Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
Typical hardware store axe, total weight is 790 grams, length is 14.6", 3.2" cm wide bit, 2.8" cm infront of the handle. It is very similar in size to the Bruks Wildlife however is 32% heavier. The feel is just massive though, the Bruks (bottom) feels weightless in comparison :
Profile is really thick, the edge is heavy convex, 0.281" wide and ground at 24.2 (5) degrees per side under 0.060" with a shoulder sweep of 11.2 (5) degrees. This is really heavy for a wood working axe, for reference the Bruks is 14.4 (5) under 0.030" and 9.7 (5) degrees through the shoulder. The Bruks isn't optimal either, it just tends to thicken during freehand convex sharpening, I should flatten a degree off the final sweep and a couple off the relief, I would go further except I want it to be able to cut hardwood limbs. I'll do this the next time it needs a serious sharpening.
Both axes were freshly sharpened and could push cut newsprint and slice paper towel. The hardware store axe is really soft, it files easier than the spring tempered spine on the Ratweiler for example. It gets that big floppy visible burr, but quickly ground off on a coarse/fine hockey puck sharpener and I finished on 1200 DMT + 0.5 micron CrO. As a quick check on cutting ability both were used to slice 3/8" hemp. The force required was 9 (1) and 22 (2) lbs respectively. The much lower angle on the Bruks and the greater curvature significantly enhance the cutting ability.
They were also used to point some pine. The performance was not even close. It would take on average 8 (1) slices with the Wildlife to point a small stake and 28 (2) with the hardware store axe. There would be no need to measure anything to know they were not in the same class. The hardware store axe was seeing the effect of fatigue here of course as you can't maintain maximum force through 30 cuts. Here is what the shavings looked like from one point :
and a close up of two respective shavings, one of these things is not like the other :
Trying both on some carving, no contest. Trying to use the hardware store axe to do some light shaping is difficult because it needs much more force on chops. Chop heavy into a spoon handle for example and it just cracks off. Similar for trying to cut contours and in general do precision work. The Bruks isn't that great here either, a decent knife is much better, but it is still radically ahead of the hardware store axe. I just roughed out a flat spoon with each and it was more than 2:1 in terms of time.
Removing some bark the hardware store axe finally did ok. It still was not in the same class as the Bruks which would just push off the bark in long strips. The hardware store axe needed a higher angle off the wood to match its edge angle and needed basically a series of little chop/pushes to get it to cleanly remove the bark. But I would not say it was outclassed here anyway.
Cutting some small rounds, the hardware axe was at 61 (3) % of the Bruks in terms of number of chops to cut a given piece of wood. Both axes were similar in fluidity, basically no binding in the wood. The hardware axe was way too heavy for its handle length, it really needs a small two handed grip. Taking into account its weight, the chopping efficiency was 46 (2) % of the Bruks which agrees with the rope cutting which makes sense as both of them are similar in cut depth. The wood was hard as it was seasoned so the penetration was only about 1/2" or so.
Trying some slighter chopping, the performance was much the same in that the Bruks was way ahead. On springy alders the performance was even more significant in favor of the Bruks which could pop off thick alders with a quick snap :
The hardware store axe on the other hand tended to break the alders, the edge is just far too obtuse :
I did some splitting starting off on a piece of pine lumber. Both axes split this easily, you can chop split this even with a 7" knife. However the Bruks was far more able to split very thin slabs because the edge would sink in with just a light tap and thus it was easier to get high precision because the swings could be started very close to the wood :
I did some test splits on pine and spruce rounds and neither of these axes are powerful splitters. But looking at the cracks made by both the Bruks is again ahead. The hardware store axe really needs a longer handle. In terms of general handling and comfort these are fairly similar aside from the weight difference.
The only standout of the hardware store axe is that it is a more powerful hammer, so it works better on wedges and stakes. A few test shots driving 3.5" nails into a spruce 4x4 did show the hardware store axe to give much better penetration with really heavy swings. The eye is also way thicker and looks like it could take heavy impacts without drifting, something I would not try on the Bruks.
In regards to edge retention, this was an axe I sharpened for a friend so I didn't have time to do an extended comparison. I can say though that it will readily do all of the above (the round chopping was about 250 hits) and still slice newsprint. If it was mine I would regind the edge, basically remove the heavy convex and flatten it, cutting the angle in half and outfit it with a 3/4" length handle.
The above though does give some idea though about just how much a tuned wood cutting axe like the Bruks will out cut and out chop a standard hardware store axe. If the work had been done with the normal hardware store edge it would have been even more lopsided, and some of it would not even be possible. Note that fatigue would also really make it worse. Try to limb out 50 trees with one and then the other for example and the time would be a lot more than the chop ratio because the hardware store axe is harder to swing and cuts worse.
-Cliff
Profile is really thick, the edge is heavy convex, 0.281" wide and ground at 24.2 (5) degrees per side under 0.060" with a shoulder sweep of 11.2 (5) degrees. This is really heavy for a wood working axe, for reference the Bruks is 14.4 (5) under 0.030" and 9.7 (5) degrees through the shoulder. The Bruks isn't optimal either, it just tends to thicken during freehand convex sharpening, I should flatten a degree off the final sweep and a couple off the relief, I would go further except I want it to be able to cut hardwood limbs. I'll do this the next time it needs a serious sharpening.
Both axes were freshly sharpened and could push cut newsprint and slice paper towel. The hardware store axe is really soft, it files easier than the spring tempered spine on the Ratweiler for example. It gets that big floppy visible burr, but quickly ground off on a coarse/fine hockey puck sharpener and I finished on 1200 DMT + 0.5 micron CrO. As a quick check on cutting ability both were used to slice 3/8" hemp. The force required was 9 (1) and 22 (2) lbs respectively. The much lower angle on the Bruks and the greater curvature significantly enhance the cutting ability.
They were also used to point some pine. The performance was not even close. It would take on average 8 (1) slices with the Wildlife to point a small stake and 28 (2) with the hardware store axe. There would be no need to measure anything to know they were not in the same class. The hardware store axe was seeing the effect of fatigue here of course as you can't maintain maximum force through 30 cuts. Here is what the shavings looked like from one point :
and a close up of two respective shavings, one of these things is not like the other :
Trying both on some carving, no contest. Trying to use the hardware store axe to do some light shaping is difficult because it needs much more force on chops. Chop heavy into a spoon handle for example and it just cracks off. Similar for trying to cut contours and in general do precision work. The Bruks isn't that great here either, a decent knife is much better, but it is still radically ahead of the hardware store axe. I just roughed out a flat spoon with each and it was more than 2:1 in terms of time.
Removing some bark the hardware store axe finally did ok. It still was not in the same class as the Bruks which would just push off the bark in long strips. The hardware store axe needed a higher angle off the wood to match its edge angle and needed basically a series of little chop/pushes to get it to cleanly remove the bark. But I would not say it was outclassed here anyway.
Cutting some small rounds, the hardware axe was at 61 (3) % of the Bruks in terms of number of chops to cut a given piece of wood. Both axes were similar in fluidity, basically no binding in the wood. The hardware axe was way too heavy for its handle length, it really needs a small two handed grip. Taking into account its weight, the chopping efficiency was 46 (2) % of the Bruks which agrees with the rope cutting which makes sense as both of them are similar in cut depth. The wood was hard as it was seasoned so the penetration was only about 1/2" or so.
Trying some slighter chopping, the performance was much the same in that the Bruks was way ahead. On springy alders the performance was even more significant in favor of the Bruks which could pop off thick alders with a quick snap :
The hardware store axe on the other hand tended to break the alders, the edge is just far too obtuse :
I did some splitting starting off on a piece of pine lumber. Both axes split this easily, you can chop split this even with a 7" knife. However the Bruks was far more able to split very thin slabs because the edge would sink in with just a light tap and thus it was easier to get high precision because the swings could be started very close to the wood :
I did some test splits on pine and spruce rounds and neither of these axes are powerful splitters. But looking at the cracks made by both the Bruks is again ahead. The hardware store axe really needs a longer handle. In terms of general handling and comfort these are fairly similar aside from the weight difference.
The only standout of the hardware store axe is that it is a more powerful hammer, so it works better on wedges and stakes. A few test shots driving 3.5" nails into a spruce 4x4 did show the hardware store axe to give much better penetration with really heavy swings. The eye is also way thicker and looks like it could take heavy impacts without drifting, something I would not try on the Bruks.
In regards to edge retention, this was an axe I sharpened for a friend so I didn't have time to do an extended comparison. I can say though that it will readily do all of the above (the round chopping was about 250 hits) and still slice newsprint. If it was mine I would regind the edge, basically remove the heavy convex and flatten it, cutting the angle in half and outfit it with a 3/4" length handle.
The above though does give some idea though about just how much a tuned wood cutting axe like the Bruks will out cut and out chop a standard hardware store axe. If the work had been done with the normal hardware store edge it would have been even more lopsided, and some of it would not even be possible. Note that fatigue would also really make it worse. Try to limb out 50 trees with one and then the other for example and the time would be a lot more than the chop ratio because the hardware store axe is harder to swing and cuts worse.
-Cliff