Husqvarna now makes a Fiskars style plastic/fibreglass handled axe

upnorth said:
Yes, that was my understanding also....... No dis intended 300. We are all human and sometimes don't see the obvious. Lord knows that I have my moments also. I remember freaking out in a rush barking at my wife that I couldn't find my glasses. She told me that I was wearing them..............:D I would imagine that the loggers back in the day probably made big warm up bonfires on site. That would strike me as a dandy time to hold a fellows axe just close enough to warm it up to avoid being brittle as he had a pipe. This is all just a guess on my part. But when I lived in the north there was heavy duty commercial logging during the winter at the turn of the century. And it can easily get to -30 and worse up there. I remember briefly thinking about checking out some of those old camp sites with my metal detector, but I never bothered. I was too busy with coins and fur trade relics to care then. I'd find the odd head and toss it, or leave them on a stump for someone. Kind of bums me to think of it now.
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Story-telling has it's moments in northern lore especially when further embellished in the south. Always begins with "It was so cold that....." Folks in Yellowknife (ones with experience) dispense with alloy wheels in favour of steelies on their cars and trucks because these shatter if you so much as 'kiss' a curb or bounce through a pothole at frigid temperatures. Steel wheels are also brittle at -50 but nowhere near the same degree. Axe technology must have favoured 'home-grown' makers in the north because Walters even advertised that their products were "not too soft, and free of flaws". A fine German axe with a thin and very hard blade (the 60 year old HGW one I have rings like crystal when tapped) likely didn't fare very well at Arctic temperatures whereas an ordinary dull thud Walters never quit. The idea of stuffing a 'heat sink' piece of steel under clothing to warm it up (or keep it warm) has never been mentioned to me or contemplated by anyone I've ever talked to, and one of my best hunting and fishing buddies has been living up there for 32 years. His biggest source of amusement is relaying how newcomers try with exasperation to light their Yuppie-fashionable outdoor-gear propane appliances in winter not yet realizing that propane remains a liquid (ie won't become a gas) below -20.
 
Whether the practice was actually necessary or not is certainly debatable. I've chopped in sub-zero temperatures with thin and hard steel tools including axes and machetes and never had chipping problems. However, I suspect that the way that frozen knots tend to be exceptionally hard played into folks chipping their blades in extremely cold conditions and they may have made the presumption that the steel chipped because it got too cold rather than the effect the cold had on the wood they were cutting. I've never felt the need personally to keep my tools warm--I'm just extra mindful of reading my targets when deciding where to make my cuts in extreme cold temps.
 
An Ax to Grind says this about warming an axe:

"The ax head is brittle at extremely cold temperatures. It is likely to chip unless it is warmed before using. One way to warm up your ax is to place it (sheathed of course) under your armpit, for a few minutes. Or warm it between your hands. If you don't want to share some of your body heat with your ax (which by now should be considered a family member), chop very slowly for at least 2 minutes in order to warm the ax up in the wood."

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/recreational_trails/publications/fs_publications/99232823/page16.cfm
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Whether the practice was actually necessary or not is certainly debatable. I've chopped in sub-zero temperatures with thin and hard steel tools including axes and machetes and never had chipping problems. However, I suspect that the way that frozen knots tend to be exceptionally hard played into folks chipping their blades in extremely cold conditions and they may have made the presumption that the steel chipped because it got too cold rather than the effect the cold had on the wood they were cutting. I've never felt the need personally to keep my tools warm--I'm just extra mindful of reading my targets when deciding where to make my cuts in extreme cold temps.
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Both frigid wood and frigid steel would contribute to chipping. Warming either would certainly reduce the likelihood of chipping the edge.
 
chuxwan said:
Both frigid wood and frigid steel would contribute to chipping. Warming either would certainly reduce the likelihood of chipping the edge.
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As Steve's quotation above mentions, the act of chopping in and of itself warms the edge through friction. I can definitely say, though, that it would have to get well below -15°F to result in chipping if you're mindful with your tools. There are certainly places where it gets that cold this time of year, but I've done serious chopping in conditions down to that temperature threshold without any issue using both relatively hard machetes and thin-bitted hard axes and not experienced any chipping whatsoever. I largely feel that while extreme cold does render steel more delicate than at warmer temperatures, the magnitude of the effect tends to be exaggerated compared to the degree of influence it has on wood.
 
I think you're all forgetting the most important part:

If I bought one of these axes, it would match my chainsaw.
 
thunderstick said:
Perhaps the rounded bit is intended to facilitate rotating when removing the axe from an incomplete split ...
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Rounded bits are made to improve wood penetration. This also makes the part of the file which hits the wood smaller so it suffers less than a straight bit.

Straigt bits are good in carpenter tools, slightly rounded ones are the best in the kind of axes we are speaking of. The only thing I think this axe has well done is the rounded bit.
 
Straight bits penetrate less, but it's easier to fully connect your blows to reduce a scalloped cut. I actually tend to prefer fairly straight bits (though still with a gentle curve.) The more rounded your bit the less necessary it is to get your rotational orientation right when you land the blow though.
 
300Six said:
Story-telling has it's moments in northern lore especially when further embellished in the south. Always begins with "It was so cold that....." Folks in Yellowknife (ones with experience) dispense with alloy wheels in favour of steelies on their cars and trucks because these shatter if you so much as 'kiss' a curb or bounce through a pothole at frigid temperatures. Steel wheels are also brittle at -50 but nowhere near the same degree. Axe technology must have favoured 'home-grown' makers in the north because Walters even advertised that their products were "not too soft, and free of flaws". A fine German axe with a thin and very hard blade (the 60 year old HGW one I have rings like crystal when tapped) likely didn't fare very well at Arctic temperatures whereas an ordinary dull thud Walters never quit. The idea of stuffing a 'heat sink' piece of steel under clothing to warm it up (or keep it warm) has never been mentioned to me or contemplated by anyone I've ever talked to, and one of my best hunting and fishing buddies has been living up there for 32 years. His biggest source of amusement is relaying how newcomers try with exasperation to light their Yuppie-fashionable outdoor-gear propane appliances in winter not yet realizing that propane remains a liquid (ie won't become a gas) below -20.
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I was perch fishing with a guy many years ago. I went outside for whatever reason and he was inside. Suddenly I heard an explosion and buddy fell out the shack door. His eye brows were burnt off from the explosion. Those were my drinking days so of course I laughed my arse off at the spectacle. He never wanted to go ice fishing with me again after that.........................:D
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
As Steve's quotation above mentions, the act of chopping in and of itself warms the edge through friction. I can definitely say, though, that it would have to get well below -15°F to result in chipping if you're mindful with your tools. There are certainly places where it gets that cold this time of year, but I've done serious chopping in conditions down to that temperature threshold without any issue using both relatively hard machetes and thin-bitted hard axes and not experienced any chipping whatsoever. I largely feel that while extreme cold does render steel more delicate than at warmer temperatures, the magnitude of the effect tends to be exaggerated compared to the degree of influence it has on wood.
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I don't profess any knowledge one way or the other about these things. All I have is my own limited experience. I remember years back trying to hack a spruce down at intense temps. The wood was as hard as flint and I rolled the edge on my old Becker Brute.
 
EdmontonAxe said:
I think you're all forgetting the most important part:

If I bought one of these axes, it would match my chainsaw.
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And I would ask for a matching hat also ! Myself, I tend to bring my coloured tights while prancing through the trees with a Mora. :p
 
upnorth said:
I don't profess any knowledge one way or the other about these things. All I have is my own limited experience. I remember years back trying to hack a spruce down at intense temps. The wood was as hard as flint and I rolled the edge on my old Becker Brute.
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Conifer species are especially punishing when frozen, for sure. Frozen pine and spruce knots have been known to mangle many a nice blade. The fact that your edge rolled rather than chipping would indicate that your steel wasn't rendered brittle, though--just the wood quite hard. Just like I was describing. A lot of edged tools back in the day did seem to be in something of a contest for their hardness, though. While a different tool used in warmer weather, an old Little Giant scythe advertisement boasted the claim "Hard, but not too hard." (Emphasis mine.)
 
We have both rounded and straight bit splitting axes, we don't find much accuracy difference between both. With the rounded one bit first contact, doesn't matter which bit part hits first, is always perpendicular to the wood. This makes the axe to penetrate better and to suffer less.

About "the act of chopping in and of itself warms the edge through friction." It can work with a felling axe, but not with a splitting one. You take much more time between swings, enough to let the steel to get surrounding temperature.
 
With a splitting axe it's totally different. The circumstances of use and thicker bit makes cold weather chipping largely not a concern.
 
Ugaldie said:
We have both rounded and straight bit splitting axes, we don't find much accuracy difference between both. With the rounded one bit first contact, doesn't matter which bit part hits first, is always perpendicular to the wood. This makes the axe to penetrate better and to suffer less.

About "the act of chopping in and of itself warms the edge through friction." It can work with a felling axe, but not with a splitting one. You take much more time between swings, enough to let the steel to get surrounding temperature.
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I agree you get more penetration with a rounded bit ... I also find that its easier to rotate a stuck axe to remove it when it has a rounded bit. The sharp corner can tend to bind unless the splitter has sharp ramp or high center.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Straight bits penetrate less, but it's easier to fully connect your blows to reduce a scalloped cut. I actually tend to prefer fairly straight bits (though still with a gentle curve.)
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I prefer a gentle curve for the same reason. It's best for joggling during hewing.
 
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