It's been awhile since I've been in and posted anything, other then an infrequent reply. So thought I'd show what I did yesterday. I'm recovering from shoulder surgery for the last year no haven't been doing much. Here goes:

 

Here it is handled. Have to clean up the top after the glue dries. I glue in my wood wedges, then drive a metal one in.

 

Nice looking axe!

 

Thank you. Here is the finished axe.

 

Nice camp axe Rashelle. How's the shoulder doing? 

Frosty The Lucky.

Thank you Frosty.

I'm able to use it a bit. Getting a chunk of range of motion back........ I was able to actually put my hand behind my back far enough to grab it with the left and pull it over the other day.  Getting there working on it. It's only been a year since the surgery. Not medically stationary yet. The reason for me breaking down and buying that press. Pushing, but not too hard, at getting strength back. Am only at 25 incline pushups at a time now. When I'm doing sets of 100 or more pushups again I will consider myself almost back to before the injury. I'm only in my fifties, I think I can get at least that much back. Found out there was a biceps tear to go with all the shoulder tendons being torn. Slowly getting back, will see where I land. At least now I can spend some time hammering again with the right arm. When I was seeing the physical therapists all the time I told them my goal was not to just get to where I was but to get better then I was.

It can be fun working with PT folks used to "normal" folks.  When I had a bone spur removed from my shoulder and went through PT; my therapist listened to my complaint that my arm was still weak and asked me to push against her braced body with it---as she started sliding across the floor I could tell that she had a very different concept of weak than a smith did...

Ah yes, PT folk often need to adjust their methods. When I shattered my left elbow and started going to a place a couple miles from here. The therapist, Jeff was "stretching" my left elbow to get it to straighten as much as possible and kept stopping with barely a tug. I kept saying pull harder but he wouldn't.

When I asked him why he said he might damage the tendons. I called bull and he said to pull on his hand as hard as I could. I was sitting on a therapeutical bench thingy and he was in a chair. The look on his face when I yarded his 220+lbs. right out of the chair one injured handed was a Kodak moment. There after he pulled on my elbow till his arms shook.

Darned elbow still won't straighten all the way but it functions pretty well. 

Frosty The Lucky.

We'll just tell folks that it's a legacy of your days on the Pro Roller Derby circuit.

That's the ticket! I shattered it on a particularly tough jammer's forehead! Ooooh the tales that invokes! Thank you!

Frosty The Lucky.

The surgeon took care of the bone spurs and bursa while he was at it, placed anchors and staples. Potentially other then a unrelated small labral tear in there I might be better off. The PT's were glad when I came in as there was always progress. I really wanted my arm back......... and still do...... and m still working on it. 

I'm gonna get the camp axes dialed in then start working on some carving axes. Progress doesn't have to be leaps and bounds. Small steps forward add up. That goes for PT as well as blacksmithing and much else in life.

I like it. Looks very nice plus a very usable profile.

Thank you Blackcloud. Here is a picture of the carving axe I did next:

 

That's a beauty of an axe Rashelle. Love the shape. 

Those look great Rashelle.

Glad to hear you're making progress with your recovery; you were working left-handed when you taught the "Basics" class at Trackers I took Dec '19, pre-op I suppose.

Thanks Das I like it too. I'm still working out how to use the press to do what I need. 

Hey Wilco, yup that would of been about 2 months before the surgery. It's great to be seeing some of my former students doing stuff. I'm relearning to use my right. Tomorrow would be the one year anniversary of the surgery.

From seeing that and those, I'd say you have it down. Nice work. I can only imagine your PT. Best of luck with it. May it be as fine and finer than your work. 

Wow great looking axe! 

Thank you Das and GoatLady. 

I've got a long way to go Das. I have a friend who had got a 16 ton press and I used it and it was good. But I felt I was pushing it making hammers. So when I bought one for my ownself I got a 25 ton. That 9 ton difference made it harder for me to learn control. So I frequently have just a tiny too muchness in what I'm doing. And that tiny little bit makes it really hard to recover. Wish there was a throttle control so I could throttle down. As is I'll just have to keep at it till i learn sufficient control. 

Like people using a powerhammer with a sticky clutch: wails of "Put it back".     Learning *your* machine will help a lot.

Yup. I apparently am a slow learner Thomas. Heehee. Figure I'll get there sooner or later. Just got to keep at it till I start getting it right consistently, then keep at it some more. How you get from one place to another.......... One step at a time, even if they are stumbly steps down hill into a ditch. When you re a beginner at something....... you are a beginner. I am a beginner at learning to use a press. My next two axes are screwed up axes. But I finish them and learn along the wy. My redeeming feature is relearning to use a belt sander........... Those things can absolve one of a lot of sins, lol.