Another Nessmuk......

Dave, you get the drawing to Ray, he will have the hatchet done the next day, I think. Yep, I don't know how you turn out such grand work so quickly, Ray. It's NOT FAIR!
 
John, Dave is mailing me the drawing. I won't be making it for awhile. Hope to have a couple more knives and sheaths done Friday. I've got a mini knife in Eugene, Or. Saturday and the the Las Vegas Show the end of January so I'm trying to build up inventory for these shows. I really like making knives and having the new shop has got me super charged.....
 
The original Nessmuk (aka George Washington Sears) knives and hand axe from his book Woodcraft and Camping - his 3 "blades" for everything

nessmuk.gif

IIRC the dimensions of the original was a bit bigger than Dave mentions - it was his "canoe" axe so super lightweight was not the consideration it is today.
16" handle
blade 6 1/2" overall width
cutting edge 2 1/2-3" tall
weigh 1 -1 1/2 lbs
Thickness at the eye 3/4-1"
The idea of the double bit was as Dave said a thick steep angle for splitting and a thin chopping blade - the side of the head was used for pounding.
The scale can be judged from the image - considering that the original Nessmuk fixed blade knife had a 5" blade

The Woodcraft and Camping book has been reprinted and is available from Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0486211452/002-5703438-2756848?_encoding=UTF8
 
Thanks Chuck, that pic was in a link Ray sent me to but it didn't include the specs on the axe. You stated its purpose far more succinctly that I managed; writing is harder than people give credit for! :D I've been trying to find my copy of the relevant passage from Woodcraft and it's driving me crazy. Not that that's any big feat or anything...
 
Dave - I've seen lots of versions over the years of the Nessmuk axe - from the small to large. IMO an axe under 16 oz head weight is just not that useful - I've carried/used a 20oz single bit hawk as a camp axe for years and the lighter ones in the 12-13oz range I've used just didn't have enough heft to be all that much more useful than a large bladed knife at least not in my experience so......

Also I'm not sure if I got the size from Woodcraft or if it is based on examples of originals from that time period that I've seen/read about elsewhere. Back in the 1950-1960's Brad Angier and other woodsmen often wrote about Nessmuk and his influence on their woodcraft skills and that may be where I got the info from - which is now only imbedded in my thick skull. ;)
 
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