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- May 19, 2009
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This comment by SP was from a back-and-forth over in another thread about sharpening. The idea he presented got me browsing through some old photos. As to not derail that topic with a huge picture-filled post, I figured I'd start a different thread and do a bit of sharing with this quote in mind.
When I first got the axe head, I was pretty confident this 3 lb Keen Kutter Jersey was near-stock in terms of how much of the bit had been removed through the years. It had some wear and pitting, but otherwise seemed in really good condition. After some deliberation, I hung it on a 27" straight octagonal handle and since I considered the bit to be quite thin, I left the overall profile alone:
I took out some small knicks, straightened out the edge a bit, and gave it a fairly thin a well honed convex. Didn't bother with the cheeks however because I figured the profile was thin enough:
The setup worked out pretty well for the light chores I was doing. Shown here doing the basic shaping of a 21" handle for a Plumb boy's axe:
The edge stayed that way until my camping trip late last August. Lots of standing dead pine where we went so I had a blast providing our decent sized group with firewood. We got there late the first day and brought a bit of our own wood, so I only took down a few small dead trees after setting up my tent just for fun. People can probably tell just by looking at the cuts and chips that my technique was lacking and my bit's edge not optimal for the wood:
The second day, I actually reprofiled the cheeks as I had brought along a 12" Mill Bastard file, my set of DMT credit card sharpeners, and some clamps. You can probably sort of make out the change in the bit in this picture:
Later in the trip, I decided to take this slightly larger guy down:
The lean was pretty obvious and I gave it a few solid thumps with the poll to make sure none of the branches were prone to drop, then went to town:
Checked that my front notch was good, shed a layer since the sun decided to come out then moved on to the back:
And finally - Tiiiiiiimber! Walked off 45 degrees to where another tree would protect me from possible kickback. It hinged pretty well though. In the foreground you can see where some drunken teenagers had decided to have an impromptu, out-of-pit bonfire a couple weeks before our group arrived. Pretty stupid considering the dry spell and amount of dead pines, dried moss, and globs of dried sap that littered the ground. Lucky for them it was a park manager that kindly told them to leave rather than ol' Smokey..
Of course I had a celebratory moment which just so happens to be one of the better shots of the new profile:
Aaaaand then I got the bright idea of actually bucking the tree rather than just sawing it. I was hesitant to post these pictures as I figured my pale, sun-deprived, northwestern skin reflecting light might be offensive to some.
Good lord is bucking ever hard work. Probably didn't help that I was doing it at 2PM with the sun beating down, but how on earth do you people manage this with 18"+ dia trees? I took a break 4 sections through and was either debating how to cut around the large knot or why the hell I wasn't just using my saw. How about that huge chunk of dried sap though? Tossed that log in whole and everyone schooched their chairs back a good foot that night.
One of the hauls back to camp:
Overall, it was an incredibly enjoyable camping trip and not just because I got to burn off some steam in a manner I don't get to do all too often. The people I went with were awesome, and I got some good bonding time in with my girlfriend (who took the huge amount of pictures) as well as my then 6-month old dog.
When I got back, I actually ended up filing down the cheeks even more, making it more flat than convex. I figured it would help give easier release and that only the very edge really needed the convex for durability.
Also, while I was pretty attached to the 27" handle, I ended up deciding I needed something longer for real work. I also had some other ideas about the ergonomics and ended up incorporating it into the design. It's now on a 31" personalized handle:
And there you have it: a little bit (a lot) of sharing on the topic of how some experience with your axe, working with local woods and your intended medium, can better help you assess what works best for an edge profile. In my case, what I thought to be an already thin bit actually ended up needing more cheek thinning to best be optimized for the soft woods that are prevalent in my area. It also let me realize that while a 27" handle is great in terms of packability, it wasn't quite long enough for my desired usage. YMMW but you won't know for sure just how much until you get out and drive
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