The Bark River Mini Axe hasn't been produced for quite some time. Occasionally they do pop up for sale on eBay or woodcraft forums -- at premium prices, of course -- but as good as the Barkie custom is reputed to be, I'm not willing to spend $125 to $150 to add a pocket axe to my ready set.
Instead, I decided to roll my own.
The first step was to pick up a Vaughan Sub-Zero ($18) and the tools required to sharpen it correctly -- a pair of Nicholson 8-inch flat files and a file-cleaning brush, a dual-grit oilstone and a couple of 3M sanding sponges (total price $14). I already had a few other items I'd need, namely a Scotch-Brite pad, honing oil and almond oil.
Since I'm not an axe-sharpening wizard, before beginning I consulted The Axe Book offered by Gränsfors Bruks and An Axe to Grind by Bernie Weisgarber. And even though I'd be using only hand tools, I reviewed Mike Stewart's 2005 KnifeForums post detailing the 25 separate operations that transformed each Vaughan Sub-Zero into a Bark River Mini Axe.
My little Vaughan arrived in pretty rough shape, its head encased in a thick coat of clear polyurethane and its edge absolutely dull. (I don't mean not sharp -- I mean blunt.) Its hickory handle, while relatively straight-grained, was rough in spots and included a bit of heartwood toward the foot. The head had been hung crooked, too.
I laid out my tools and got to work on the edge, first with a double-cut file and then with a single-cut. Next came the oiled stone, coarse side followed by fine, the sanding sponges and a leather hone loaded with black stropping compound. I sanded most of the poly coating from the face and removed all of it from the poll. The latter was left shiny, the former with more of a satiny finish.The sanding sponges and Scotch-Brite pad made short work of the handle, which got three rubdowns with almond oil.
A quick trip to the woodpile confirmed the Vaughan's utility as well as exposing its limits. It split three-inch seasoned ash into kindling fairly easily and, when called upon to chop a notch in a length of dry oak, it threw respectable (albeit not award-winning) chips.
The new convex edge is keen enough to be useful but (because of the head's geometry) it's still too thick and steep to be spectacular. Sooner or later I'll have to break out my files again and fix that. Also, the yawed head will hamper ultimate performance but it doesn't yet justify my buying a new handle and re-hanging it. Likewise, the supplied vinyl sheath is cheap but adequate.
See, I have no illusions about the Vaughan Sub-Zero -- even properly sharpened, it remains a very small $18 axe. I don't expect to build a cabin with it, nor did I set out to replicate the Bark River Mini-Axe. For its price and used within its limits, I have a handy woods tool.
The best part of this exercise, though, was choosing to forgo an expensive off-the-shelf solution in favor of developing my skills. And that, with apologies to MasterCard, is priceless.
