Materials:
- unnecessary axe;
- an ax or a block for its manufacture;
- paper from self-adhesive film for furniture;
- acetone;
- any varnish
- table salt solution.
Restoration and artistic processing of an ax
First you need to clean the ax by removing the top rust.
After this, it is given a new shape to make it look like a Viking weapon. You will need to cut off the front corner of the blade, making it narrower. The back part needs to be rounded inward.
Trimming the ax in the front part is done with a grinder.
To quickly get the correct semicircle in the back, you should use a metal crown. Since it must be applied to the drilling surface along the entire perimeter, you will have to temporarily weld a piece of steel to it to increase the plane.
After drilling, the welded piece is cut off. The resulting workpiece already has the required shape, but looks rough. It needs to be sanded well. To do this, it is convenient to use a petal circle.
If deep potholes are exposed during the grinding process, they need to be hidden. To do this, the defect is welded and then ground off.
Using the available tool, you need to bring the ax to almost perfect smoothness.
The ax is stylized using artistic etching. Since this is a Viking weapon, it should be decorated with runes and ethnic Scandinavian patterns. To do this, the design chosen for etching is printed in a mirror image on a sheet of paper using a laser printer. To transfer the image, back paper from a self-adhesive film is used. You need to print on its glossy side, after tearing off the film.
The ax is wiped with acetone and placed in an oven preheated to 220 degrees Celsius.
As soon as it heats up, paper is glued to it and carefully smoothed through a cloth until the metal has cooled.
This is done on both sides of the axe. When it becomes cold, the stickers should be carefully torn off. As a result, paint will remain on the metal. Later, when etched, it will retain smooth steel underneath, and everything around it will become matte. Those parts of the ax that do not need to be etched should be painted with a thick layer of varnish.
A solution of table salt is prepared in a plastic or glass container. Any piece of iron with a wire attached to the negative terminal of the car battery is immersed in it. The ax is also lowered into the water, but with the positive terminal attached. As a result, the etching process will begin in the container, accompanied by the release of gas from the solution.Gradually the liquid will turn rusty in color and become covered with dirty foam. You should wait 30-40 minutes. If you etch longer, the matte part of the pattern will become deeper, but the pattern itself under the paint may begin to corrode.
After etching, the ax must be washed to remove the dark film. Next, the varnish and paint are washed off with acetone. Having finished washing it, you can install a suitable ax handle.
The resulting ax can not only hang on the wall, but sometimes also be used when preparing firewood for a fire and even cutting meat. Of course, if used, its mirror shine will quickly disappear, so you will have to periodically polish it.
