-
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.
Nessmuk-style Double-bit belt axe -- anyone???
- Thread starter Kismet
- Start date
Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
Very nice looking work, at very reasonable prices considering the process. If anyone has one I would be curious about handle grain, and head and handle alignment. Since they are made individually, these should be very high.
-Cliff
-Cliff
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2002
- Messages
- 7,269
Alex and Cliff?
I did not mean to imply that Mr. Reeves' axes were extravagantly expensive. In fact, for the craftsmanship involved, and shown...I think they are quite reasonable. Beautiful work, beautifully done.
I just don't have it. Not complaining, a fact of my life at the moment.
I AM pleased to see such work, and to know that someone with the skill and dedication is out there. The search so far has been worth it to me.
Keep the faith.
Kis
I did not mean to imply that Mr. Reeves' axes were extravagantly expensive. In fact, for the craftsmanship involved, and shown...I think they are quite reasonable. Beautiful work, beautifully done.
I just don't have it. Not complaining, a fact of my life at the moment.
I AM pleased to see such work, and to know that someone with the skill and dedication is out there. The search so far has been worth it to me.
Keep the faith.
Kis
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2002
- Messages
- 5
I have been enjoying the discussion on the "Nessmuk" style axe. I wasn't aware of the forum until Kismet e-mailed me.
I would like to comment that the thick edge of the "Nessmuk" design is the feature that makes the double bit so useful in the belt axe size. You have two cutting tools in one, making it more useful because of it.
Good idea Mr. Sears.
Lee
I would like to comment that the thick edge of the "Nessmuk" design is the feature that makes the double bit so useful in the belt axe size. You have two cutting tools in one, making it more useful because of it.
Good idea Mr. Sears.
Lee
- Joined
- Oct 2, 1998
- Messages
- 45,389
Being in "Nessmuk" mode myself of late, I recently had Ray Kirk make me a Nessmuk styled knife of hand forged 52100 with scales of Bois D'Arc. A link to my review can be found here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=195703
Lee Reeves' work with the Nessmuk style double bit belt axe was recommended in that thread by a couple of makers, a master smith amongst them. No small endorsement.
In the end I found that siren's song too difficult to resist and have asked Lee to put me on the list for a Nessmuk style belt axe with a Bois D'Arc haft.
I'll report in following receipt. I have no doubt I'll be smiling.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=195703
Lee Reeves' work with the Nessmuk style double bit belt axe was recommended in that thread by a couple of makers, a master smith amongst them. No small endorsement.
In the end I found that siren's song too difficult to resist and have asked Lee to put me on the list for a Nessmuk style belt axe with a Bois D'Arc haft.
I'll report in following receipt. I have no doubt I'll be smiling.
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2002
- Messages
- 7,269
...and thank you. Now I can live vicariously through you as you
eagarly anticipate the arrival of the Nessmuk styled-axe.
George Sears made a big deal out of the design, and went to a great deal of effort to have HIS axe-head made, travelling as I remember, a day in each direction to go to the manufacturer. Part of the motivation was Sears' size...he was not a big man. As I recall, he is described as 5'3" or 5'4", and slightly built, so the weight of anything he carried was important to him.
The various canoes, Sears had made...Rushton styled, lapstrake laid, and in the 16 to 22 pound weight range....were also designed with Sears' small stature in mind. The 10 1/2' length was not only a function of capacity, but heft. I have a Dagger, 10 foot open canoe, weighing about 30 pounds of Royalex which is THE boat I take in streams and small rivers. (I'm not sure it is still in their product listing...just made a quick check with no joy.) But, it has a capacity of just 165 pounds. (Well, I've been in lakes with My 160 pound body, and a 65 pound bird dog...but it wasn't pretty. The dog would rest her head on the side, and the whole boat moved in this ->/ direction.) The point? Weight/function ratio was Sears' guide.
I digress. Thank you, Blues. Please keep the forum informed.
Kis
eagarly anticipate the arrival of the Nessmuk styled-axe.
George Sears made a big deal out of the design, and went to a great deal of effort to have HIS axe-head made, travelling as I remember, a day in each direction to go to the manufacturer. Part of the motivation was Sears' size...he was not a big man. As I recall, he is described as 5'3" or 5'4", and slightly built, so the weight of anything he carried was important to him.
The various canoes, Sears had made...Rushton styled, lapstrake laid, and in the 16 to 22 pound weight range....were also designed with Sears' small stature in mind. The 10 1/2' length was not only a function of capacity, but heft. I have a Dagger, 10 foot open canoe, weighing about 30 pounds of Royalex which is THE boat I take in streams and small rivers. (I'm not sure it is still in their product listing...just made a quick check with no joy.) But, it has a capacity of just 165 pounds. (Well, I've been in lakes with My 160 pound body, and a 65 pound bird dog...but it wasn't pretty. The dog would rest her head on the side, and the whole boat moved in this ->/ direction.) The point? Weight/function ratio was Sears' guide.
I digress. Thank you, Blues. Please keep the forum informed.
Kis
- Joined
- Oct 2, 1998
- Messages
- 45,389
You're quite right, Sears (Nessmuk) was small of stature. Here's a quote taken from the website cited below:
At the age of 59, a little more than 5 feet tall, weighing less than 105 pounds, and weak with acute pulmonary tuberculosis, Sears decided to see if the Adirondack lakes and forests could improve his health. William Henry Harrison ("Adirondack") Murray, pastor of Park Street Church, Boston, had published a book in 1869, Adventures in the Wilderness, which praised the North Woods as a health resort for consumption sufferers. (Later, Saranac was to become the site of one of the most famous American sanitoria for tuberculosis care.)
By the way, those of you interested in reading about Nessmuk's canoes and his outings via his letters to Forest and Stream will find the following link quite interesting:
http://www.rtpnet.org/robroy/books/gws/N.HTM
At the age of 59, a little more than 5 feet tall, weighing less than 105 pounds, and weak with acute pulmonary tuberculosis, Sears decided to see if the Adirondack lakes and forests could improve his health. William Henry Harrison ("Adirondack") Murray, pastor of Park Street Church, Boston, had published a book in 1869, Adventures in the Wilderness, which praised the North Woods as a health resort for consumption sufferers. (Later, Saranac was to become the site of one of the most famous American sanitoria for tuberculosis care.)
By the way, those of you interested in reading about Nessmuk's canoes and his outings via his letters to Forest and Stream will find the following link quite interesting:
http://www.rtpnet.org/robroy/books/gws/N.HTM
Attachments
If my old eyes aren't failing, Nessmuk liked 2 sides to more than his axe. Though it's pretty fuzzy, the picture you posted seems to show him holding a 2-barrel rotating-breech percussion rifle (each barrel would be fired in turn after rotating it to the "top" position).
If anybody has any information on this would appreciate their posting as those rifles are fairly rare and a lot of folks would be interested in documentation on that one.
TWO HAWKS
http://www.2hawks.net
If anybody has any information on this would appreciate their posting as those rifles are fairly rare and a lot of folks would be interested in documentation on that one.
TWO HAWKS
http://www.2hawks.net
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2001
- Messages
- 40
I can vouch for Lee Reeves' work. I have 2 of his hatchets--a single bit with osage orange handle and a double bit with a curly maple handle. I met Lee at the PKA Show in Denver 2 years ago after Jerry Hossom introduced us. I have since ordered another hatchet as a present for a friend and she showed her brother who immediately ordered one for himself!! Razor sharp and compact. Two Hawks work is also precision engineered. His work is also recommended.
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2002
- Messages
- 5
I would like to thank John and Mike and everyone in this thread and Blues' thread for their kind word about my axes. I enjoy making them almost as much as I enjoy hearing from people who like them.
I would have more to say, but I'm on my way out to get a new hat. My old ones have gotten to small for some reason.
Lee
I would have more to say, but I'm on my way out to get a new hat. My old ones have gotten to small for some reason.
Lee
- Joined
- Aug 27, 1999
- Messages
- 4,531
I have an excellent double-bitted axe made by a fellow (last)named Warren, from Bethel, N.C. It weighs about as much as a SIG P230. The head is 5 1/4" edge to edge and it is 14" long. Mine has a baldric sheath made by McKenzie Leather Works, Canton, N,C.
Both axe and sheath are of workmanship unsurpassed. Price was $150.00 and worth every penny.
Both axe and sheath are of workmanship unsurpassed. Price was $150.00 and worth every penny.
- Joined
- Oct 2, 1998
- Messages
- 45,389
Sounds just right, Fudo.
I have had friends in the Bethel/Canton area of NC. Makes me wish I was up there on my motorcycle right now. Hwys 276 and 215 are two standouts!
Of course after I got off the bike I'd want to head off into the woods to test out knife and axe.
I have had friends in the Bethel/Canton area of NC. Makes me wish I was up there on my motorcycle right now. Hwys 276 and 215 are two standouts!
Of course after I got off the bike I'd want to head off into the woods to test out knife and axe.
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2000
- Messages
- 217
Just ordered a Nessmuk style hatchet from ragweedforge.com
See his website for pics and details. Regards.
See his website for pics and details. Regards.
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2000
- Messages
- 217
To be sure, the Reeves ax is of better quality and well worth the price he asks. The ax sold by ragweedforge can be ground and reshaped by a klutz like me. If I mess up it is not too painful a loss.
Bobofun here,
Check out this site for the "Fort Megs Nessmuk".
A-23P; the "Fort Megs Nessmuk" is the Fort Meigs tricked out as a small double bitted belt axe. Nessmuk was a famous early writer on camping and woodcraft. He favored such an axe, and had one made up for him at considerable expense. He kept one edge very fine for clear wood and the other edge stronger for bone and other coarse work. This one weighs about 15 ounces with the 14" hickory handle. The head is about 5 1/2" wide and just over 1/2" thick. The edges are about 2 5/8" long. I think he would have liked it. The price is $39.
If you would like I can send as a finished and mounted casting so you can set the edges to your own preference. The price unsharpened is $35.
www.ragweedforge.com/ThrowingCatalog.html#wetterling
Bobo
Check out this site for the "Fort Megs Nessmuk".
A-23P; the "Fort Megs Nessmuk" is the Fort Meigs tricked out as a small double bitted belt axe. Nessmuk was a famous early writer on camping and woodcraft. He favored such an axe, and had one made up for him at considerable expense. He kept one edge very fine for clear wood and the other edge stronger for bone and other coarse work. This one weighs about 15 ounces with the 14" hickory handle. The head is about 5 1/2" wide and just over 1/2" thick. The edges are about 2 5/8" long. I think he would have liked it. The price is $39.
If you would like I can send as a finished and mounted casting so you can set the edges to your own preference. The price unsharpened is $35.
www.ragweedforge.com/ThrowingCatalog.html#wetterling
Bobo
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2002
- Messages
- 5
I have just spent the weekend in Washington, Arkansas, at the ABS Spring Hammer-in. It was a real good time. Some of the best bladesmiths in the world gathered there to share their know how and techniques. It was great to be able to listen in on impromptu roundtable discussions. Everyone was willing to share their expertise and made everyone welcome. If you are interested in the forged blade, a hammer-in is a great time and well worth the trip.
Lee
Lee
In choosing any edged tool (pouch axe or otherwise) remember the following:
HISTORICALLY ACCURATE does not necessarily mean optimally functional for the purpose. While there were probably not as many surviving screwups in the 1700's as we now tolerate and support in society, the consumers still managed to get shafted on a number of goods (including edged tools) that did not perform nearly as well as they should have.
I have never liked the design of the skinny little Fort Meigs axe because the thin handle and wedged eye would be miserable to replace in the field (compared to a tapered teardrop hawk eye) and because it did not have a hammer poll. Perhaps this is personal preference, but there is a lot of support in the 1700's and 1800's designs I have seen which were TOOLS recovered from old cabins etc. and not ORNAMENTS carried by officers that ended up relatively undamaged in various museum collections. Quite a few of the Fort Meigs heads have been found buried in area sites but I can't help but wonder how happy the original owners were with them.
Best regards,
TWO HAWKS
http://www.2hawks.net
HISTORICALLY ACCURATE does not necessarily mean optimally functional for the purpose. While there were probably not as many surviving screwups in the 1700's as we now tolerate and support in society, the consumers still managed to get shafted on a number of goods (including edged tools) that did not perform nearly as well as they should have.
I have never liked the design of the skinny little Fort Meigs axe because the thin handle and wedged eye would be miserable to replace in the field (compared to a tapered teardrop hawk eye) and because it did not have a hammer poll. Perhaps this is personal preference, but there is a lot of support in the 1700's and 1800's designs I have seen which were TOOLS recovered from old cabins etc. and not ORNAMENTS carried by officers that ended up relatively undamaged in various museum collections. Quite a few of the Fort Meigs heads have been found buried in area sites but I can't help but wonder how happy the original owners were with them.
Best regards,
TWO HAWKS
http://www.2hawks.net