Axe +

Excellent Ernest, thank you for that. I only had one pic, stolen from an online auction site.

Parker
 
Coming back to my personal series, (in which all good contributions have a place), with still another companion to axe work .

This, a gift from a blacksmith friend. I must have misplaced it, it being a small item like that, long ago and somehow it's just turned up - a miracle, I'd given up hope.

Anyway, no coyness, I'll lay it out since it is by no means self evident what it is or its relation to axes, which in no way can diminish its utter coolness.

When we go to hewing often there is involved some initial laying-out, getting at the dimensions of the lumber we want to get out of the rough material. Without going in to all that, one thing that can come into play is one form or another of what's often called a chalk line. OK the principle is familiar enough and we all know they are comprised of a box or some way for containing chalk, for example, a line and some kind of anchor attached to this line.

This little bird is a stylized anchor, the beak, driven into the wood, the belly for attaching a line and the tail the release.

img_2393.jpg
 
Racking my brain the first thing that came to mind was that I'd seen the principle behind this before and that it was Scandinavian. A little googling work and it turns out that it's Terje Granaas who gets credit for if not the concept then at least the fanciful form. He gave them out at our gathering some years back in France where we were making axes.

Funny to see from his facebook site that apparently he's been busy making the Dutch snicks from a few entries back on this very thread.
 
Aha, an old Scandinavian snickmeister! Just as I suspected, and he’s a handsome devil as well.

I see he’s also fluent in chisels and gimlet augers, among other things. Awestruck and envious, both.

Parker
 
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