I finally got the varnish sanded off the heads...it's not all off but it's off enough not to bind in wood and not to gum up my sharpening gear.

I just sharpened the Maul and man had I forgotten how much I hate sharpening that hard axe steel.

My mill file was a bit worn but eventually I got the bevels even. I was surprised at how rough the factory grind was for a hand tooled piece but I understand good axes rarely come sharp (I found some rivet dents in the edge from shipping anyhow...that might be why?)

After I was satisfied with the angle I went over it with my diamond file (the style that's a perforated thin metal on a plastic base) and after about 10 minutes it broke. I went back to the file and then to one of the coarse rods from my Sharpmaker.

If it were a knife I'd still be working on it but it will push through a 24lb sheet of copy paper...pretty good for a 3lb. maul.

Now for the real work. The edge on the kindling axe isn't much better and I'd like to put a more narrow profile on it for chopping. Add to that the fact that it has twice the edge length and I'm in for a long night I think. Ideally I'd like to be able to use the Sharpmaker to touch it up but I don't know if I want to go that narrow. I guess I'll start filing and play it by ear as I cramp up.

One more thing. I'm tossing my Gerber axe stone. I tried it after the file and it's not up to grinding down this steel. After just one minute there was a large pile of dust from the stone and the surface was already cupping.

I know I told you all that I don't think axes need to be as sharp as knives but I can't wait to see how sharp I can get this axe. It has a very concave profile and is just begging for a nice polished edge.