Axe books

crown & hammer · Feb 13, 2015

300Six said:
I have long time enjoyed Eric Sloane's down to earth simple books about use of rustic implements and in them he never once made mention of collectability. He was entirely fascinated by their origin and purpose, and lucky for him, died (or stopped writing about them) 50 years ago. But to this day I look at his enthusiastic writing/publications as a wonderful 'window in time and into history' from a consummate and dedicated tool historian.
Thank you, Eric Sloan!

He died in 1985 and was still publishing up to the end. Maybe you know this but his collection of tools, his artwork, studio, etc are in the Eric Sloane Museum in Kent Connecticut.

300Six · Feb 14, 2015

crown & hammer said:
He died in 1985 and was still publishing up to the end. Maybe you know this but his collection of tools, his artwork, studio, etc are in the Eric Sloane Museum in Kent Connecticut.

Thank you, I was unaware of this. I was introduced to Sloane's books by an older gentleman that was collecting old tools (specifically planes) already 50 years ago. Now I am going to have to make a specific point of visiting Kent, Connecticut.

Ziggy99 · Nov 6, 2017

There's also this one:

Old Ways of Working Wood -
Techniques and Tools of a Time Honoured Craft
By Alex W Bealer

Blurb: https://www.booktopia.com.au/old-ways-of-working-wood-alex-w-bealer/prod9780785807100.html

VintageToolCo · Sep 8, 2018

A question I posted in other forums...

There's a limited amount of printed literature on axes out there. Anyone have the entire collection? If so, what are they? Can you provide a list?

I'm mostly referring to literature written specifically as a guide or reference to axes just prior to and up to the end of the golden age of American axes (Apprx: 1850-1960) . Not included would be fiction or logging books that include a small amount of axe information. Although if it's a significant amount dedicated toward axes, I think that it would be considered relevant for this list.

Examples would be:
Embossed Axes
The Axe Book - The lore and science of the wood cutter.
American Axes - A survey of their development and their makers.
All 10 of Tom Lamont's publications.
The axe weilders handbook
An axe to grind
Douglas axe manufacturing - illustrated catalog
The axe and man
The axe book - Gransfors Bruk

Fringe examples might be:
Tomahawks/Pipe axes of the American Frontier.
American Indian tomahawks.
Various vintage axe manufacturer catalogs/hardware store catalogs

VintageToolCo · Sep 8, 2018

Double Ott said:
Yesteryears Tools features 8 books by Thomas C. Lamond. Tom passed away about a year or so ago. When these books are gone...

That's the last of them. I have a few of them.

The 8 that are left.

http://www.yesteryearstools.com/Yesteryears Tools/Home.html

Tom

10 books total. He might have written another two since this post though haha.

VintageToolCo · Sep 8, 2018

Double Ott said:
Yesteryears Tools features 8 books by Thomas C. Lamond. Tom passed away about a year or so ago. When these books are gone...

That's the last of them. I have a few of them.

The 8 that are left.

http://www.yesteryearstools.com/Yesteryears Tools/Home.html

Tom

Actually, if he died in 2010-2011 when this post was made, then 10 already had to be out. I thought he just died last year. Anyway, there's 10 total books. I bought them recently.

Square_peg · Oct 11, 2018

I have recently finished reading the axe chapters of Mors Kochanski's biblical book, 'Bushcraft'. I'll admit that I didn't have high expectations for his axe advice, given what I've read from other so-called survivalists. But I have to say that there is very little I would take argument with in Mors' book. He obviously has the experience of someone who has entrusted his life to his axe skills many times. His knifework chapters and the entire book are filled with extremely good advice about how to use tools to make your life possible in rough situations. I would highly recommend this book.

Steve Tall · Oct 12, 2018

Square_peg said:
I have recently finished reading the axe chapters of Mors Kochanski's biblical book, 'Bushcraft'. I'll admit that I didn't have high expectations for his axe advice, given what I've read from other so-called survivalists. But I have to say that there is very little I would take argument with in Mors' book. He obviously has the experience of someone who has entrusted his life to his axe skills many times. His knifework chapters and the entire book are filled with extremely good advice about how to use tools to make your life possible in rough situations. I would highly recommend this book.

That book was also highly recommended to me by Peter Vido, even though (as I recall) he had some questions about some of the axe techniques (that I guessed were overkill on safety to avoid injury and maybe avoid lawsuits coming back to Kochanski?). I made sure I bought and read that book.

Square_peg · Oct 22, 2018

Steve Tall said:
That book was also highly recommended to me by Peter Vido, even though (as I recall) he had some questions about some of the axe techniques (that I guessed were overkill on safety to avoid injury and maybe avoid lawsuits coming back to Kochanski?). I made sure I bought and read that book.

For general axe skills I like Bernard Mason's 'Woodsmanship' or Bernie Weisgerbers 'An Ax to Grind' better. But you have to keep in mind that Kochanski's book is more strictly about using an axe for bushcraft tasks. It's one chapter in book covering many ideas and has limited space devoted to the axe.

One thing Kochanski's book lacked was much material on building camp niceties like tables, chairs, racks, etc. He is very instructive on shelters.

There was a bushcraft book I read back in about 1981 that had tons of great ideas for camp niceties. I can't recall the author or remember the title besides that it included 'bushcraft' (maybe that was the title). I wish I could find and re-read that book. Alas, it's lost in the sea of bushcraft books that have been written since.

Old Axeman · Oct 22, 2018

Bernard Mason also wrote a book "WOODCRAFT", 1939, which is much larger than his "WOODSMANSHIP", 1945 book. Might be worth a look.

Old Axeman · Oct 22, 2018

Some great books to check out (if you can find them) are: "Building with Logs", Clyde F. Fickes, 1945, USDA Forest Service publication No. 579; "Region One Handbook, Construction and Maintenance of Forest Improvements", C. P. Fickes, revised edition December 1935, USDA Forest Service; "Park and Recreation Structures" Albert H. Good, 1938 (reprinted 1990), Department Of The Interior National Park Service.
You have my personal recommendation that you will love these !

Steve Tall · Oct 22, 2018

Old Axeman said:
"Building with Logs", Clyde F. Fickes, 1945, USDA Forest Service publication No. 579...

"Building with Logs", Clyde F. Fickes, 1945, USDA Forest Service publication No. 579
can be read online or downloaded here:
https://archive.org/details/USDeptAgForestServiceBuildingwithLogs0001/page/n0

Old Axeman said:
"Region One Handbook, Construction and Maintenance of Forest Improvements", C. P. Fickes, revised edition December 1935, USDA Forest Service...

Construction and Maintenance of Forest Improvements", C. P. Fickes, revised edition December 1935, USDA Forest Service
can be read online or downloaded here:
https://www.fs.fed.us/eng/facilitie...on_and_Maintenance_of Forest_Improvements.pdf
Other "Historic Facilities Publications" from the USDA Forest Service can be read online or downloaded here:
https://www.fs.fed.us/eng/facilities/histpubs.htm

Old Axeman said:
"Park and Recreation Structures" Albert H. Good, 1938 (reprinted 1990), Department Of The Interior National Park Service...

"Park and Recreation Structures" Albert H. Good, 1938
can be read online here:
http://npshistory.com/publications/park_recreation_structures/contents.htm

Old Axeman · Oct 23, 2018

Thanks so much Steve! These really are great historic books for what this web site is all about.

Square_peg · Oct 23, 2018

I just ordered Mason's 'Woodcraft'.

Square_peg · Sep 21, 2019

Square_peg said:
I carried an old broken axe with me from home to home for over 25 years before I finally got around to restoring it. It had belonged to an elderly gentleman which I had worked with as a teenager. A couple years later he passed away and I bought this axe at his estate sale. He was a working man and I wanted a tool to remember him by. A few years ago I rehung that axe and turned it into my everyday splitter. Then an elderly neighbor took a fancy to that axe and I made a gift of it to him. 3 lives for that axe. It's an old 4-pound Vaughan Dayton.

jblyttle said:
And who knows, it may find it's way back to you again one day.

Square_peg said:
It likely will. He's getting along in his years and a his son doesn't a show much interest as in such things.

JBLyttle was prophetic. Last spring that neighbor and his wife had to move into assited living. That axe came back to me again along with old Craftsman 4 lb. single bit with convex cheeks.

For posterity that old axe belonged to one Ted Arnsberg. Old German fella who spoke with a heavy accent. He'd tried to act like a tough boss but he was really an old softy at heart. His favorite saying was, "ya got to do what I tell ya man!" We worked at the local country club when I was 18 and he was 70-something. He taught me how to sharpen the reel mowers that we used on the greens, fairways and first cut. I mostly mowed the first cut. Ted did the greens.

FLINT77 · Sep 21, 2019

I've been cleaning out my parents house and found a book that belonged to my grandfather.

The title is "On your own in the wilderness" by Whelen & Angier. Originally published in 1958, this copy was from the 1964 fourth printing.
while not specifically an axe book, chapter 13 titled 'tools for the outdoorsman' is divided between knives and axes with some pretty good information. It was interesting that whichever author wrote that chapter stated that he started using an axe a lot in 1901 (!!!!) and has always used a 27" handle. I've enjoyed reading this book quite a bit. Townsend Whelen (35 Whelen) is a pretty well known rifleman. What is neat about this book is that its written by people who have actually had decades and decades of experience actually doing the things they are writing about. definitely the real deal.

Hairy Clipper · Sep 22, 2019

FLINT77 said:
I've been cleaning out my parents house and found a book that belonged to my grandfather.

The title is "On your own in the wilderness" by Whelen & Angier. Originally published in 1958, this copy was from the 1964 fourth printing.
while not specifically an axe book, chapter 13 titled 'tools for the outdoorsman' is divided between knives and axes with some pretty good information. It was interesting that whichever author wrote that chapter stated that he started using an axe a lot in 1901 (!!!!) and has always used a 27" handle. I've enjoyed reading this book quite a bit. Townsend Whelen (35 Whelen) is a pretty well known rifleman. What is neat about this book is that its written by people who have actually had decades and decades of experience actually doing the things they are writing about. definitely the real deal.

That is a wonderful find! I really enjoy reading books that were written about that time in which automobiles did not exist and the horse was America's favorite mode of transportation! I have read a couple of Whelen's books over the years and have enjoyed them. The title escapes me now, but, there is a book about metal finishing, bluing and over 200 formulas for creating the finishes on metal and I think the fellow that wrote is it named Angier. I often wondered if any axe maker used the information in finishing axes? After Miss Bonnie gets her breakfast I will have to look that up to see if it is the same fellow.

"What is neat about this book is that its written by people who have actually had decades and decades of experience actually doing the things they are writing about. definitely the real deal." <<<<<< My interest in books is in the non-fiction aisle and this statement says it all!

Landodnal · Sep 26, 2019

Hi everyone! I made a document a while back listing all the books I could find with axe related material inside. This is by no means every book out there, but it's a good start. Here is a link to the doc: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zlOLxtE6ymZyIK4oeeErb3MQea5fP8PY/view?usp=sharing. I have not read all of these books, so I can't say whether they are any good or not, but they do have axe related info inside.

Hairy Clipper · Sep 26, 2019

Hairy Clipper said:
That is a wonderful find! I really enjoy reading books that were written about that time in which automobiles did not exist and the horse was America's favorite mode of transportation! I have read a couple of Whelen's books over the years and have enjoyed them. The title escapes me now, but, there is a book about metal finishing, bluing and over 200 formulas for creating the finishes on metal and I think the fellow that wrote is it named Angier. I often wondered if any axe maker used the information in finishing axes? After Miss Bonnie gets her breakfast I will have to look that up to see if it is the same fellow.

"What is neat about this book is that its written by people who have actually had decades and decades of experience actually doing the things they are writing about. definitely the real deal." <<<<<< My interest in books is in the non-fiction aisle and this statement says it all!

Here is the book I referenced in the previous post.
Firearm Blueing and Browning by R.H. Angier
https://www.amazon.com/Firearm-Blue...Q97M22HH2Y8&psc=1&refRID=7P6EV0AFGQ97M22HH2Y8