Best grind right from the factory?

NYCFLY said:
Thanks All, I will sharpen it myself. found this video of Wranglestar and he knows what he's doing.
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Possibly. However, find the YT vid of our very own member Old Axeman in An Ax to Grind. That tutorial on hanging and sharpening will get you shaving sharp in no time. It really is the best way in my opinion, and it's pretty much how I sharpen all of mine. File, stones, strop. And find the PDF of the bevel guage from the booklet by the same name. Print it out and glue it to something sturdy, and you have an axcellent guage.

Ps. "axcellent" was a typo, but I'm leaving it because I like terrible puns.
 
I think you just coined a new word just for this forum. Axcellent- I like it, even if you did do it by axident.
 
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Avid camper said:
I hesitate to ask this question but will go ahead at the risk of suffering some abuse. What is the reason for putting a scary sharp edge on an ax or hatchet? I used an old hardware store ax to split firewood for 20 years to heat my home and now use a vintage Collins hatchet to split firewood for my campfires. I have always sharpened my tools with a file and never put a scary sharp edge on one. In fact, I'm afraid that I would hurt myself if I did. What work are others doing that requires such sharp edges?
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I agree with you. I used axes for a living one summer 45 years ago and nobody (there were 2 dozen of us) on the job ever considered going beyond 'file sharp' just to chop down a tree. On top of that a dulled axe turned out to be a better splitter than a shaving sharp one because it doesn't get stuck every time it is aimed into an end or butt. Shaving sharp is wonderfully grand if you're a delicate carver or aspiring 'TV-show-hyped-'woodsman-wannabee' but is needless effort if all you do is clear 'line of sight' paths for a survey crew or prune branches for an arborist, day in day out.

Out in the countryside yesterday morning I came across a newly-driven bright orange steel survey stake in woods at the beginnings of a new housing development and could deduce that a chainsaw had gotten all tangled up in a tree-overgrown page wire fence and that the field worker had had to resort to an (or his/her) axe. Had that axe been meticulously kept shaving sharp it's highly unlikely he/she would have calmly volunteered to use it to chop through fence staples and cattle wire just to satisfy the survey boss. The brush all around had also been cleared with an axe and nothing under 2 inches in diameter had chainsaw marks on it, neither before or after. As well there were no ragged cuts to be seen anywhere either which tells me whoever wielded that axe knew exactly 'how sharp' to maintain it in order to get through until break, lunchtime or end of the day.
 
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But "file sharp" and "shaving sharp" can be the same thing! Nothing prevents a file from making an edge that'll dry shave. :)
 
But "file sharp" and "shaving sharp" can be the same thing! Nothing prevents a file from making an edge that'll dry shave.
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That is an 'axecellent' point. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

I worked in the Ocala National Forest clearing trails, creating fire breaks, splitting firewood wood, etc., while getting my "Forestry Merit Badge". I also 'interned for a year with the Forestry Service as a follow-on to the 'Merit Badge'. We rarely had the time to do more than restore a usable edge to the Axes and Bush Axes we carried. Most often using either a Mill-Bastard file or a round 'Hockey Puck' style stone. However, my personal tools have always been kept 'axetremely' sharp.

I'm sure most of you know the edge geometry of a Felling Axe and a carving Axe are different. Most 'standard' edges on a forestry style Axe are convex in nature and carving Axes use a 'Flat Grind' profile. As our UK cousins say, "Horses for courses."

SJ
 
The trick is getting shaving sharp while still maintaining an edge thick enough to last. Do that and you've got a real work horse.

Why shaving sharp? Because it's cuts so very much better. I'm talking about bucking/felling. You really notice the difference.
 
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