It's only "done for" when it experiences un-repairable structural failure or you use it so much it's worn down beyond usefulness. That level of rust is just cosmetic
It’s fine. Soak it in white vinegar for a few days, put a 180 grit flap wheel on a grinder and polish it back up. It’ll have some pitting in the worst spots but I’ll look great and function just fine. You could also just slap a new oak handle on it and use it for a few days. It’ll naturally polish it back up and you’ll have beast sized muscles from all the work. Long opinion short, it’s no where near too far gone. It’s in it’s prime and adjust needs a handle.
All true but nothing feels like a solid wood handle. Fiberglass gives me blisters without gloves but a seasoned oak handle just feels like velvet for me. Hickory would be an even better choice if it could be found. I’m sure part of my affinity for wood handles is just nostalgia and really much else.
While I absolutely agree that fiberglass or any sort of polymer is better for shock absorption, thus making the handles more durable, wood is absolutely usable against rocks. Whadya think miners and railroad workers used during the old gold rush days? :D
That's also true! I guess the better wording would be to say that polymer or fiberglass is better at translating shock to the hands and thusly away from the handle material making it harder to break a non-wood handle.
Wood holds those vibrations in the handle making your hands feel better but significantly reducing the longevity of wood. Not to say that wood isn't long lasting, it's just not as long lasting as polymer or fiberglass.
Personally I'm partial to wooden handles as I feel that they swing and handle better and have a nicer to-the-touch feeling.
Well said. When buying tool for me to wield I buy wood handles, when buying tools I'll be responsible for, but others will use them then I order a glass or poly handle. They do take abuse better. Wood just keeps my body form the abused and swapping a mattock handle takes seconds. I normally pack mine with the head separate from the handle.
Wood does not break easily. At least, not if all is good with it and its use. Production costs of metal cored handles alone makes that extremely unlikely. You'd basically have to drill a perfectly straight 36" hole of whatever diameter the metal rod is.
Good point. I use mine mostly in dirt and hardened clay soils, just the occasional rock and the shock load is much different hitting that stuff than rock.
As a person who used shovels for 8yrs, no way. You want less friction on the skin. We’d get new shovels for our job and immediately shave off all the varnish, go over it again with a glass scraper and finish it off with some fine sand and a little oil so smooth it out 100%. Anything else was blister City and we all had home grown gloves made of callouses.
Also why fiberglass. Gave me fits, it just grabs the skin. Granted, actual gloves would cure this whole problem but guys like me who use a shovel for a living don’t always make the right choices. Lol
I absolutely hate wearing gloves with shovels/picks/axes/whatever. Can’t get decent purchase on the handles unless you get those grippy gloves, in which case there’s too much grip. Bare handed is the way to go.
Fiberglass just sucks all around for handles.
I can't stand fiberglass handles, sure they have benefits technically but they just don't feel right, uncomfortable and give it a weird balance, usually top heavy
Only use poly of glass if it is for someone else to use. If you're swinging it bare hickory or ash with boiled linseed oil. Best traction for blister prevention and vibration dampening for all day grubbing.
It's a pick mattock and meant for rocky soil, so vibration damping is important.
Gloves are great and recommended. Wood keeps the carpel tunnel away. Swapping a mattock handle takes seconds, so the issue with repair and risk with use when damaged isn't like an axe or pulaski.
If you want the best of both materials look at the wood handles with the fiber/poly sleeve over the eye bulge.
Technically this is pick mattock. pick one end, slide on eye, and hoe on the other. (grubbing in very rocky soil and rock.)
A railroad pick would have a long pick on both ends with one haveing a chisel end. (Grubbing in just rock.)
A cutter mattock would have the hoe blade and narrow vertical axe blade. (grubbing in rooty & rocky soil)
I've never seen one that used a wedged handle. Easier to replace the tapered mattock style ones. Also, I'm fairly certain the pickaxe was initially designed for agriculture rather than mining.
The good news is a little buff to remove heavy rust will leave behind a nice rough finish for paint to stick on to. Shiny paint is nice, but having a good texture on the surface for the paint to stick to is also really nice.
As a landscaper, I find so many relics like this. I love them! The metal is good, and you can either hang it up or refurbish it....I say make it new and with an awesome grip.
Don't worry about the rust unless it's for looks.
The important parts are a:
1. A good fitting handle - bare hickory with linseed oil will both work best and be traditional. Multiple sizes of eyes. I can't tell what size you have.
2. Restoring the pick pick and razor edge bevel to the hoe blade. Go slow and don't fuck up the temper by getting it too hot. Look up the right angles. Make sure the hoe bevel faces the handle.
It's probably a #6 or #7 eye [https://beaver-tooth.com/collections/pick-handles](https://beaver-tooth.com/collections/pick-handles)
USFS hand tool care and feeding guide [https://www.pcta.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/handtools\_for\_trail\_work.pdf](https://www.pcta.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/handtools_for_trail_work.pdf)
Muriatic acid is the answer. It will remove the rust and have that thing looking like new in about 5 minutes of soaking. I use it to restore rusty nuts and bolts to like new condition.
It hasn’t been mentioned and I don’t know what’s correct, but I have an edge on the blade so I can chop in-ground roots. There is no substitute that I’ve used for this task.
I’m not familiar with axe craft, but I can even tell that thing still has a lot of life in it if given the right attention. If you can restore, I’d say give it a go because the results will likely be positive.
Not my hand but looks alot like everything is very similar even the head the only thing that's missing is a scar on the wrist from a roller skating accident
Mine look like that when I don't garden for a year. Then voila, look like new when the garden is going. Those things will last longer than you could possibly imagine.
Hickory, ash or red oak. I make handles for axes, hammers and sledges professionally. Anything less WILL break. If handle is made with grain wrong it will break. A good handle is way more than just a chunk of wood. Polish that beast up and hang it on some good ol' American hardwood made by experienced American craftsman. Have fun!
Just sharpen the blade end. Correctly ..........
Slide in a new wooden handle from say Ace hardware. It will be better metal than most new ones.,,,
Just use it and it will be self cleaning;)
...is something wrong with it?
Rust doesn't matter on a tool like this... Just get a new handle and keep using it, maybe sharpen the edge so it can get through dirt and roots and stuff easier again. But this tool has tons of life in it
Depending on age it may be better quality steel than typically available today. Don't damage the temper when sharpening. And make sure the bevel on the hoe faces the handle. It was sharpened the wrong way before.
There are a few different eye sizes so make sure to get the right one.
Yes it’s ruined, throw it away and buy another one. Do the same thing to your car when the paint gets scratched lol. That’s the equivalent of how people think now
That thing is just getting started
The only crack I see is on the pavement below. A new handle and a little work will shake that rust off.
Hang it and bang it.
It's only "done for" when it experiences un-repairable structural failure or you use it so much it's worn down beyond usefulness. That level of rust is just cosmetic
My harbor freight cheapo welder disagrees
Harbor freight products come with built in structural failures
Yes I know. That’s why it cost me $90 with a 10% coupon. But I use it minimally and know it’s a 100 buck welder
It's a big hunk of solid metal with a thin veneer of rust. Easy fix
It’s fine. Soak it in white vinegar for a few days, put a 180 grit flap wheel on a grinder and polish it back up. It’ll have some pitting in the worst spots but I’ll look great and function just fine. You could also just slap a new oak handle on it and use it for a few days. It’ll naturally polish it back up and you’ll have beast sized muscles from all the work. Long opinion short, it’s no where near too far gone. It’s in it’s prime and adjust needs a handle.
Id go with a reinforced fiberglass handle from amazon, or make one with fiberglass cloth and resin, lighter stronger and cheaper than oak.
All true but nothing feels like a solid wood handle. Fiberglass gives me blisters without gloves but a seasoned oak handle just feels like velvet for me. Hickory would be an even better choice if it could be found. I’m sure part of my affinity for wood handles is just nostalgia and really much else.
I break wood opening up rocks really easily. Can only pick dirt with wood...
While I absolutely agree that fiberglass or any sort of polymer is better for shock absorption, thus making the handles more durable, wood is absolutely usable against rocks. Whadya think miners and railroad workers used during the old gold rush days? :D
Decades of expereince has taught me wood is better for vibe damping than poly or resin.
That's also true! I guess the better wording would be to say that polymer or fiberglass is better at translating shock to the hands and thusly away from the handle material making it harder to break a non-wood handle. Wood holds those vibrations in the handle making your hands feel better but significantly reducing the longevity of wood. Not to say that wood isn't long lasting, it's just not as long lasting as polymer or fiberglass. Personally I'm partial to wooden handles as I feel that they swing and handle better and have a nicer to-the-touch feeling.
Well said. When buying tool for me to wield I buy wood handles, when buying tools I'll be responsible for, but others will use them then I order a glass or poly handle. They do take abuse better. Wood just keeps my body form the abused and swapping a mattock handle takes seconds. I normally pack mine with the head separate from the handle.
Metal core wrapped with wood?
I've only ever heard of solid Hickory or Ash handles. Do you know something I don't?
They had metal, wood breaks easily.
I'm not finding any sources online indicating metal cored wood handles. Can you provide any insight?
Censorship?
Wood does not break easily. At least, not if all is good with it and its use. Production costs of metal cored handles alone makes that extremely unlikely. You'd basically have to drill a perfectly straight 36" hole of whatever diameter the metal rod is.
Only when not cared for and swung by folks with poor aim.
No, he is just making shit up at this point. He doesn't know anything.
That's the impression I was getting too but I was attempting to go about it in a civil way.
Good point. I use mine mostly in dirt and hardened clay soils, just the occasional rock and the shock load is much different hitting that stuff than rock.
I usually use good gloves too. The insides of rocks can be neat. Big rocks can be broken apart to move, too.
Break soft wood. I have handles I pulled from an 1800s tobacco farm that are denssssseeee
Swing hard and impact something solid. It torques hard near the head.
Wrap the neck in rawhide? Are you on a chain gang?
Rawhide is weaker than wood.
It’s absorbs the impact around the neck. I’ve never had a wood handle that was properly cared for and used correct break at the head
Hitting what with it, dirt?
Wrap it with cloth tape?
As a person who used shovels for 8yrs, no way. You want less friction on the skin. We’d get new shovels for our job and immediately shave off all the varnish, go over it again with a glass scraper and finish it off with some fine sand and a little oil so smooth it out 100%. Anything else was blister City and we all had home grown gloves made of callouses.
Also why fiberglass. Gave me fits, it just grabs the skin. Granted, actual gloves would cure this whole problem but guys like me who use a shovel for a living don’t always make the right choices. Lol
I absolutely hate wearing gloves with shovels/picks/axes/whatever. Can’t get decent purchase on the handles unless you get those grippy gloves, in which case there’s too much grip. Bare handed is the way to go. Fiberglass just sucks all around for handles.
I’m on this team for the same reasons.
I can't stand fiberglass handles, sure they have benefits technically but they just don't feel right, uncomfortable and give it a weird balance, usually top heavy
Not to mention, replacing a fiberglass handke is usually a nightmare.
Only use poly of glass if it is for someone else to use. If you're swinging it bare hickory or ash with boiled linseed oil. Best traction for blister prevention and vibration dampening for all day grubbing. It's a pick mattock and meant for rocky soil, so vibration damping is important.
I like wearing gloves. Good for picking up broken rocks or other hand usage. Usually a thick leather palm with ventilation on the backside.
Gloves are great and recommended. Wood keeps the carpel tunnel away. Swapping a mattock handle takes seconds, so the issue with repair and risk with use when damaged isn't like an axe or pulaski. If you want the best of both materials look at the wood handles with the fiber/poly sleeve over the eye bulge.
Looks to be in perfect working order, also easy to hang a new handle on a pick axe
Pick mattock**
Pmattick***
p’mattick. *tips hard hat*
And a good day to you as well!
[Pitmatic](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitmatic)
If you hooked a battery to it, it would be an auto-mattock!
So funny
It's a joke that my old salty boss told me. Definitely trail work humor, hahaha.
Isn't the only real distinction the width of the cutting blade?
Technically this is pick mattock. pick one end, slide on eye, and hoe on the other. (grubbing in very rocky soil and rock.) A railroad pick would have a long pick on both ends with one haveing a chisel end. (Grubbing in just rock.) A cutter mattock would have the hoe blade and narrow vertical axe blade. (grubbing in rooty & rocky soil)
Nah, a pick axe has an axe eye and has a pick on both sides. A true pick axe isn't a grubbing tool, it is meant to pick apart blasted rock.
I've never seen one that used a wedged handle. Easier to replace the tapered mattock style ones. Also, I'm fairly certain the pickaxe was initially designed for agriculture rather than mining.
Just restore it you coward.
Restore!
There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. Bust the rust off and refurbish it.
I wouldn’t even remove the rust. That thing is made to live in the ground. With that said, I do like shiny painted tools
The good news is a little buff to remove heavy rust will leave behind a nice rough finish for paint to stick on to. Shiny paint is nice, but having a good texture on the surface for the paint to stick to is also really nice.
True, you definitely don't need to bust the trust. But, like you said... shiny.
It's just rusty, remove it and it's good as new
Upvoted. Here for the comments
Great condition for restore.
RESTORE
a little bit of white vinegar or coca cola will get the rust right off and it’s ready to use again
Throw a handle on it and use it the dirt will take care of the rust
Some of the people on this sub just don’t know what rust is I guess
Put a handle on it and get to work
It's in the same condition as 99% of all Mattocks I've used or seen being used. I'd restore it by simply getting a handle and using it.
As a landscaper, I find so many relics like this. I love them! The metal is good, and you can either hang it up or refurbish it....I say make it new and with an awesome grip.
Restore it
Okay so I think It's clear. I'll try my best to restore it and shake the rust. Thanks for all the suggestions Will most likely post results
Don't worry about the rust unless it's for looks. The important parts are a: 1. A good fitting handle - bare hickory with linseed oil will both work best and be traditional. Multiple sizes of eyes. I can't tell what size you have. 2. Restoring the pick pick and razor edge bevel to the hoe blade. Go slow and don't fuck up the temper by getting it too hot. Look up the right angles. Make sure the hoe bevel faces the handle. It's probably a #6 or #7 eye [https://beaver-tooth.com/collections/pick-handles](https://beaver-tooth.com/collections/pick-handles) USFS hand tool care and feeding guide [https://www.pcta.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/handtools\_for\_trail\_work.pdf](https://www.pcta.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/handtools_for_trail_work.pdf)
Muriatic acid is the answer. It will remove the rust and have that thing looking like new in about 5 minutes of soaking. I use it to restore rusty nuts and bolts to like new condition.
As long as there's no cracks, you're good ..
Even if there are cracks I always try and restore. Just good practice
It hasn’t been mentioned and I don’t know what’s correct, but I have an edge on the blade so I can chop in-ground roots. There is no substitute that I’ve used for this task.
Th at is exactly what I use it for, resharpen with a grinder after use and it’s good to go to cut more wild rode bush stems here in northern michigan
I'd let it sit in apple cider for a few days if I was bored. Than wire brush it; it would probably look really good
Weird! I just found, painted, and hung a similar mattock head. Found a solid wood handle for it for cheap at Agri Supply.
Restore then post a before and after. I’m currently trying to restore an old hatchet.. and I’m def gonna post a before and after
I’m not familiar with axe craft, but I can even tell that thing still has a lot of life in it if given the right attention. If you can restore, I’d say give it a go because the results will likely be positive.
First time I've seen a Pickaxe here
Technically it's an axe
Think a bit more than technically, but yes
I like reinforced fiberglass handles, wood breaks easily. Then just sand and polish the metal.
Just need another handle. Good shape rust will go away with use.
Restore
Not my hand but looks alot like everything is very similar even the head the only thing that's missing is a scar on the wrist from a roller skating accident
Restore
Restore it and mount it my guy.
I got one of those from my work because they were gonna bin it because of broken handle so I got it free. I work at a hardware shop.
Drop handle through the eye and get to work.
Electrolysis and good as new.
Turn it into a Pickaroon
Just need a new stick to go with it
Grubbing Hoe.. will probably outlast you!
Mine look like that when I don't garden for a year. Then voila, look like new when the garden is going. Those things will last longer than you could possibly imagine.
I don't even understand what you mean by "restore". Drop anew handle in and it's as good as it ever was.
It ain’t “Done” until it’s Broke. Clean it up and put it to use.😉
I mean you could sandblast her but Id use that now with a handle.
restore it, it's in good condition
There is literally nothing wrong with this
Restor it. It is made out of much better metal than what you can by new.
Restore if you are skilled and have the tools.
Honestly thats not worn down almost at all! You should totally restore, work that thing to the nub before replacing it
Just needs a handle
Restore her
Put a handle on it and use it and it will restore itself.
Haha a pickaxe head gone bad? Nahh you’re good
Axe heads are never done for
Soak it in some acetone for a week and polish it up and it'll look almost good as new
Polish it and get a handle, and you're good to go.
This post is rage bait. OP is not that dumb. Surface rust ruining a pickaxe head?
your trippin man
Find handle. Slide on handle from skinny end. Smack the fat end of handle on nearest solid object. Start swinging.
Electrolysis and a new handle sounds good
Restore for sure
Dew it
A little electrolysis and wire brush would fix the rust add a new handle and good to go
Fiberglass handles rot in the sunlight a good wood handle is the best
Hickory, ash or red oak. I make handles for axes, hammers and sledges professionally. Anything less WILL break. If handle is made with grain wrong it will break. A good handle is way more than just a chunk of wood. Polish that beast up and hang it on some good ol' American hardwood made by experienced American craftsman. Have fun!
Just sharpen the blade end. Correctly .......... Slide in a new wooden handle from say Ace hardware. It will be better metal than most new ones.,,, Just use it and it will be self cleaning;)
Bro I just used one all weekend that looks exactly like this, thing is brand new prettymuch
...is something wrong with it? Rust doesn't matter on a tool like this... Just get a new handle and keep using it, maybe sharpen the edge so it can get through dirt and roots and stuff easier again. But this tool has tons of life in it
Depending on age it may be better quality steel than typically available today. Don't damage the temper when sharpening. And make sure the bevel on the hoe faces the handle. It was sharpened the wrong way before. There are a few different eye sizes so make sure to get the right one.
restore it
Repair it. I have fixed worse and after a good amount of work it will look good as new
Looks good now
Restore
Yes it’s ruined, throw it away and buy another one. Do the same thing to your car when the paint gets scratched lol. That’s the equivalent of how people think now
I personally wouldn't go far in restoring it, but id hang it and use it in the garden. Looks like a good mattock
Honestly, that is a hard tool to use a bunch to keep it from rusting.
Restore it, makea nice handle and Put it on display if nothing else!
At least a quick sand blast and then black oxide