Axe recommendations please

[northmanlogging]

If ya plan on using both sides (which technically you souldn't on a single bit axe) then a straight handle works.

But realistically a curved handle lends itself to a more powerful swing, cause yer using less strength to hang onto the damn thing and focusing on swinging

 

[madhatte]

Also a curved handle puts the bit ahead of your swing, so it makes it harder to wuss out and pull the punch. All around better for cutting.

 

[ArtB]

I'll show you mine if you show yours?

Here are a few handy in the basement, a few dozen in garage sheds, at the cabin, and at least one in each car and truck.

My best handles are from shagbark hickory from about 30 YO from what appear to be 2 or 3 inch dia 'saplings' taken in the spring from Illinois creek bottoms, nice dense growth rings. Hauled a few dozen back to the PNW a number of times when back to IL for visits.

All the heads the photo are from garage sales except the broad ax which was in an antique store. Had been used as a wedge and the eye pounded shut, had to re-forge the eye, but only paid $5 for it.

I use a 7" angle grinder to sharpen old axes, do the grinding under a steady flow of water from garden hose.

 

[BrantSFGDS]

Well, I ordered a Helko Tasmanian Timbersport axe today. I'll post a review of it once I have it in hand and get to swing it some. I think it will suit my needs well. I really like their Expedition (Felling axe) as well but it's even bigger than the one I ordered. I may try to restore something and duplicate it if the practice axe isn't big enough, or just for giggles.

 

[BrantSFGDS]

Have at ye! My co-worker and I have been making our own handles now for just a couple of weeks and are astounded at how long it took us to get around to trying it. Bad handles are not going to be a thing that we tolerate any more. I just ripped boards for a dozen blanks out of a blowdown ash this Monday and there's still probably 20 or more handles left in that stem. I rough them on my bandsaw, refine the shape with a drawknife, finish the shape with a rasp, and then sand to comfort and seal with boiled linseed oil. From log to handle is maybe 2 hours if I'm puttering around drinking coffee and listening to music. This is surprisingly easy.

Need any more ash trees? We got 40 acres of the things we're trying to knock down before they rot.

 

[madhatte]

Need any more ash trees? We got 40 acres of the things we're trying to knock down before they rot.

Our ashes are scarce but we do find them occasionally. Here's what this handle looked like roughed on the bandsaw, and then when shaped before hanging the head. I'll post a pic later when it's done.

 

[BrantSFGDS]

We'll see how things go with this new axe. The handle that's on it is 31" but the replacement handle is the same as on the Felling axe and it's 35 or 36. The point is, they offer different handles for this thing. I'm a rookie with an axe so I don't know what I like yet, but if I need a longer haft for this thing you might be getting a project! I'm excited about this axe, I hope it performs the way I think it should. As far as vintage axes, what do you like for a felling axe and do you have a preference for splitting heads?

 

[madhatte]

The axe I split with the most is an ugly old no-name double-bit that kicked around my office for nobody knows how long. It's pitted and worn and there are no marks remaining to tell who made it. I think it was originally a Western pattern but it's so chewed up that that may be wishful thinking. It did not want to be handled, really, but I did it anyway -- the eye was dented badly enough that it was pretty tough to get a handle to stay put. I did clean up both edges a bit so that they were at least parallel corner-to-corner. This axe sits on my front porch with a no-name pickaroon and a slab I ripped out of a blowdown fir for a splitting surface. Neither edge is sharp. It splits like a dream.

My favorite felling tool is a chainsaw. I'm no Luddite.

My favorite axe for cutting is a 50's-era Plumb double-bit cruiser that I found in our warehouse. It sits under the bench seat in my work rig. I have several axes that are prettier or less worn and which would easily command bigger eBay dollars but this thing is just nice. Every time I find a log across a road, the decision I have to make is "PPE up?" If yes, I gotta gas/oil the saw, get into chaps, find earplugs, all that. If it's small enough and under little enough tension that I can avoid that, safely, I'll trade the extra effort of an axe for the extra effort of getting geared up for one or two cuts. Similarly, if I expect more blowdowns and I'm already geared up, I won't take anything off. My truck is pretty dusty.

I am always ready/willing to buy whatever axe catches my fancy. If it's $10 or less and I recognize the name and it's not totally worn out, I'll probably buy it without question. If it costs more than $20, I'll want to think about how much work it will take to bring it to my meager standards, and what I will use it for. If it's more than $50 It better have a super-cool story or be in perfect condition. I passed on a very nice-looking Puget Sound pattern falling axe for $50 yesterday because it was pitted enough to obscure the maker's name, it had no handle, and the temper lines were no longer visible. I bought a similar axe just a few months earlier for $10 and have yet to hang it on a handle. I surely don't need another of the same thing which also comes with regret.

Long/short -- buy lots of inexpensive old axes. They'll mostly lack handles. Learn to hang them. Learn to use them. Find out what it is that you like. Buy more of that.

 

[BrantSFGDS]

It seems the Dayton and Jersey patterns are the most common around here for falling/chopping. I'm intrigued by the Jersey but I've never used one so I don't know how they perform on our local flora.

 

[1270d]

If you don't mind me asking how old are you? When you started talking about tar paper shacks and blacksmiths I believe that era ended sometime in the thirties. Maybe into the forties.

There were still guys doing the tar paper shack thing in the sixties and seventies here. And limbing with axes and loading by hand. Be curious to hear more stories from tree stump.

 

[bitzer]

There were still guys doing the tar paper shack thing in the sixties and seventies here. And limbing with axes and loading by hand. Be curious to hear more stories from tree stump.

Yeah I was going through some of my books last night and was looking for some dates. I know for sure the fifties and now that you say that I don't doubt it. I think the last major river run here was in the late thirties. I'd love to hear some stories too.

 

[1270d]

I'm not sure when the last river driving was done here. There we guys running logging camps even later, but more mechanized, hauling the shacks from job to job with log trucks etc.

As a side note on how times have changed, my grandfather was a logger who passed away in 1967. His yearly production volumes was approximately the same as what we do in a good week.

 

[BrantSFGDS]

I don't know squat about logging on a large scale or the glory days of the lumberjack, however, I deer hunt close to this little town in Michigan by the name of Luther. Luther has what's called "Luther Logging Days" to celebrate the logging industry they once had and judging by the equipment they have decorating everything in town I'd say they were logging well up past when I was born in 72.

 

[ArtB]

Am just a 'hobby logger', but still like to just trim with an axe, as can enjoy the sound of the bite.

re: old tarpaper...reminded me of a trip to the upper Gaspe in the early 90's, there was still an operating log flume in operation. Only flume I have ever seen still operating (other than Disneyland <G>).

Too poor back in the '50s to own a chain saw, recall felling hickory, oak, and walnut in IL with crosscut saw and ax.
A neighbor near here still lived in tarpaper shack he built in the 30's until the late 80's, when he died the heirs sold his 5 acres for $3 MIL or so, shopping center there now.

 

[BrantSFGDS]

You know, I've hunted out of tarpaper shacks in Michigan. I never thought much about them until now, I bet they're remnants from the logging days. They were all on property that had sections that had been logged decades ago and the land owners maintained the shacks for deer hunting. They call them shantys up there.

 

[bitzer]

You know, I've hunted out of tarpaper shacks in Michigan. I never thought much about them until now, I bet they're remnants from the logging days. They were all on property that had sections that had been logged decades ago and the land owners maintained the shacks for deer hunting. They call them shantys up there.

Lumberjacks were called "shanty boys" before they were called lumberjacks

 

[milkman]

I don't know squat about logging on a large scale or the glory days of the lumberjack, however, I deer hunt close to this little town in Michigan by the name of Luther. Luther has what's called "Luther Logging Days" to celebrate the logging industry they once had and judging by the equipment they have decorating everything in town I'd say they were logging well up past when I was born in 72.

I live in the country and there is a little town about 2 miles from me that is called Mooleyville. I remember when it had a couple of stores and a Post Office, not much left there now. I was talking to the lady that used to be the Post Mistress and she told me the story of how the town got it's name. According to her story, the town sprang up as a sawmill town because of all the timber around. The sawmill was from Michigan made by the Mooley Saw Company, possibly a mutation of the Muley Saw, hence the town of Mooleyville. Don't know if it's a true story, but she made it sound interesting.

 

[BrantSFGDS]

The axe I split with the most is an ugly old no-name double-bit that kicked around my office for nobody knows how long. It's pitted and worn and there are no marks remaining to tell who made it. I think it was originally a Western pattern but it's so chewed up that that may be wishful thinking. It did not want to be handled, really, but I did it anyway -- the eye was dented badly enough that it was pretty tough to get a handle to stay put. I did clean up both edges a bit so that they were at least parallel corner-to-corner. This axe sits on my front porch with a no-name pickaroon and a slab I ripped out of a blowdown fir for a splitting surface. Neither edge is sharp. It splits like a dream.

My favorite felling tool is a chainsaw. I'm no Luddite.

My favorite axe for cutting is a 50's-era Plumb double-bit cruiser that I found in our warehouse. It sits under the bench seat in my work rig. I have several axes that are prettier or less worn and which would easily command bigger eBay dollars but this thing is just nice. Every time I find a log across a road, the decision I have to make is "PPE up?" If yes, I gotta gas/oil the saw, get into chaps, find earplugs, all that. If it's small enough and under little enough tension that I can avoid that, safely, I'll trade the extra effort of an axe for the extra effort of getting geared up for one or two cuts. Similarly, if I expect more blowdowns and I'm already geared up, I won't take anything off. My truck is pretty dusty.

I am always ready/willing to buy whatever axe catches my fancy. If it's $10 or less and I recognize the name and it's not totally worn out, I'll probably buy it without question. If it costs more than $20, I'll want to think about how much work it will take to bring it to my meager standards, and what I will use it for. If it's more than $50 It better have a super-cool story or be in perfect condition. I passed on a very nice-looking Puget Sound pattern falling axe for $50 yesterday because it was pitted enough to obscure the maker's name, it had no handle, and the temper lines were no longer visible. I bought a similar axe just a few months earlier for $10 and have yet to hang it on a handle. I surely don't need another of the same thing which also comes with regret.

Long/short -- buy lots of inexpensive old axes. They'll mostly lack handles. Learn to hang them. Learn to use them. Find out what it is that you like. Buy more of that.

I don't know much about vintage axes. Do you have particular brands you look for? I may pick up an old head for giggles but I'm not sure what names I should search for. Plumb and Kelly seem to come up a lot but those are the only two I've heard of.

 

[madhatte]

Plumb, Kelly/True Temper, Collins, Vaughan, Hults Bruks, Gransfors Bruks, Norlund, Warren/Sager, Marshall Wells. There were hundreds of names back in the day; those are a few of the more common.

 

[BrantSFGDS]

What seems to be the best pattern for hardwood, the Dayton?