An All-Around Axe

C

cm_bushman

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Oct 22, 2012
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314
Is there such a thing? I know most axes are not recommended to be hammered, given their temper and design, but mauls are pretty useless for felling. The thin bits of some felling axes make splitting large logs a chore, as well as risky.

Is there an axe, if only in your opinion, that you would recommend as a truly all-around axe? An axe that lends itself to maul and splitting duties (has a striking face), as well as felling, limbing, and breaching (for the heck of it)?

I'm not actively looking for such a thing, but I was wondering about this the other day.
 
Well to my knowledge there's not a splitting maul designed to fell trees. So I would say the best choice for an allrounder would be a 4ish pound double bit.

But halfaxe is right, if there was only one axe you needed that wouldn't be any fun :D
 
Double bit, 3 1/4 pound, 31" handle. One bit for thinner for felling, chopping, clean limbing, the other geometrically different for rough limbing, splitting, etc. Axes are the best splitting tools 90% of the time anyway.
 
This is the one almost every Finnish household possesed. You can do everything from chopping down trees to build your house with it if you have to. Billnas No 12,2.


E.DB.
 
Excellent question, and one that has already been posed numerous times here on this forum (that I am aware of; likely many more that I am not. [Steve Tall -- where are you?]). Just in case you have not come across this thread before, here is a serious attempt to answer that very question, with some good follow-up discussion:http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...only-one-axe-(or-only-two-or-only-three-axes)

and the original post on AxeConnected http://axeconnected.blogspot.ca/2011/05/in-search-of-axe-for-world-made-by-hand.html

Back to your question now:

G-pig said:
Double bit, 3 1/4 pound, 31" handle. One bit for thinner for felling, chopping, clean limbing, the other geometrically different for rough limbing, splitting, etc.
Click to expand...

That would be pretty close to my choice, although I think I'd go with something just a little bit smaller; 2 3/4 - 3 lb. head, 30" handle. And double bit, for the same reasons.


cm_bushman said:
I know most axes are not recommended to be hammered
Click to expand...

Are you talking about hammering on an axe in reference to splitting firewood, or did I miss something?
 
Are you talking about hammering on an axe in reference to splitting firewood, or did I miss something?
Click to expand...

Yes, or being used as a hammer with a wedge. Single bit only in that case, however. I'm personally partial to double bits myself. Like I said, this is more of a thought experiment. I've read the older thread, but I was just wondering how thoughts may have changed.

The Rafting axe is a great design I had not seen before. That is pretty much exactly what I was thinking, as far as a single bit is concerned.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
This is the one almost every Finnish household possesed. You can do everything from chopping down trees to build your house with it if you have to. Billnas No 12,2.


E.DB.
Click to expand...

Strange looking axe, I must say. :P Why the pronounced "curve" (bend) on the handle? I'm not debating whether it works well or not, it's just an unfamiler design to me.
 
cm_bushman said:
Yes, or being used as a hammer with a wedge. Single bit only in that case, however. I'm personally partial to double bits myself. Like I said, this is more of a thought experiment. I've read the older thread, but I was just wondering how thoughts may have changed.

The Rafting axe is a great design I had not seen before. That is pretty much exactly what I was thinking, as far as a single bit is concerned.
Click to expand...

As far as I'm concerned, pounding an axe is not necessary. If you need to, use the sharp axe to carve wedges and a maul, and use those. Wood splitting for me, at least for the purpose of firewood, never includes pounding anything as a wedge.
 
I don't know of any axe that would withstand hammering on as if it were a wedge. The eye walls are too thin. Squashed eyes from this kind of abuse is, in my estimation, the easiest way to 'kill' an axe.

Now, using the poll end to hammer wedges is done all the time. Typically plastic wedges so the axe steel doesn't deform. The rafting pattern with its hardened poll might stand up the best to this, but from what I've heard you'll typically loosen your head faster than it would deform from hammering. I personally don't use axes in this way so that's just hearsay on my part.
 
cm_bushman said:
Yes, or being used as a hammer with a wedge. Single bit only in that case, however.
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm just odd, but in all the firewood I've split with axes (lots), I've never found it necessary to hammer on one to drive it through the piece of wood. I used to (rarely, and only before I learned the twisting technique to split wood) sometimes flip the axe, when stuck into a block of wood, upside-down onto another block to drive the axe further through, usually finishing the split in one hit. Does that make any sense?
I don't like the idea of using an axe as a wedge partially for the sake of the handle, which tends to get "chewed up" faster that way, and also because it takes much longer.
 
G-pig said:
As far as I'm concerned, pounding an axe is not necessary. If you need to, use the sharp axe to carve wedges and a maul, and use those. Wood splitting for me, at least for the purpose of firewood, never includes pounding anything as a wedge.
Click to expand...

I'm with G-pig on this. The few times I've used wedges, I've carved them myself and pounded them with a tree limb. I just don't use them enough to warrant buying and carrying them.
 
Sparrow92 said:
Maybe I'm just odd, but in all the firewood I've split with axes (lots), I've never found it necessary to hammer on one to drive it through the piece of wood. I used to (rarely, and only before I learned the twisting technique to split wood) sometimes flip the axe, when stuck into a block of wood, upside-down onto another block to drive the axe further through, usually finishing the split in one hit. Does that make any sense?
I don't like the idea of using an axe as a wedge partially for the sake of the handle, which tends to get "chewed up" faster that way, and also because it takes much longer.
Click to expand...

Once I got proficient with the twist method of splitting I left the maul in the shed. Haven't used once in over a year I'd say. In my estimation I'd say that a lot of maul splitting is unnecessary, and inefficient. To answer the question from the OP, I'd say a 3.5# single bit with tight concave cheeks (not too jowly) on a 32" handle would be my go to 'all around axe.' Although I'm sure I could be convinced to switch to a double bit pretty easily. :)
 
Sparrow92, I have one of those Finnish axes that my Father brought home back in the mid-50's and it has a "Conventional" style handle. The one in that photo looks like a replacement to me, and why the bend at the bottom?
John
 
I split wood with axes but only during a period of about a month in the winter, That activity constitutes a minority of my axe use even though I heat primarily with wood and so use what I would characterize as a lot. Mostly I want an axe within reach to rough out other work before I go for the plane. For example, if I can get away with it, that is to say it doesn't lead to extra waste I will use an axe to trim planks in place of a saw for ripping, or fitting crossing members if I'm building a scaffold. Most of the time it involves one-handed work, close in. A short handle that doest'n get in the way and being able to grip up under and behind the cutting edge are two things I want that make an axe truly versatile.
Right off the bat I can think of only two cases where the poll of an axe is supposed to be used as anything other than a counterbalance, in shingle work and bludgeoning an animal to death to save on bullets.
That handle was a radical departure or better to say an exaggerated variation following a bend in the wood. To be honest I really don't know at what stage I made this picture. I tend to whittle away on my handles over a period till I like the way it's feeling. It made a very good grip when picking the axe up or reaching for it, in use would tend to snag from time to time. For better or worse it has been abandoned for a simpler form.
This is the convention for a handle on a typical Finnish axe. Not so different form mine given that each stick of wood a handle comes from is unique.
http://suomenmuseotonline.fi/fi/kuva/Lusto+-+Suomen+Metsämuseo/lres_28555.jpg

E.DB.
 
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Sorry guys, I didn't mean to wedge the axe in the wood and hit it with a hammer, I meant to use it as a hammer in conjunction with a wedge. If I were going to need a hammer as well, I'd just use a maul.

The Finnish Axe design is very practical, even the handle, which I believe is usually fairly straight with a crook at the end for retention. it "throat" on them makes for a good place to grip up on finer work, and the poll makes for a fine hammer. I prefer a hudson bay style over a Finnish pattern, however, it's simply what I'm used to.
 
So what would make an axe versatile, or good for wide ranging use? Maybe first it should be understood how wide ranging use is defined. It would be a mistake to include things that an axe has no busisness being used for like pounding with the poll, hardened or not, though it's a common enough misuse even by people with experience, so certain actions can be eliminated also to include digging, though chopping roots is legitimate. Then going on to a universal use all the specialty axes can be eliminated, mauls, side axes, twybills, the range of carpentry axes. As far as activities carried out using an axe there are the conventional uses which first spring to mind to include splitting firewood, maybe chopping down trees though it seems hard to justify in any way other than play, but play is always legitimate, same with bucking or most perpendicular to the grain actions, limbing, (a perpendicular to the grain action), what more? All of these have a particular context in common that could be called field work maybe. But then there is the other category of activity, done typically more close to home or workplace, more often than not relating to building and carpentry, maintenance and domestic work or even craft work so, preparation work in carving, and building materials, making kindling, fencing, chopping ice, slaughtering animals, splitting and riving longer pieces of wood. I don't think any of these are too remote and so should be included when considering versatility. So then the physical characteristics that make an axe useful in such a range include, in the middle or towards the small side in terms of size, with a handle length not long but maybe longer than the head size may suggest, the cheeks would be rather thick providing for a gouging action which requires not so much skill, with a related rounded bevel and a fair arch to the cutting edge. Also a form that allows a grip up high and in behind the cutting edge for controlled chopping and pairing. I guess it's clear now that I'm just using words to describe the picture up there.


E.DB.
 
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A combination maul and felling axe? Misconceived at the outset. Sometimes you see the problem addressed by beefing up or strengthening the eye walls, simply compounding the problems.
E.DB
 
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