Hewing Hatchet?

garry3 said:
What year is that from Bob?
I never knew rigging axes came in different weights and sizes. I shouldn't be surprised with the variety that was once available though.

Its strange that I hardly ever see used ones out and about as popular as they once were. Used hard and discarded I suppose. I have a little pile of them that I use for wedges when I run short to split longer staves.
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:eek::eek:
I've been looking for a riggers axe head with no luck for quite a while, and here you have a pile of them that you use for wedges.
 
300Six said:
Incidentally, switching over from 3 1/2 inch spirals to 3 1/2 coated box (for house wall and floor framing) was a revolution for conserving energy and saving arms and wrists.
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I once hand drove a 50 pound box of 16 penny sinkers by myself in a single day. We were building interior partions - fast work. All done with a 24oz Vaughan framing hammer. Still have the hammer. I like their 20oz straight claw ripping hammer real well but it's a little light for framing.
 
[QUOTE="garry3, post: 17317722, member: 325776"]Not sure when them vinyl coated nails came out but when they came into common use nobody was unhappy about it.[/QUOTE]
Coated box nails are truly deceiving. They're thinner (?) and go in real slick (1/2 the effort!), refuse to withdraw, and yet hold like spirals. If you say the coating is/was vinyl I'll take your word for it (I always figured the covering was some sort of wax or plastic). Until power nailers took over these became a well kept secret amongst old-time framers. It was an already-beyond-the-end-of-his-career German WWII Vet (become master carpenter) that I'd hired for a reno in Ottawa that introduced the construction crew to these in the early 90s. Big framing hammers (despite their macho appearance) quietly disappeared.
If 'energizer bunny' old Hubert is alive today he'll be 100 years old! He effortlessly cobbled together makeshift work tables and scaffold out of building scraps or wood he was going to use, anywhere and everywhere he went. And "hump up, Johnny" is what I'll never forget were his only curt instructions to the harried 'skin' (whose name was John) that was trying to place floor joists one floor up.
 
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Hickory n steel said:
:eek::eek:
I've been looking for a riggers axe head with no luck for quite a while, and here you have a pile of them that you use for wedges.
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I replaced mine once a year because the waffles became to worn. Most where discarded.

I used the Vaughan's because they had the biggest faces and the shortest polls(it makes a difference). Vaughan's discontinued 32oz California framer was fully its equal and a little more for purely driving nails but I could never wean myself off of the axe bit. The Vaughn rigging axe remained unchanged until fairly recently. They now have a collar which should cut down on broken handles.

I had a couple of jobs that I discovered after hiring on that the rigging axes were not allowed. There was a prejudice against some guys that used them as being hacks and rooted in jealousy I believe by those that couldn't swing them. They would say that they were unsafe yet dry wall hammers were never banned. That justification just didn't hold water for me. It was also a red flag that they where out of California and brought that mind set and crappy workmanship with them. I don't think I ever worked more than a couple weeks for guys like that. I would just move on ASAP.
 
ekill, don't mess up the hewing hatchet. no point in ruining a good tool trying to make it into something it wasn't made for.
keep a look out for axes and hatchets in your neighborhood. you'll be surprised.
meanwhile sharpen the hewing hatchet and do some work with it.

all good

buzz
 
garry3 said:
I replaced mine once a year because the waffles became to worn. Most where discarded.

I used the Vaughan's because they had the biggest faces and the shortest polls(it makes a difference). Vaughan's discontinued 32oz California framer was fully its equal and a little more for purely driving nails but I could never wean myself off of the axe bit. The Vaughn rigging axe remained unchanged until fairly recently. They now have a collar which should cut down on broken handles.

I had a couple of jobs that I discovered after hiring on that the rigging axes were not allowed. There was a prejudice against some guys that used them as being hacks and rooted in jealousy I believe by those that couldn't swing them. They would say that they were unsafe yet dry wall hammers were never banned. That justification just didn't hold water for me. It was also a red flag that they where out of California and brought that mind set and crappy workmanship with them. I don't think I ever worked more than a couple weeks for guys like that. I would just move on ASAP.
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Would you ever give one of them wore out heads away ;)
 
garry3 said:
I replaced mine once a year because the waffles became to worn. Most where discarded.

I used the Vaughan's because they had the biggest faces and the shortest polls(it makes a difference). Vaughan's discontinued 32oz California framer was fully its equal and a little more for purely driving nails but I could never wean myself off of the axe bit. The Vaughn rigging axe remained unchanged until fairly recently. They now have a collar which should cut down on broken handles.

I had a couple of jobs that I discovered after hiring on that the rigging axes were not allowed. There was a prejudice against some guys that used them as being hacks and rooted in jealousy I believe by those that couldn't swing them. They would say that they were unsafe yet dry wall hammers were never banned. That justification just didn't hold water for me. It was also a red flag that they where out of California and brought that mind set and crappy workmanship with them. I don't think I ever worked more than a couple weeks for guys like that. I would just move on ASAP.
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On the other hand a drywall hammer/hatchet weighs half the amount of a 32 oz Calif framer. I don't suppose those wielders also measured masculinity by the size of the engine in owner's pickup trucks. Two pound GD hammer!
 
300Six said:
On the other hand a drywall hammer/hatchet weighs half the amount of a 32 oz Calif framer. I don't suppose those wielders also measured masculinity by the size of the engine in owner's pickup trucks. Two pound GD hammer!
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At one time those where the most common size on the framing jobs around here. Vaughan still makes a 32oz I think. Unfortunately it is a rip hammer and not a California framer.Why they would go that big with the rip hammer and not the California framer is head scratcher. Maybe they don't want to compete with their own line of Titanium framing hammers?
 
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