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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Mar 20, 2019 - 12:58pm PT
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Pacyew! I just checked out my early 70’s Chouinard Piolets & I agree the spike ferrule is slightly smaller in diameter. A fact my un-discerning eye never caught before.
Steve! I agree with your comment on restoring ice axes.
I don't think cleaning up ice axes to restore them sacrifices value provided it is done carefully.
However, I have returned two Chouinard axes that were damaged, that I bought on EBay. The sellers did not consider the damage significant enough to mention. One had a cracked shaft. The other axe had been cleaned on a course grinding-wheel to remove rust-pitting on the metal. When I looked at it, I considered the damage irreversible. Obviously, I was not willing to pay for Chouinard axes damaged that badly. Perhaps other people would not be bothered by that kind of damage?
In my world of being both a collector/historian of Chouinard gear & an EBay seller, I always appreciate & will pay more for axes & tools that are well-photographed, well described, & of course in good condition. In turn, I try to do the same when I sell stuff on EBay.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Mar 20, 2019 - 01:02pm PT
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I don't think cleaning up ice axes to restore them sacrifices value provided it is done carefully.
I would have appreciated a museum conservator's opinion about how to conserve old ice axes in a museum conservation quality way.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Mar 20, 2019 - 02:55pm PT
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Put them back in action...make ice climbing real again!
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johntp
Trad climber
Punter
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Mar 20, 2019 - 03:24pm PT
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Polishing the original black finish off of a piece of hardware does hurt the value since it isn't really restoration per se.
I had some Forrest Mjollnor picks that were extremely rusted. I sanded them down to get rid of the rust. Probably not the best thing to do.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Mar 20, 2019 - 05:47pm PT
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Once you are actually dealing with gear that is more than 75 years old then a strict conservators approach comes into play in my estimation and patina starts to matter just as bluing would in an antique firearm restoration. Mitigate any rust and work with what you have at that point by way of appearance.
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