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You could just lay your axe on the table and see if the bevel lays flat there on the table top.
E.DB.
E.DB.
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Axemanship Technique?
- Thread starter Col Defender
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Almost "done" but I will leave it a bit meaty for durability sake.
That's always the challenge for me - finding the balance between durability and cutting performance. I have certainly not mastered this, and I have chipped a few bits along the way trying to figure it out.
G-pig, that looks like a nice bit.
Well, the initial zone of 1/2 to 3/4 inch or so should be aptly shaped in context with the rest, that's where the durability comes from I think. By filing back, which is the main point here, you aren't weakening the edge that much per se, depending on how you transition between the zone further back to the edge zone.
You can tell how far the edge is from the plane of the table, but it's not as quick to check as with a straight edge or a file to get a better estimate on where needs to be filed more. More far the edge is from the reference plane is only part of it.
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very helpful. thanks g-pig
No probablo, glad it made sense.
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so the point is deeper cuts and bigger chips? I've been working this Maine 3 1/2 back and got some deep cuts. Still not sharp enough for me but it seems to bite in deep. Of course this is only poplar. I did it with green elm as well though.
More or less Coop. Some people on other forums told me by doing that I was rendering the high centerline useless. That don't make no sense to me. Binding comes into play with very deep cuts. If you radially file or grind a bevel on a regular old axe that hasn't been reprofiled, it don't matter if it has a high centerline or not. We are just working the face down so that you sever more fibers per stroke, and still retaining the high centerline-- it just comes into play to ad some pop to the cut and prevent binding later, therefore allowing more penetration and notching or bucking a tree in fewer swings.
That's why I was critical of Woodtrekker's tests on the high centerling vs. flat cheeked axes. I told him to try chopping in green pine. The pine he chopped was not green, and the axes hadn't been sharpened up to the old standards I didn't think. Cutting extremely green wood during the spring when sap is running, a lot of times you can have problems with too much penetration. That's why I still absolutely love my Maine wedge patterns.
And it's all context; axes, chopping and profiling are still incredibly complex and there is a lot to learn, but this is a real good basic way to make an axe really cut. I have plenty of axes I haven't filed "up to snuff", and some I might not want to. I still think various amounts of initial vs. gradual thickness should be tested in different woods. You know all about that coop, since you cut a big variety of different woods. Chopping green Birch or Poplar is a lot different than cutting, well, damn near anything that's really dry.
Oh yeah, that's the other big secret to successful application of axes (and all sorts of handtools)-- cut the damn trees as green as you can possibly get them. It don't get any easier if you wait
That's why I was critical of Woodtrekker's tests on the high centerling vs. flat cheeked axes. I told him to try chopping in green pine. The pine he chopped was not green, and the axes hadn't been sharpened up to the old standards I didn't think. Cutting extremely green wood during the spring when sap is running, a lot of times you can have problems with too much penetration. That's why I still absolutely love my Maine wedge patterns.
And it's all context; axes, chopping and profiling are still incredibly complex and there is a lot to learn, but this is a real good basic way to make an axe really cut. I have plenty of axes I haven't filed "up to snuff", and some I might not want to. I still think various amounts of initial vs. gradual thickness should be tested in different woods. You know all about that coop, since you cut a big variety of different woods. Chopping green Birch or Poplar is a lot different than cutting, well, damn near anything that's really dry.
Oh yeah, that's the other big secret to successful application of axes (and all sorts of handtools)-- cut the damn trees as green as you can possibly get them. It don't get any easier if you wait
This is spot on. The only way to learn is to try out what works for yourself. It's also the perfect rationale for purchasing/owning/restoring/sharpening multiple axes!
Yup. People gotta get bit by the bug though. Not just the "buying axes" bug, but to actually use them. That takes a different kind of crazy person, since we all know that handtools are nostalgia only, and a drudgery!