Hand Made Crafted Axe Leather Sheath Carved Wooden Handle

Description

Handle material - hornbeam wood. Forged steel. Vegetable tanned leather. Brass hardware. Everything is done manually.
The total weight of the axe 3.75lbs (1710 grams), length 32 inches (800mm), width 8 inches (190mm)
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New handle
6.
Leather wrap
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Protective sheath for the axe head
And now about everything in more detail.
1.
Polishing and finishing of the axe head by means of electrolytic etching followed by formation of a phosphate film coating
For this part I used electrolysis to etch the axe head and induced formation of a phosphate film that functions as a protective and decorative coating. To do this I used Mazhef salt.
The chemical process of phosphatization is based on formation of a protective layer consisting of sparingly soluble iron, zinc, and manganese phosphates on the surface of a piece of work.
The upper part of the eye was chiseled out more than the lower one by approximately 5 mm on the both sides, which made it possible to circumvent the State Standard that regulates how much of an axe handle can jut out from the eye. The axe was hafted using 6 wedges to maximally fill the eye. The gaps that remained were filled with epoxy resin. It might look like an attempt to offhandedly conceal my own mistakes, but I assure you, it's all part of the plan! The gaps appeared only because I had been too carried away when chiseling and as a result chiseled out the edge of the eye so much that the wedges could not completely fill the uppermost part.
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The handle is made of hornbeam that has dense and heavy wood. It can be carved without much difficulty and the cut across the grain goes easily. Practically all work was done with chisels.
6.
Leather wrap for the handle is my design solution for the piece. When I was making my previous axe, the wrap was made of brass and simply overlaid the leather. This time I decided in favor of more complex composition. And the grip on the axe in this place should be more comfortable.
7.
I had been puzzling quite a lot over the shape of the protective sheath but eventually the solution found me naturally. The shape of the sheath was decided by the shape of the axe. One morning I just took a look at the axe and it dawned on me that the upper part should be flat and the side should be made of a whole piece. Of course I had made a sketch and even a life-size model first, that and the process of pondering are simply left off-screen.
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