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Article on the "Kerrville Cedar Axe"
- Thread starter Moonw
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Square_peg
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I wish they would have clearlt described what advantage the feller felt he got from this design. All I see is a boys axe with a wider bit which seems appropriate for cutting softwoood like cedar. I like how they specified the use fo chrome vanadium.
That I agree with. I guess you named the reason exactly, get'em down faster when a wider bit can be driven through that wood, on account of it being softer.
I picked up an old Bavarian pattern head (seems to be the same with the Black Forrest one). I like a wider (acute and sharp oddly out of the factory based on my best guess on the overall condition of the head...) bit when appropriate.
I picked up an old Bavarian pattern head (seems to be the same with the Black Forrest one). I like a wider (acute and sharp oddly out of the factory based on my best guess on the overall condition of the head...) bit when appropriate.
Square_peg
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It's interesting to know that the Hartwells are Warrens.
Thank you. Rather than shorten the eye and poll of a full size head to reduce the weight from 4 to 2 1/2 lb to make a "cedar" axe they could just have expanded the toe on a Hudson Bay. Oh well. Interesting how regional perception of something plays a big part in specific design, manufacture and sales. Cedar logging was (and still is) a prominent business in eastern Canada (for fence posts, rails and pole buildings) but those folks never insisted on using specialized axes, if anything wood saws were adopted they moment they became available.
Square_peg
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I can understand why a small early land owner might choose an axe over a saw just for the ease of maintenance. Saw sharpening is a skill far above axe sharpening and requires special tools.
Bob
I can see that! Natives tend to be smaller in stature (which doesn't mean they weren't hard workers, quite the contrary!) but did mean they weren't comfortable with standard n. American equipment. It's noteworthy that 16 gauge in shotguns only exists today because huge numbers of folks in s. and central America favour these over 12 gauge.
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What non-Texans need to understand in that what is generally called a "cedar tree" in Texas is nothing like the cedars of the Pacific NW, or any other region, really. We have a few "Red cedars" - these actually grow like real trees up to 25 - 30 feet tall. Most everything else is really "Ashe Juniper", a bushy (10 - 15 feet tall), ground-water depleting water hog with twisted limbs, splintery wood and knots galore. Mainly used for fence posts.
Google "ashe juniper" to see these useless pieces of trash trees.
They impart a bad taste to any food grilled over the short-lived coals, they put out a gummy creosote like coating on cookware and in chimneys and flues, increasing the danger and likelihood of "flue fires", suck up ground water like sponges, and are inedible except for birds eating the berries and thereby spreading more of the damn things.
To get to the trunk, you have to cut your way through a dense maze of criss-crossing limbs. Long handles and heavy axe heads are difficult to control in this situation.
And the sap is gummy, too. Really messes up a saw blade. Sticks to the wood as you make cuts, so greater resistance during cutting. The best tool for cutting these things is a 12" bar chain saw.
Google "ashe juniper" to see these useless pieces of trash trees.
They impart a bad taste to any food grilled over the short-lived coals, they put out a gummy creosote like coating on cookware and in chimneys and flues, increasing the danger and likelihood of "flue fires", suck up ground water like sponges, and are inedible except for birds eating the berries and thereby spreading more of the damn things.
To get to the trunk, you have to cut your way through a dense maze of criss-crossing limbs. Long handles and heavy axe heads are difficult to control in this situation.
And the sap is gummy, too. Really messes up a saw blade. Sticks to the wood as you make cuts, so greater resistance during cutting. The best tool for cutting these things is a 12" bar chain saw.
Appreciate that explanation. White Cedar up this way is not like that at all neither is Red Cedar (which is actually a tree type of juniper and sold as aromatic cedar).
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This is what a cedar is to those of us living in the north east. Eastern white cedar
On the west coast it's something different again, and if you're on the other side of the Atlantic it's something completely different. Some of the different cedars aren't even that closely related. At least they are all closer to one another than Yellow poplar is every other poplar variety.
On the west coast it's something different again, and if you're on the other side of the Atlantic it's something completely different. Some of the different cedars aren't even that closely related. At least they are all closer to one another than Yellow poplar is every other poplar variety.
Square_peg
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In the PNW we have a similar juniper, the western juniper, a short shrubby tree. Our western red cedar reaches up to 180' in height.
Bob
Allure of these commercial-specialized axes, sort of like the woodsmen/trapper appeal of Hudson Bays, probably sparked the development of Plumb's National pattern. Funny though that fan-shaped Euros never caught on for that same purpose.
