece and then affixing that to the axehead with a couple of small rivets. This setup would do fine on a presentation axe but obviously not be what you need for a usable tool. It would however, eliminate the concerns over hardness, removing an axehead from a handle to be annealed, surface prep work, etc.etc...

My thoughts,

Weldon

 

[ArtisanAttributes]

Thanks to everyone who has provided a wealth of information. I spent 4.5 years as a voluteer Firefighter/EMT and have a great love for the selfless service rendered. I have always wanted to do tribute type of piece, in fact I have molds of a Pulaski and Fire Axe that I have prepared waxes from for casting with Bas Relief scenes to be applied. I hope to have some of these done before the first of the year. I hope to continue picking up appropriate tools for the engraving process. May be an uneducated question, but would it be possible to cast a head in bronze and have it silver or nickel plated as a preparation for bulino? Would it work on that type of finish? I really appreciate having an outlet to share ideas, Many Thanks to those who make this a positive experience.