Lets use those axes for what they were ment for.

Pindvin,
I agree with 300- your force and accuracy were very good- especially from right side. The sound of the strike indicates very solid hard wood. When camping the chips are good firestarter- aside from that they are lost BTU's but there is nothing wrong with using a tool that brings you satisfaction at the loss of efficiency.

These days, we have more efficient options when the situation calls for it.

Bill
 
I spent a few hours clearing cedars on the property today to get some exercise and relieve some stress from studying for finals. Before I called it a day, I decided to down this dead standing oak to work on my endurance. The axe used was the Fiskars 28" chopping axe. As a vintage axe lover, I thought Fiskars axes were ugly, throw-away implements. That was before I bought one last year to try out. I still like the vintage axes better, but I won't argue with the results. I absolutely love this axe.

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It took about 30 minutes to bring this one down.
 
the boss man got a new ox-head for me and teamed up with a Tramontina machete i cut line all last week.
 
theDH said:
the boss man got a new ox-head for me and teamed up with a Tramontina machete i cut line all last week.
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It's curious that Canuck trade suppliers for surveying/geo and oil exploration/forestry/gov't etc feature German Ox Head products instead of pedestrian hardware store Garants. This has been going on for many decades. My first Ox Head (a 1/2 dozen of them) was from the foreclosure sale of Great Western Petroleum in Calgary in the mid 80s. Your boss chose the Euro model instead of the Iltis Canadian and I think you'll find there is way more blade there than you really want. Neat feeling though to be the first to use a brand-new quality axe.
 
it is nice using a brand new quality axe and i was surprised how nice the haft was, the long blade is a bit strange but it works well for tree blazes and bearing trees and im mostly using it for limbing not very much felling. i think it was the only pattern ox-head the supply shop had in stock and I was surprised to see some gransfors bruks there also.
 
Condor Swedish ax. Love it.
It and an Ox-head brand adze were the primary tools I used to make my dugout canoe...
curiara style like in Venezuela

of course, chainsaw, machete, and fire had some roles to play

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That canoe is a heckuva piece of work, Kukulaza. You should be very proud.

I didn't do anything like that but at least I got to swing my pulaski today while doing a trail work project. Great way to start the New Year.

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Also pulled a 1000 pound rock into place with a griphoist.

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Happy New Year Square_peg! Can't beat a good Pulaski for tangling with rough and tumble stuff. I sure hope you folk's names are on a prominent plaque somewhere along that trail. It's easy for Greenhorns to take nice clean trails for granted and to presume they were gradually formed over 10,000 years by wandering natives but in reality every blow down and heavy rain messes up paths immediately.
 
Thanks, 300Six.

300Six said:
It's easy for Greenhorns to take nice clean trails for granted and to presume they were gradually formed over 10,000 years by wandering natives .......
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I get that a lot. People just think the trail formed by people walking on it. In reality it took 1000's of hours of sweat and labor - often by volunteers - to make that trail. We get no plaque, only the satisfaction of a tough job done well and the camaraderie of fellow trail workers - all great people.

But it's fun and it gives you an opportunity to use your axe skills. Plus it's cheaper than a gym membership.
 
I had to clear a few blow downs today. A 7" hemlock, a 10" hemlock and a 9" maple. I brought along a couple axes to play with. On the right is my 5 pound Plumb rafting axe. In the center is the 3 pound Craftsman that I hung on that hand carved haft with the removable wedging system. On the right is my 4 pound TT Dayton with hardened poll.

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I started on the little hemlock with the Craftsman. I had to tighten the wedges a couple times but the axe actually performed quite well. Just gotta keep an eye on it. It never came loose but I noticed it had moved and I had to stop a couple times.

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I went to work on the 10" hemlock my TT Dayton. This has a 32" straight octagon haft. It's one of my favorite axes to swing. It just feels good. Half way through the second cut a little hemlock knot got me! I've never had a knot chip an axe like this before. It wasn't even that cold out today - just mid-50's F. Hemlock knots are notoriously hard. Lesson learned.

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I finished that hemlock and took out the maple with the big 5 pounder. It chops great but it's a beast to swing for this kind of work. The 36" haft is better for splitting than bucking. But it cut through the hemlock with no problem and breezed through the maple.

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No I gotta go re-grind that Dayton.
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Square_peg said:
Thanks, 300Six.




I get that a lot. People just think the trail formed by people walking on it. In reality it took 1000's of hours of sweat and labor - often by volunteers - to make that trail. We get no plaque, only the satisfaction of a tough job done well and the camaraderie of fellow trail workers - all great people.

But it's fun and it gives you an opportunity to use your axe skills. Plus it's cheaper than a gym membership.
Click to expand...


I frequently hike in the White Mountains of NH, and many of the trails are old and named for the people that cut them. Many span multiple peaks and travel through rough wilderness. Edmand's Path, Crawford Path. The hiking is long and hard, but when I think about the man hours and labor required- especially 100's of years ago with hand tools and maybe a horse, it is very humbling.
 
Looks like a fantastic way to spend a day, even if a re-grind is in order for one of the heads. Good thing you had a spare or two!
 
Wetterlings Scandinavian that I got a few weeks ago. There aren't a lot of axe opportunities out here on the bald azz prairie.



 
jblyttle said:
I frequently hike in the White Mountains of NH, and many of the trails are old and named for the people that cut them. Many span multiple peaks and travel through rough wilderness. Edmand's Path, Crawford Path. The hiking is long and hard, but when I think about the man hours and labor required- especially 100's of years ago with hand tools and maybe a horse, it is very humbling.
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There is a very real likelihood that there is a team of unsung heroes that still maintain those trails. The hunt camp I belong to has an discrete walking trail network (maybe 5 miles altogether) around it that has been maintained by the camp members since 1947. The only obvious evidence of human activity on it are chainsawed tree sections rolled away from where they fell over the paths. And yet it takes 10 energetic men with power saws, wheelbarrow, shovels, picks and axes an entire weekend every year to keep clear. Some years when a freak wind storm or torrential rain blows over it takes an extra weekend or two just to repair/clean up the damage. A casual passerby wouldn't even notice any of this and merely might presume that some big game trails were used quite a bit more than others.
 
300Six said:
There is a very real likelihood that there is a team of unsung heroes that still maintain those trails. The hunt camp I belong to has an discrete walking trail network (maybe 5 miles altogether) around it that has been maintained by the camp members since 1947. The only obvious evidence of human activity on it are chainsawed tree sections rolled away from where they fell over the paths. And yet it takes 10 energetic men with power saws, wheelbarrow, shovels, picks and axes an entire weekend every year to keep clear. Some years when a freak wind storm or torrential rain blows over it takes an extra weekend or two just to repair/clean up the damage. A casual passerby wouldn't even notice any of this and merely might presume that some big game trails were used quite a bit more than others.
Click to expand...

Oh no, we know who they are. The AMC sends in teams of volunteers regularly.
 
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