Axe making and using

That's pretty cool. The axe looks awesome and the axe work is pretty amazing. I like that they showed a historical example at the end.
 
good video!

now the question. is it standard to weld in "cutting edge" in an ax? is there a steel out there that one could just use for the whole thing and still have a quality ax?

thanks

jake
 
Jake it was standard when good steel was hard to come by. Now its only done for tradition or to add a little something to the work your doing. You could use 1050 or a similar steel for the entire ax and have an extremely high quality blade.

Some competition throwing ax's are made from W2.


Great video Sam! Now I want to try making an ax. :thumbup:
 
DO it Dan, it would kick ass I bet! I always wanted to make a damascus axe.

I would prefer to use a good tool steel, W1 or W2, people think axes are just big impact things but they really are like any other woodworking tool, they need to take and hold a sharp edge, but handle a little more impact than a knife.
 
Sam your right they do need to be sharp. honestly i was blown away watching the guy in the video shaving curls of wood with his ax and not even putting in real effort into it from what i could see. i'm a newbie but i never knew an ax could be that sharp.

jake
 
strahd71 said:
Sam your right they do need to be sharp. honestly i was blown away watching the guy in the video shaving curls of wood with his ax and not even putting in real effort into it from what i could see. i'm a newbie but i never knew an ax could be that sharp.

jake
Click to expand...

A lot of guy feel if their ax won't shave arm hair, it needs some work. I will often put a shaving edge on my throwing hawk if I am going to be taking it out camping for wood working. It makes a huge difference in ease of use.

I don't think I will ever worry about a maul being sharp like that. :D
 
Cool Video Sam :thumbup:

Was that a gal working as the striker ?
If it was, you wouldn't ever want to tick her off ! The manner in which she was wielding that sledge, I'll bet she could/would whip your butt !! ;)

In regards to the cabin maker .......... amazing !!

We peel aspen in the spring around here (right about the time the hoards of black flies come out :eek:). Paper companies pay more for peeled popple, using it in only the finest paper.

When someone hands you a peeling spoon ?? All I can say is ............ act real dumb !!!! :confused: ;) :D


:thumbup:
 
Sam Salvati said:
... I always wanted to make a damascus axe...
Click to expand...

Well cough up the dough! Hehehe

I'm giving it a try soon Sam. I started forging out some 1050 bar for the punches I need today. Come up north for a day and we will make two damascus ax's, but be warned its going to snow on monday... again. :eek:
 
thats really cool. The cabin maker's and absolute surgeon with that axe. I also cant help but think how awesome it would be to have a shop that big and well outfitted.
 
Almost didn't even look at that but, I am so glad I did. :cool: I am blown away with the axe and the absolutely great workmanship of the fellow using it and the other hand tools. To reconstruct the art of log home building by hand.
Don't think that was that fellows first time with the hand tools either! Wow, what control on the ax. I would say he keeps them extremly sharp too when you grab it and shave the log!:eek:
I would love to know a what kind of wood that was he was cutting on. It appeared to work fairly easy but the pic at the end showing the old cabin/home would suggest a fairlly hard log the way they had dried.
Great video!:thumbup:
 
Very interesting. If I saw it correctly, the high carbon steel he put in for the edge was cold when he stuffed it into the head of the axe for welding. It looked like he just forged it in without heating the whole thing up again. I guess there was enough thermal mass in the axe head to bring the high carbon up to welding temp too.

That log house was really neat, but that guy really needs to get a chainsaw... :D
 
Chris, no, it is quickly edited to look like he is banging it right after he stuck it in but I guarentee he put another heat on it. His technique and process is interesting though, no doubt the axe body is something soft like mild steel, and the bit is probably high carbon steel, some say they are tricky because the mild needs a higher welding temperature, but doing it like he does, IE putting the bit into the body while the body is already hot makes it so that by the time the high carbon stuff is ready the mild steel body is already VERY hot, so you get the mild hot enough but don't overheat the high carbon.
 
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