Re Steeling a worn out axe head with Blacksmith, Alec Jones

In the days when axes were made using two materials, Wrought iron for the body and high carbon steel for the blade, the steel edge would wear away to nothing after years of use and sharpening. This left the axe with a useless, wrought iron edge.
When an axe got to this stage, it was common, not to buy a new one, but to have a blacksmith fire weld on a new steel 'bit', giving the axe a second life and a few more generations use.
This particular axe, we believe to be pre WW2, belongs to a friend of mine, who found it buried in some woods. As found, the shape of the blade was very deformed, and it was evident, especially at the toe, that the old steel edge was long gone.
This is the method I used to restore the axe to what I believe to be more like the original shape. I hope you enjoy the process!

[@strategicconsensus]

Thank you for publishing this video. Leafing through some 100+ year old tool catalogues I found that most manufacturers would offer to re-steel old axes. And an account by a local blacksmith mentioned that, as late as the 1940's, his workshop would be stacked high with boxes containing axe heads sent in for re-steeling. But when I went online to look for descriptions of the process I could find almost nothing and it seems the practice went out of fashion almost overnight after WWII.

[@JustinTopp]

I have an hatchet head I found that was not appeared to be worn but is super soft so I plan to re steel it. I saw it in a book first and went to do more research and this was the only video on it!

[@possumsausage5029]

Excellent work!!! My brother found an old double bit on the farm that has a wrought body and not much high carbon steel left on the badly worn bits. I want to re steel it but I'm not sure what the best steel to use would be? Why did you go with O1? I've been working with wrought quite a bit lately and really been getting into forge welding. I'm really pumped about this challenge