Sharpening an axe for carving and shaping

There is no one size fits all for carving any carving tool because the shape of the actual cut you want, the reflected result from the cutting edge and bevel,  relies on different issues, that's why carvers often have what appear to be the same tools with different shapes on or behind the cutting edges to their carving tools. It's the same with axes. When you do find an axe you like you will most likely use it and adapt it to different tasks. Then again, there are tasks that axe will be difficult to use on.

Here is how I sharpened this axe for the work we will be doing. It's a new axe made by or for Husqvarna who make the chainsaws and is hand forged. It costs £23, is quite heavy and has a comfortable feel in use.

I clamped my axe in the vise at a presentable angle so I could file into or toward the body of steel. I used fine 8" and 10" mill files, but one or the other will work fine. To remove the file marks I suggest either using the sharpening plates or small diamond files. I then polish the bevels on my strop to further refine the cutting edge. The end result is a cutting edge sharp enough to sharpen my pencils with.

If you have my sharpening plate setup you can sharpen an axe using circular motions and going through the grits from 250, 600 to 1200 and then follow on with the strop and buffing compound. just keep the axe as low as possible to prevent too much convex round above the cutting edge.

Here is the end result to my axe cutting edge.