Basic Intro to Axes?

D

dawgvet

Joined
Jan 25, 2007
Messages
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Just wanting to learn ins and outs of axes: blade designs, pros/cons of different blade grinds and thicknesses, idea head weight/sizes for different jobs, etc. Is there a good online guide or even a book to discuss this?
Also what are the major advantages on the Gransfors and Wetterlings compared to more common axes such as Council Tool or True Temper?
Thanks,
Jed
 
I would say in the entire world, hard to find as much good info as right here, so the search function will help you there.
A good place to begin though might be here,
http://woodtrekker.blogspot.ca/
Check out the axe section, lots of great info.

As to the Swedish axes compared to the US ones, the only real difference besides price is that the American axes tend to he a concave face going from the top of the edge to the bottom, to help throw big chips when felling, and the GB and wetterlings rely on their sharpness for pure penetration, which can cause binding. So a lot of people would consider these higher end axes to be inferior, not better. Many people are happy with their Swedish axes, myself included, but I do not use them for felling large trees.
 
I have a couple of True Temper that I bought new about 10 years ago. I also have a true temper from the 60s. The older TT has a higher level of surface finish. I'd guess that the scandanavian axes have a better finish on them too.
 
And the video as well is a great watch.
[youtube]Xz3rs-eaN3E[/youtube]

Also, just found a great subreddit over at Reddit, /r/axecraft. A lot of members here may like it too. (or maybe already contribute there)
 
If a person wanted to learn about axes as fast as possible, then "Modern Marvels Axes" would be the place to start.

I removed my mirror to Bernie Weisgerber's axe pages because it was messing with his numbers of downloads. Yep he's forever my hero!

The trouble with axe writings is that they are spread between webpages and forums. i shall try hard to correct this.
 
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