Tool Restoration
What you can create together, far outshines what you can create apart.
I once had someone ask me how I view other people on any given team I am on, I said "to me they are tools in a shop". He replied in disgust, "Tools? That sounds awfully mean". To which I rebutted, "I'm sorry that you have such a bad relationship with your tools."
​
Tools are a crafter's absolute best friends. They require care, attention, and respect. A well treated tool will in turn treat you well. Just like people, a mistreated tool will leave a mark on you, or worse, take something you value. When you wield a tool, you immediately create a team that becomes greater than the sum of it's parts. The two need each other, in order to accomplish good work. So treat your tools like your friends, and your friends like your tools, and what you can create together will far outshine what you can create apart.
Axe Work
I started to restore and rehandle axes a few years ago to make gifts for my loved ones. My process involves bringing the rusty head back to life, shaping and sharpening the bit as needed, carving a handle, and sometimes adding wood burnt art to the handle that is meaningful to the recipient. Tandem to this craft, I learned basic leather working in order to make sheathes for heads.
