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.
Since Hurricane Floyd hit us back in 1999 there have been several oaks that have perished in the floods. Just couldn't take being submerged in water for so long. Had to use a saw to get the last oak cut into logs. I'll post a pic below. Got to get these trees split into firewood within the next few daysGood work. Is that tree recently dead?
Warming the pulaski with a cigarette lighter!
Thanks for a good laugh!
I am quite sure that it has never, in all recorded history gotten cold enough in Maple Valley WA to need to warm any axe let alone a pulaski cutting a rotten log!
It was 25° out. That's why we were dealing with frozen ground. You don't need a jacket when you're doing hard physical labor. It's only when you stop working that you cool down.
It's common knowledge among experienced axemen to warm a cold axe before using it.
From "An Ax to Grind"
https://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/pdfpubs/pdf99232823/pdf99232823Pdpi300.pdf
"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 dont 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."
From "The Ax Book"
"It is not only the body that is affected by the cold. A 19th century ax manufacturer published warning that axes should be warmed before using, lest they be too brittle."
We have a tree here in the NW, Western Hemlock, which is known to have knots that are glass hard. Encountering one of these with a cold axe is asking for a chip. The top half of this tree was sound. The surface was deteriorated enough that I couldn't tell if it was Hemlock or Douglas Fir. I wasn't going to risk encountering another Hemlock knot with a cold axe.
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My grinds are a bit on the thin side. I like the efficiency and recognize that I have to take some precautions with my axes. You are of course welcome to use your axe however you see fit. And I will continue to do the same.