i posted this in the wilderness and survival area, but figured it belongs here too...
decided to do something worth taking pictures of today in order to play with the new camera, so i thought i would put together a little "axe skillz" post for anyone interested...
this is basically a less-extreme reproduction of the work that oldjimbo did here. i suppose someone will find it useful...
splitting large wood with a packable axe:
take a hardwood branch 2-3" in diameter, seasoned is best but green will work too. cut off a piece about 8-10 inches long. a saw makes this easier but for the sake of demonstration i stuck with the axe.
split the piece in the middle, i used a baton for precision.
trim the ends even and shape the blocks into wedges with short chops. if you used a saw for step 1, straightening the ends isn't necessary. you want the front edges rather thin. this can be tricky with an axe, but if you lay the wedges down on the log and use short soft chops you can get a pretty good edge on them.
use a baton to drive the axe about 1/2" into the log across the end to create a score line. this will make the split open up more easily.
next, use a heavy baton to drive the axe into the end of the log deep to start the split.
as the split starts to open either on the end or on the sides, drive in a wedge wherever you can fit it.
(continued)
decided to do something worth taking pictures of today in order to play with the new camera, so i thought i would put together a little "axe skillz" post for anyone interested...
this is basically a less-extreme reproduction of the work that oldjimbo did here. i suppose someone will find it useful...
splitting large wood with a packable axe:
take a hardwood branch 2-3" in diameter, seasoned is best but green will work too. cut off a piece about 8-10 inches long. a saw makes this easier but for the sake of demonstration i stuck with the axe.
split the piece in the middle, i used a baton for precision.
trim the ends even and shape the blocks into wedges with short chops. if you used a saw for step 1, straightening the ends isn't necessary. you want the front edges rather thin. this can be tricky with an axe, but if you lay the wedges down on the log and use short soft chops you can get a pretty good edge on them.
use a baton to drive the axe about 1/2" into the log across the end to create a score line. this will make the split open up more easily.
next, use a heavy baton to drive the axe into the end of the log deep to start the split.
as the split starts to open either on the end or on the sides, drive in a wedge wherever you can fit it.
(continued)
