How to learn to use an axe and hatchet the right way

Let the tool do the job , swing with finesse rather than dumb brute force , and stop when you get tired , concentrate on what you are doing at all times , so what if it takes a bit longer to do the job.
In addition , just use plain old horse-sense.
 
Books: (Northern) Bushcraft by Mors Kochanski who had worked as a timber faller cutting pulpwood with an axe and also taught courses at the University of Alberta. Woodsmanship by Bernard Mason was already mentioned. Dudley Cook's Ax Book is also very good. The USFS axe manual is online and has recently been updated. There's also an axe safety playlist on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLimUjPXXQvqfktvH8VObKcg2woSJX_n_E&si=JQPqBI8zW9wlhURK To my mind there's four categories of axe safety: 0) unsafe (recklessness, novice ignorance, or carelessness or overconfidence by those who know better), 1) bushcraft course with liability concerns (safety is the main objective in and of itself, cutting wood is a distant second), 2) timbersports (chainmail and being very good at doing the exact same thing, in the same circumstances, in the same way a zillion times), 3) cordwood cutters (and like-minded axe users). Cordwood cutters have to be flexible given that they will be confronted with all sorts of circumstances that can't be accommodated by overly rigid safety rules and so must incorporate safety principles. Cutters have efficiency and productivity as objectives, which constrains the excesses of impractical dummy rules. If you cut a cord of firewood with an axe you will be taking multiple thousands of swings so you better be safe or it will catch up with you much sooner than it will an occasional camper who cuts up one sapling a year. FYI Timbersports events include things that are not advisable outside of that context. Standing block in particular makes me cringe (lower cuts should be horizontal or close to it, not directed upwards where deflections can head towards the face and neck) and the cuts are too high up to be safe, were it not for the protection of the leggings. Anyway, Ben Scott and Steven Edholm (Skillcult) have the best advice geared to the category 3 axe user but chainmail is still a good idea if you can afford it!
 
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