Some people hold the axe in their lap or grip the axehead in their hands.

Of course, you might be reading this on your phone in the woods, wondering where you’ll find a flat surface to place your axe on… In that case, you can hold it upright as well, standing it firmly on the ground or on a stump. Place your axe on a flat surface or clamp it in a vice, if you have one available. You can work it with finer and finer sandpaper until it gleams. Use sandpaper, applying even pressure and rubbing it from the handle part of the axehead to the blade. You can do that with steel wool, a rust eraser, or coarse-grit sandpaper. If your axe is rusty, you’ll want to remove the rust before doing any sharpening. If you plan on using power tools – a respirator and safety goggles or glasses to protect against metal dust are a necessity, not a luxury. If you’re going to be sharpening your axe in an enclosed space, you should also wear a dust mask. A pair of light cotton gloves will protect your hands and fingers from nicks and cuts, which can be nasty if you make your axe very sharp. There’s no need to go overboard with thick gloves – in fact that may well make the process more cumbersome and time-consuming. When you sharpen your axe, you should wear gloves of some sort. If you’re interested in axe sharpeners (that work for other bladed objects as well), here is a list with 5 great axe sharpeners that I put together. Read on to find out all about sharpening axes!

This in-depth article will teach you everything you need to know about sharpening axes, from prep work to proper technique and how to use the tools you have at hand, whether they’re human-powered (such as files and whetstones) or electric, like dremel tools, belt sanders, or even bench grinders. But the rest – hatchets, felling axes, limbing axes, tomahawks and more – have to be sharp to work as well as you want them to. Splitting axes or mauls don’t have to be as sharp because they’re meant to split logs and rounds of wood with blunt force, not cut into them. The sharper your ax, the easier, faster, and more pleasant it will be to do your work. How to Sharpen an Axe Properly You can give your axe the sharpest edge with a whetstone or sharpening stone

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