Boiling it in water softens the permabond and makes it easier to get out.

Hi would you know How old a plumb house might be It has two lines around the name , and the letters are fine lines. Thanks.

Excellent info.  Your videos are giving me the confidence I need to start refurbishing all the axe heads I've acquired.  A couple of thoughts.

It should be possible to use a hydraulic press to reshape the sides of the eye.  Bend the bottom of the eye closer together to give it a wedge shape.  I would take it slow and keep checking the progress.  Use a piece of hardwood to avoid metal on metal contact and subsequent damage.

Many epoxies are vulnerable to chemicals.  Next time you remove permabond a good test would be to drop the chunks into glass jars containing different chemicals.  MEK, Acetone, methylene chloride for instance.

I would use my press to drive the permabond/wood out as one piece, but fabricating a driver that roughly matches the eye and devising a jig to hold the head might be too difficult for the average person.  

Good stuff.

Ive hung several plumbs and have a few dozen others yet to be re-hung. Ive noticed on quite alot of them i run into eyes that are misaligned. Especially the boys axes and 3 lbers. It just makes it more of a pain when fitting a handle and having to compensate. I usually find myself procrastinating on the permabond ones too. So much drilling. Thanks for the info. Great video.

The best thing for all of you to do is quite buying Plumbs! Quite buying them and sell the ones you have to me. CHEAP!😂

Another thing to look out for in any modernish epoxy hang, is that once you get all the crap out, there is often very little flare ie. little or no 'hourglass' shape... just near parallel sides. Measure it and rectify it before hanging on a new stick. Easiest way I know is to use fairly chunky carbide burrs in a drill......or not buying them in the first place
ps. the crack pattern in the little scout plumb screams out to me that at some point someone has been using this as a wedge, pounding on it with a heavy hammer. You will often know there is going to be a crack just by looking how the sides of the eye are blown out. Very common fault on folded eye european axes that are structurall weak, but adequate, at this point ..... until you start slamming it with a hammer.

Hello. Vic here. First real head set today. Over the years I did some things we are not so proud of lol… Thanks for the caliper idea. That will help with figuring things out. Thanks.

That Permabond is a royal pain. Don't see a lot of Plumb axes in my AO but the older Hults Bruks have it as well.

Good info.
I've only got 2 plumb's, a heavily worn scout hatchet head and my fiberglass handle framing hammer so I have little experience with them.

A few years back I bought what turned out to be a Chinese permabond knockoff at a yard sale for 50 cents and even it was a pain in the ass to deal with.

I've never found a Plumb in the wild here in Canada but we have a lot of Swedish and German axes. The Swedish axes in particular tend to be hour-glassed and if you're not used to it then it can really mess with hanging. A lot of these axes were epoxied  so maybe that explains it.

would small blowtorch melt the permabond inside the eye? it has to be a way of getting it out easier without loosing temper . I am thinking hanging the head above a bowl with water withe the blade dipped in water and just melting the permabond

Hahaha was really
Hoping Permabond was on this list and sure enough! First thing! God, I can’t stomach removing it - drilling it out, it stinks, just frustrating! Heard sticking it in boiling water will help melt the epoxy? Would love to see if that works?

Def not a fan of the paper label, later years of plumb but anything else, I actually quite enjoy them (next to my fav of all time: Collins!)
Def some of the hardest, most tempered steel I have ever come across.

Well. Maybe you just helped lower the auction site prices of Plumb axes. Thank you!

Do you collect anything in particular or just whatever suits your fancy?

Plumb blue streak. I am curious, I have not seen as many Plumb Blue Streak axes as I have Kelly black raven. Curious of how much a blue streak in rough condition with a good eye is worth these days? Have you ever seen one?

Do you have a favorite manufacturer?

Does anyone have any info or age for the head at 6:55 ? I found one under a wood pile on the property i just bought last march. Cleaned it up, and surprisingly, the handle is still good. I just would love to know the age. It is not the bonded head.

Wow. I hadn’t thought of 70s axes as vintage. I thought by the 70s it was just about all over for buying a decent axe. I bought both a plumb and a Kelly in the 70s but neither was like my Dads axes.

Nice!  Curious whats on top of your list for tassie style axes?

Is using a roll pin a good idea? What are your thoughts on this?