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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.
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Need an axe....?
- Thread starter Jgraeff
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2012
- Messages
- 1,949
A vintage American made boys axe would do the trick but if you don't feel like taking the time to put a new handle on it then Husqvarna Multi Purpose Axe is a great axe for a great price. With the Husqvarna you might have to touch the edge up some and oil the handle with BLO but that would be about it.
Wrong tool for the job.
An axe is great for making stuff around camp and splitting wood.
For what you're talking about you'll want to get the roots out with a garden fork / xl pry bar (only possible for the first year or two, after that we are talking serious digging) or saw them off flat at ground level. Roots and all is the best way. Failing that sawing them off at ground level avoids the hassle of the hard dry pointy stubs for as long as it takes for them to decompose. Not great for tires and feet.
A fiskars brush axe would do well if you are not bothered about doing a clean job of it.
An axe is great for making stuff around camp and splitting wood.
For what you're talking about you'll want to get the roots out with a garden fork / xl pry bar (only possible for the first year or two, after that we are talking serious digging) or saw them off flat at ground level. Roots and all is the best way. Failing that sawing them off at ground level avoids the hassle of the hard dry pointy stubs for as long as it takes for them to decompose. Not great for tires and feet.
A fiskars brush axe would do well if you are not bothered about doing a clean job of it.
If this is for very occasional use (must be or you'd already have had one long ago) and is going to get used at or near the ground, then head down to your big box store and pick out a cheapie that suits you. Heft all of the different versions (they go by weight/length and profile) and 'pretend swing/chop' with them before making a choice. And then look to find the 'sharpest tack' (pointiest blade) in that same barrel. Very little investment and if somewhere down the road you take a shine to uses for axes then you can start becoming much more discerning.
Axes are fairly rudimentary implements neither requiring super steel nor fanciful shapes in order to get small jobs done. And if you leave the cheapie outside and unattended long enough to be lost or stolen then replacement is no biggie either.
I lived just east of James Bay in n. Ontario in a population 400 Indian village for a year (in 01-02) and noticed that the natives merely bought new Garants (these are all made in China I think) anytime a haft broke, a stone chipped a blade or an edge got intolerably dull. Sharpen an axe? Easier faster to get a new one from the Hudson Bay post, white man.
Axes are fairly rudimentary implements neither requiring super steel nor fanciful shapes in order to get small jobs done. And if you leave the cheapie outside and unattended long enough to be lost or stolen then replacement is no biggie either.
I lived just east of James Bay in n. Ontario in a population 400 Indian village for a year (in 01-02) and noticed that the natives merely bought new Garants (these are all made in China I think) anytime a haft broke, a stone chipped a blade or an edge got intolerably dull. Sharpen an axe? Easier faster to get a new one from the Hudson Bay post, white man.
Council Tool Forest Service Axe or a Jersey. Read "The Axe Book" and then make your decision. Gb and Wetterlings are great too, but I don't know if you're really getting any better performance for your money, depending on what you're using the axe for. I have three GB, one Wetterlings, and a Council Tool Velvicut Hudson Bay. I love them all.
Buy whatever you want!
Buy whatever you want!
I agree with a hardware/box store China special. If all you are doing is cutting down small trees and pulling out stumps, I'd even say getting a bow saw (or folding saw) and a pick/mattock would be a better tool choice for the job than an axe. A bow saw will take down a sapling as easily as an axe, and much closer to grade. Then you can dig the rootball out with the mattock. The Swedish axes mentioned are so overkill for the proposed use.
Can't argue with that! Stumbled on to an old domestic-made Pulaski 35 years ago (wonderful for grubbing stones/chopping roots/splitting firewood etc) and pretty much relegated my mattock to languishing in the corner ever since. I notice that the Chinese are making these (Pulaskis) now (Princess Auto (Canada) regularly has them on sale for $20, wood or fiberglass!) and I can't see anybody going wrong with one of these. Can't even rehaft something like this for $20.
Small hint here: oftentimes those who maintain the blades of 'their' knives, chisels and axes have also learned to sharpen 'their' chainsaws (and lawnmowers/ice augers etc). Costs next to nothing (except average 1/2 hour round file 'effort' for a 16" bar) to do a chain by hand and you can get 5-10x the mileage and longevity out of one over taking it to a commercial shop. Plus it can always be kept 'singing' sharp well beyond the 80 grit grinder stone 'useable-sharp' commercial rendition.
Square_peg
Gold Member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2012
- Messages
- 13,824
Besides the pulaski the other option is the cutter mattock. If you expect to do any prying then choose the cutter mattock, it has a heftier handle. But the pulaski is a much better chopper.
Cutter mattock was my first thought for stumps, but the Pulaski sounds good maybe better, just never messed with one. Dig around and cut all the roots you can find, then hook up a logging chain to the work truck bumper....or buy your neighbor with a backhoe a nice gift
.FWIW, Council has a nice FSS Pulaski available right now. It's a decent amount of money, but a quality tool, to be sure. They also have a standard version available for about half the cost, but without a sheath, among other detriments, compared to the FSS.