Let me start over...we had tomatoes in the field just south of the house this year, actually they were all around the house to be exact! The field to the south is the one in particular to this story though, that`s where it was found, the axe. It was`nt much of an axe, just the head, and a rather muddy, rusty hunk of an axe at that!
My son found it along the edge of the field while out with the dogs one day, along the site of the old barn. We knew there was a barn there once, that`s what everybody always said, we even saw a painting of it when we bought the house (didn`t end up with the painting though). So, every year when the field gets turned, there`s always a new treasure trove of flotsam to be sifted through, along with the bricks that seem to keep coming in endless supply. Seems the original owner had a brick/tile yard, so that does explain why we get so many. Anywho....back to the axe. I saw it a few days after it had drifted close enough to be caught, it was laying on one of the ties (as in railroad) that borders the herb garden, that`s the normal place to put things as they wash ashore from the field. From the design, it seemed to be a somewhat modern axe, nothing spectacular, no reason to call in the anthropologists or historical society or anything like that, just a plain old axe.
Lot of rust....really....lots of rust. And some mud. Mainly on the inside. The rain washed away the evidence on the exterior. I took the axe in my shop for further examination, but to no avail. It was still just a rusty, muddy hunk of an axe. So...being the adventurous type (stubborn, bullheaded), I figured why not try to bring this old axe back to life, or as much as could be humanly possible. I figured a good blasting in the sandblaster would do the trick! So I packed up my treasure and headed off to work. During the day I took several swipes at blasting away the incredibly thick layers of rust, but dint put much of a dint in in. Halfway through the day one of my co-workers asked what I was working on, so I showed him the axe. Kyle suggested that I try a flap wheel on a grinder "That`s the fastest way I know to git er dun" was his input. OK, let` try this out then I thinks...seem this is quite an improvement! So..I spent the rest of the day off & on grinding away, made quite a mess in the process.
Once the dust cleared and the coughing stopped, I took time to bask in the glow of my minor achievement! I was now the owner of a somewhat rehabbed...restored...reground...well it looked a lot better than it did when I started.
So..here it is in all it`s glory...the AXE!
