Axe makers......

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I think there's definitely a market for great axes out there, if you can get people to pay or make them in a way that you can keep the price down. We get quite a few people asking us for custom axes but because of our forge setup we only do up to Hudson-bay and house-ax styles and we have to charge a LOT as it's all by hand, no power hammer. The real reason the tomahawks sell more is that they're smaller and easier to make and set themselves up for more detail and artistry due to the history of their use (status symbols, not just tools)- read higher pricepoint per amount of heavy work. Really it's the speed of manufacture. With very little additional tooling I can make tomahawks in my smithy set up for knifemaking, to make axes is a whole other matter however. The volume of steel needed in an ax is often 4+ times the steel needed in a 'hawk and if you're forging them by hand that's a HUGE difference as 'hawks are already a lot of brute work. With a good process, and a good marketing approach like Autine excels at, you could do really well.

~Luke

 

Well i hope this thread inspires some folks to make some badass axes. I know im in the market.

 

I'd like to see the Kentucky axe come back. Nice long poll to balance the bit and with plenty of room to harden for hammering.

 

Gransfors have dropped the ball a bit, they seem more focussed on quantity than quality these days, although in saying that they still remain some of the best axes available for the price they ask. The best axes i know of are Tuatahi axes from New Zealand (see www.tuatahiaxes.com) you have to order them and obviously wait for yours to be made but they are definitely worth the wait. They specialize in racing axes but their working axes are brilliant as well! You have many options to customize what you require and for the timber varieties local to your country, Also, well worth a look are the axes being produced by Brute Forge, in Ballarat, Australia. They are difficult to find or get in contact with but the axes i have seen them turn out are absolute works of art.

 

This. Luke hits the nail squarely on the head. I started out on the same thought process a little earlier this year. I love axes as well as knives and thought it would be fun to branch out into traditionally styled axes. But without a powerhammer it was so costly in time (and coal) that I was unable to make them at a satisfactory price point. This is even while my father was back in the country and he could hold the head while I thumped it with the sledge. I will just have to continue to make knives until I can find the investment to match my dream axes

 

There are a number of makers out there making axes. You guys should check out a young blacksmith named Liam Hoffman. I don't have any of his work.

Also check out Wolf Creek Forge. I have a great carving adze from those folks.

 

I have some of Liam's work. A claw hammer, a small 2 lb hammer, and a 3 lb jersey axe. The axe is a beast of an axe - great all around do whatever you want. Ill have to get some pics up of it. Handle leaves some to be desired but he has redone his handles I guess.

 

I just received the Liam Hoffman carving axe for Christmas. I think I'll be taking it out this weekend

 

Although I haven't personally used one I hear the Hults Bruk axes are pretty good quality.

 

pretty well sums up the axe making business in short.
plenty of makers and models out there but not readily available in hardwear stores where i live in Mudzoory.
i just bought two second rate Sears Craftmen hatchets

 

Couple other high end axe makers that are making great stuff that I don't see on this thread are James Austin, Jan Tommy Kirkholt (Norway), and Øystein Myhre (also Norway).

 

Gransfor Bruks over Wetterlings but both are the baseline for axe making at this point in time. God I want one.

 

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Oxbow,thanks for posting these (outstanding) makers.
Among others in the US/Canada i could think of J.Helms,and the gentleman from this topic here:http://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?showtopic=19425

Outside the US,a very good British smith,Josh Burrell,http://thenewhearth.blogspot.co.uk/...d-max=2016-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=1

A while back there were questions about this maker:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1348572-Russian-Axe-Toporsib

I know these people,they're a good,solid forge in Siberia,two brothers,one a smith another a machinist.I've alerted them to this topic,and their response was that they'll soon be marketing their axes through some Finnish company,meanwhile,between their lack of English,and staying very busy running their one-horse shop,you can only deal with them through someone that you may know personally in the RF.