Ax with a shallow pointed bit?

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vcbvcbvcb

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This weekend I was in the hills using my Ed Martin WSK instead of my hatchet to buck a dry, hard 5" log, it took a while. Given it's size and weight, the pointed heel portion of the blade penetrate and chop pretty well. The inventor, Tom Brown, called that the "ax" portion of the blade. It seems like everything designed to penetrate is pointed except an axe. I find it odd that there isn't a bit that leads with a gradual, shallow point in the center, maybe a 1/2" past the upper and lower portion of the bit. No doubt the point would have to be thicker to deal with the stress of impact. Anybody know of historic attempts at this? I can see how it might not have worked in the earliest days of ax development due to low metal quality, but now? The WSK pictured below looks 99% like mind.

 
Mortise axes have narrow almost pointed bits. They were for chopping holes in posts and beams. I don't see a true pointed bit as any advantage.
 
I think a point would make it want to glance off more if you did not hit directly on it when cutting smaller trees. It may also make poping chips out harder due to the fact that the bottom on the cut would be at an irregular depth.
 
It's just inefficient cutting. As camo kid said, chopping is more about popping chips than sinking your tool in as deep as possible.
 
while not an axe.... my gramps used to have an old..... home made cutting tool made out of a section of bar mower blade with 3 teeth on it..... like those pictured below.... the bar it was mounted on was cut down and mounted to a short axe handle like a boys camp axe size....

He used it to clear brush and scrubby under growth and it was very efficient for that.... I once got ahold of it and was able to chop about a 4 inch limb with it by hitting the limb between the points and scissoring in both sides as the blades drove deeper.... it was also.... surprisingly efficient at that, though I know it would be near useless on anything in the to 10 inch range, but really, that wasn't what he made it for...

I've seen a hatchet / hawk with a small pilot bit on the head.....seems to me it was sold as a tactical breeching tool and the point was supposed to help it bite and not slide or deflect on doors around hinge areas and whatnot..... but I can't find it now.

That bar mower axe though....I've wished I had one since then more than a few times. Strangely useful item.

 
Axes are designed and made to work hard and be reasonably abused and resharpened alot, making it a pointy thing would not lend itself well to such abuses, I believe.
 
Hawgsnawt said:
while not an axe.... my gramps used to have an old..... home made cutting tool made out of a section of bar mower blade with 3 teeth on it..... like those pictured below.... the bar it was mounted on was cut down and mounted to a short axe handle like a boys camp axe size....

He used it to clear brush and scrubby under growth and it was very efficient for that.... I once got ahold of it and was able to chop about a 4 inch limb with it by hitting the limb between the points and scissoring in both sides as the blades drove deeper.... it was also.... surprisingly efficient at that, though I know it would be near useless on anything in the to 10 inch range, but really, that wasn't what he made it for...

I've seen a hatchet / hawk with a small pilot bit on the head.....seems to me it was sold as a tactical breeching tool and the point was supposed to help it bite and not slide or deflect on doors around hinge areas and whatnot..... but I can't find it now.

That bar mower axe though....I've wished I had one since then more than a few times. Strangely useful item.

Click to expand...

Those old sickle bar hatchets are standard operating equipment out here. One of the holes at the end is tied with a piece of baling twine to keep it attached to your wrist. They are used to cut the twine on hay bales as you are feeding cattle(kicking bales).
 
I've seen those and I can't conceive of any use for them.

Well, they could be used to extract money from suckers.........

The upper one has had the toe ground off like a totally worn out - send to China for recycling - axe.

The lower one........no. Just no.

Goofy things to help teenage boys fantasize that they are badass.
 
No, just no...... the concept of these things is wacky and not cool looking at all, unless you define cool as being utterly useless for lawful uses, that is.
 
I don't know what's up with the "Bladeforums" email notification system. I've only gotten two notifications that replies had been posted to this thread, Half ax in the beginning and Square_Peg today. I had no idea people were replying.

Wildernessknife made the observation that axes are supposed to "pop chips". It was interesting, my WSK didn't, it sliced wood as I came down on one side and then popped the chip out as I came down and sliced the the other side. It never popped a chip with one blow. It worked best with high repetition and low force.

The whole thing has me interested enough that I might test the idea by filing down the heel and toe on a $12 HF hatchet. It's a good candidate because it has a thick convex edge. A hatchet seems like a better choice than an ax due to the short handle producing less leverage, less force and less stress on the point.

I missed a swing once bypassing the wood and lightly glanced off concrete. The hatchet chipped the concrete and the edge didn't chip or roll. It's one of the few good HF hatchets. I kind of hate to file it into oblivion and then find out that it was a totally useless experiment. It seems like alternating blows between a point and an edge might have some merit. Then again, it's the nicest piece of Chinese junk I have, decisions decisions...
 
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vcbvcbvcb said:
...The whole thing has me interested enough that I might test the idea by filing down the heel and toe on a $12 HF hatchet...
Click to expand...

I can only guess at the specialized function of this "boat hatchet" from 1885, with a U-shaped edge:

books


from an impressive (400+ pages) book: The Illustrated Sheffield List, By Edward Brookes, 1885
 
There is a "Whalemans boat hatchet" used to chop a harpoon line if it gets tangled around something it's not supposed to, like a leg. However, I can't find a picture of one to confirm if it's the same as Steve's pic.
 
This is a machete version of what I had in mind. Note that it chops better than your average machete in the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yzg39GeDes

On another note, I upgraded from registered to basic member. The BF Instructions said that I should go to the "Control Panel" to change status. I can't find anything called "Control Panel", anybody know where it is? Thanks
 
First expensive knife i ever got was the Tom Brown Tracker, was a kid and saw the Hunted and thought it was the coolest modern knife. Then I got it some years later and ended up sending it back for a refund after a week or trying to talk myself into liking it. Thing is ridiculous and quite useless except as decoration and way overpriced for that. Not that is speaks for all TOPS knives.
 
vcbvcbvcb said:
This is a machete version of what I had in mind. Note that it chops better than your average machete in the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yzg39GeDes
Click to expand...

I disagree with the notion that it chops better than an average machete, at least if compared to similarly proportioned designs. The "Hawkchete", as it were, is a long-ish kukri machete with a low polygon count. :D It's really no different than any other forward-swept, point-weighted design.
 
It's really no different than any other forward-swept, point-weighted design.[/QUOTE]

Ok, show me a pic of another one just like it. Maybe I should have said it appears to chop better than and machete I've ever owned.
 
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