Yet another hatchet "restoration". With this one I am starting to get the feel of these casting experiments!

Bought this hatchet a flea market in my town for 3€, it has a makers mark on one side but it's not readable anymore.
The weight with the wooden handle was 983g (2.2lb). With the aluminum cast handle it's now at 2159g (4.8lb) pretty much double.

I say this kind of handle won't break. Ever. It has no play and I doubt the amount of metal surrounding the heat can break with use. it's just too beefy! Of course it has downsides like added weight and grip. Some will say vibration too and others the fact that will be cold to touch much more than wood but I don't use hatchets that much to notice any of these downsides.

For me is a showpiece, this project is just for fun, my hope is to inspire others to make something just for fun.

I just started to list some of the stuff I use for my projects in this amazon storefront:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/blackbeardprojects
It's affiliate marketing, so if you order something from here you'll help the channel for free! Thank you!

Index of operation and materials:
0:18 Electrolysis: water and sodium carbonate solution, parts connected to negative side and steel sacrificial anodes to positive sice of a DC power supply (car battery charger). 2-3 hrs at 10amp.
1:08 Hot wire foam cutter machine and high density foam (kind used as home insulation).
1:54 Smoothing foam pattern with 320 sandpaper.
2:55 Gluing foam piece with hot glue.
3:20 Regular white plaster brushed on foam to help with cast quality.
4:03 Lost foam mold preparation by sifting fine sand (I'm using burned out petrobond sand but any fine and dry sand would work)
5:15 Burning out riser foam
5:40 Adding sodium carbonate as degassing agent and "lite salt" (a mix of potasium cloride and sodium cloride) as flux to the molten aluminum.
10:10 Cutting riser and feeder on metal cutting bandsaw
10:55 Refining shape with rasp
11:12 Sanding from 80 to 800 grit
11:49 Polishing the handle polishing paste on cotton wheel
12:08 Re-grinding bevels and sharpening with 2x72 belt grinder

Thanks a lot for watching, I hope you liked the video!
Suggestions and comments are welcome.
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