First Axe Story/What got you Started

[jpeeler]

I thought it would be interesting to share how each of us got into axes as a hobby/profession/obsession. Even if you used edge tools early in life, when/why did you get seriously into axes and their use? Also feel free to talk about your first axe.

I used various tools as a kid I'm sure, but I first got serious about axes and using them after college and getting my own place. Bought a nice looking Collins double bit Michigan pattern on an original 33" handle off of eBay, and got bitten by the bug. Still one of my good users to this day.

 

[Alocksly]

Helping dad with firewood from the time I was big enough to carry a piece of cordwood. Eventually I was issued with a hatchet and dispatched to remove small alders and then graduated to limbing and splitting. The Boy Scouts took my totin' chip away several time while I "honed" my skills.

 

[300Six]

Dad had a worn out/dull and thoroughly over-sized axe in the late 1950s. I couldn't swing or do much of anything useful with it at the wooded property we lived on. He took me to a hardware store in the early 60s and allowed me to select a more suitable axe. It was on special and marked down and I still have it; a 2 1/4 lb (boys axe?) with a Sandvik stamp. As a 10 year old I could 'go like a beaver' with that thing. When I turned 17 I spent 2 months as an Ontario Junior Forest Ranger doing nothing but clearing beaver dams and chopping trees (including quite a few really big ones (by eastern standards)) and noticed the stamp 'Walters' on most of the axes that I grew to favour, and became willing to devote countless off hours to making sharp as I could get. This was back in 1970 and ultimately when I wound up becoming a Park Superintendent in British Columbia in 1980 I also discovered the gov't issue chopping stuff there was all made by now-defunct Walters as well. A few of the heads I found in the woods, and beside abandoned ranger cabins I re-hafted and squirreled away for personal/private use. I can really appreciate a nice axe and a well sharpened edge but I have to admit that Stihl products entirely stole my heart away (once I began to tangle with trees in order to make a living during the 80s/90s) when I become a general contractor.

 

[halfaxe]

My father had a boy scout hatchet from when he was in scouts and I took it over when I started in scouts and also got an axe a little later about 14 years old. I always liked camping with an axe. After college and I got settled, I bought some forestland and built a small cabin. I couldn't afford a chainsaw at first so used an axe and bowsaw for firewood. There was a used tool store in the town nearby that always had a bunch of axes. This was late 1970's early 80's. I noticed how much nicer some of those old ones were and I bought a few including some broad axes. I never built the log house I planned on then but have always used axes off and on, and continued to buy old axes if I thought the price was right. I think I have 70 or 80 now and I try not to buy any more. We'll see how that goes.