I think the colour is perfect.

Top notch ironthumping

Great video as always! Very inspiring 👍

I've got an old axe the Kent shape that I inherited. Thanks for the education! Think I'll dig it out and give it some tlc!

1980s Land Rover = Modern car :D

This is the money shot! Everything shiny and clean!

The Magic Roundabout was narrated by Eric Thompson, father of actress Emma Thompson.

First thing I’d do is bathe screw and slide with oil. Nice find

That's a beautiful axe 👍

Lovely

They are worthless. Period. Don't waste your time.

Brilliant, you are definitely a master forger. I like your initiative design of the power hammer you should make video about it. However, I consider your comment that wrought iron head with cabin steel cutting edge failed because it was wrought iron would not apply to mild steel as you stated. The clew is the name. Wrought iron is very pure iron, a noble metal which is why it does not oxidise away like mild steel. Unfortunately the manufacturer process in the early 1800’s left a lot of inclusions in the iron that I suspect was the reason for failure. Mild steel is an alloy this causes the atomic space lattice structure to stressed which gives it strength and toughness. Therefore a mild steel head with a forge welded cabin steel cutting edge would not fail as you suggested.👍

your videos are such a joy. i have only very basic knowledge of wood working and none of metals. You explain things with modesty and with interest for all levels incl the most basic. you are not afraid of failure. it is inspiring: just have a go 😃

Even 7 years ago, £6 for those bearings seems like a bargain.

Nice looking axe. There used to be one about that size in each home in the town where I grew up for chopping kindling wood for the range.

Would adding an additional handle on the flypress be beneficial? I noticed how you was pushing the ball on the opposite side of the handle on occasions. Condolences regarding your Grandad, what a legend of a real bloke.

Awesome effort mate. The axe look absolutely stunning!

One could go out and work, feel the man. And use some of these money to buy an axe. Or one could do life a favour and lay a piece of your personality into your work like this. I am so impressed by your way of living. ❤ - thank you for sharing your knowledge and a view into this - i am sure (just as frustrating as the rest of us) but wonderful life.

Came back to rewatch this wonderful Grandad episode. What a cool guy and a neat relationship between you both. This, and any other footage you captured, Max, will make great memories! ~Tallyho, Grandad.

So long as you didn't try to eat the axe head and sharpen the potato....

Great work Max your skills, tenacity and commitment to the project is an example to us all.

It's dark now and raining - for a change - itching to get out there and give it a go!

_FASCINATING_ ~ The things we take for granted!

_FASCINATING_ ~ The things we take for granted!

Why would it have to be symmetrical? You move an axe always in a curve, so if you put the bigger radius on the end, it has a kind of streamline!

Was Skye covered with forest before humans arrived?

👍👍👍. Thanks Max

Hi max , I see you have a large felling axe ,I’m have one the same with no handle , is there any way you would be willing to make me one the same as you have , thanks , Marc

When you're checking the hardness with the hrc files you need to clean the forge scale off first otherwise it will give you inaccurate results

The comment on the hill walking being not worth it just highlights the disconnect in today's world between effort and reward. No-one wants to do anything hard these days. They just want the reward. I think that underlies the mental health crisis we are seeing. We are mentally set up for a hard work reward cycle. I used to help train teenagers for two day expedition walking. It's the hardest thing most of them will ever do. The sense of achievement they get at the end when they complete the final expedition (run by the army on Dartmoor) is incomparable. If they come back for 3 or 4 years and complete the longest 55 mile expedition then you get people with some real grit for life's challenges. You aren't indestructible but you have that knowledge that you can do something immensely hard and come out the other side of it with not much more than blisters and a massive sense of achievement. There is no real comparison to travelling through a landscape on your own two feet. Most things in life are very hard to start with but get easier the more you persevere. Education is the most worrying thing people give up. It's not so much gathering factual knowledge that's important it's about learning how to learn new things. I never understand how people can decide to stop learning after they leave school and basically spend the rest of their lives avoiding learning anything new or thinking any differently.

I like the format of your videos - no fluff, just get on with it, with plenty of useful insights on what you're doing and why, in a fantastic workshop.

Superb result and hugely educational. Many thanks.

Ever since doing a term of metalwork at school in the 80s I've wanted to try smithing again, but my neighbours would have a fit!

You are in the position where you can make new tools using tools that you also made. This is very satisfying. 🙂

Nice work, man

Superb axe Max, well done for seeing it through 😊👍

Safety Glasses!!? Steel bits hurt more than feasible in ur eyes!

In my opinion, fly presses are about as useful as teets on a bull! Never had much luck with them, a lot of swinging, doesn't seem to do much more work than swinging the hammer anyway.