Restoring a Valuable Vintage Collins Legitimus Axe

Today's vintage axe restoration has been a long time coming. I've been waiting to restore this axe since I picked it up from a tool sale about a year and a half ago. I wanted to be able to show this restoration to my viewers, so it had to wait its turn, but the time has come. Today I will remove the head without cutting it off, clean, oil, resharpen the head, and re hang it back onto the original handle.

This axe is a Collins Legitimus 3 1/4 lb Connecticut pattern axe, from possibly around the 1930's, on a slim and curvy 28 inch vintage hickory handle. It's super sexy and is definitely one of the more valuable axes in my collection, being a great American made axe by Collins, and one of their more sought after lines, Legitimus. The Connecticut pattern is very popular for is cutting ability due to its thin blade profile, wide bit, and gradual slope from the pole to the heal. All-in-all this is a beautiful axe, and one that I'm extremely happy to be able to restore and use for years to come.

If you are interested in customizing a store bought handle to fit your needs and your preference, check out our video below on how to pick and hang an axe on a store bought handle.
   • How to Pick and Hang a Store-Bought A...  

Some Great Axe resources:
-Liam Hoffman
-Wranglerstar
-Chris Killinger
-Double Bit Axe Co.
-Vintage Axe Works
-The Legitimus Podcast
-The Axe Junkies group on Facebook
-The Axe Hounds group on Facebook

If you are interested, please follow us on Instagram @theartofcraftsmanship to see what’s happening in the shop on a daily basis, and catch sneak peeks of our up coming videos.

To those of you who feel like you got something special from our videos and want to know how you can support us further, we have just launched our Patreon page here... https://www.patreon.com

Thanks