• The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
    Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
    Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.

  • Today marks the 24th anniversary of 9/11. I pray that this nation does not forget the loss of lives from this horrible event. Yesterday conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was murdered, and I worry about what is to come. Please love one another and your family in these trying times - Spark

Gränsfors Large Carving Axe

I am beginning to get an understanding of why the Anglo-Saxon "T" axe isn't around anymore. Look at this Gränfors Carving Axe, a design that has been around for centuries. It will last a lot longer than a "T" axe would, and it does the same job.
 
Carving axes as they exist today are a relatively new invention. While they use old technology in the sense of the asymmetric grind and a chip breaker, the overall form of the head is different than historical woodworker's axes.
 
I am not a fan of any axe, hatchet, or adze edge grind that has a large bevel on one side and a smaller (back) bevel on the other side. In my experience carving wood works best with only two grinds--either a knife grind (both sides with a equal bevel) or a chisel grind (only one side with a bevel). Depending on the work to be done the angle might change from job to job. One angle does not fit every task. That is why you need a lot of axes, hatchets, and adzes in your tool box. My wood carving these days is mostly bowls, spoons, or sculpture. But, during my working to make a living I have carved and repaired a lot of vernacular log structures, which are actually just very large wood carvings.
 
Last edited:
You can understand why the axe was so popular with the Norsemen. Swords were expensive and were not good for much more than chopping and stabbing people. An axe, on the other hand, could chop wood for a fire, shape a chair leg, or help butcher a sheep. Then install it on a longer haft, board a ship to do some viking in the British Isles.
 
Axes made as tools and ones made as weapons were distinct from one another. Spears were also popular, on the economy and effectiveness front.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top