Opinions on this Broad Axe

S

SwedeFP

Joined
Oct 17, 2020
Messages
94
Hey All,

It has been a bit since I've posted. I am still using axes and have always wanted to hew timbers. I found this unknown maker broad axe and wanted to see if anyone would offer guidance on its possible suitability as a user. It looks to have a homemade handle which would need work plus the head is obviously in need of a lot of cleanup. The bit is about 11 inches and the flat side does not have serious pitting though hard to tell from the pics. I have looked it over and there seems to quite a bit of what I think is hard steel left although I could not see the line where it changes. Thanks for any input.
https://imgur.com/a/gXsykrV
 
Looks like it has a little bit of pitting to deal with but nothing that isn't fixable. Looks like it should have plenty of life left in it and should be a decent enough fixer-upper.
 
FortyTwoBlades FortyTwoBlades thanks for that encouragement, and I forgot to mention the price. They are asking $80. I have cleaned up other axes, but nothing this rusty. My plans would be to use flap disks and a brass wire wheel.
 
SwedeFP said:
Hey All,

It has been a bit since I've posted. I am still using axes and have always wanted to hew timbers. I found this unknown maker broad axe and wanted to see if anyone would offer guidance on its possible suitability as a user. It looks to have a homemade handle which would need work plus the head is obviously in need of a lot of cleanup. The bit is about 11 inches and the flat side does not have serious pitting though hard to tell from the pics. I have looked it over and there seems to quite a bit of what I think is hard steel left although I could not see the line where it changes. Thanks for any input.
https://imgur.com/a/gXsykrV
Click to expand...
This long handle allowed for hacking of railroad ties. For more detailed work you may need two left and right handed axes with offset handles or Broad axe with set of removable offset handles (right and left)

C

Thread 'Curious case of American Broad Axes with long handles'

In early XX century hardware stores used to sell broad axes with long 32-36 inch handles.
https://books.google.com/books?id=v...=PA49#v=onepage&q=pittsburgh broad axe&f=true
Long handles would require to work the sides of the log standing on the top. I am curious about that technique ... Maybe it was the influence of thousands of Chinese workers building Transcontinental Railroad hewing railroad ties using Japanese technique...
  • Like

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/removable-wedging-system-for-axes.1249527/

 
If I wanted or needed a original American pattern Broad Axe I would pay $80 for this one. You can get plenty of good advise here about restoring it. Except for some pitting the condition is very good to make a user Broad Axe for log or timber frame hewing. While that looks like a serviceable old haft it is not the original or right for hewing. If you can save the haft and use it on a older single bit that would be great. I would put a hickory 20-22" S bend or a dog leg bend offset haft on it if you want to actually hew with it. Remember that this pattern can be set up for either a right or a left hand hewer. This axe is still in good enough condition to hang it right or left without removing too much steel. Please do not use any power grinding if you dont know what you are doing (and most people dont know how to use a power grinder in my experience) and you draw the temper. I believe a good file first, and then stone work would be the way to go. It should finish out with a single bevel on one side and be flat on the side that flattens the log. DO NOT PUT ANY KIND OF BACK BEVEL ON THE FLAT SIDE OR ANY KIND OF MICRO BEVEL ON THE BEVEL SIDE.
 
O Old Axeman it's great to hear more good things about this axe. It is in Tennessee, so could have been a local axe. We do have an old railroad town just over in Kentucky which even still has a railroad tie plant. The old handle is interesting in that if the head is layed flat on the non bevel side, there is a bit of offset. It does have small wood borer holes at the top near the head. I will find or make a more correct handle.
I won't use any power tools on it except maybe for clean up of the non edge parts. I really don't like power tools that much and won't want to lose some of the patina. I have some old American brand files and a Baryonyx arctic fox stone for the edge plus various sandpaper grits. For already restored axes, I got sharpening guidance from "An Axe to Grind" and a YT channel Bushcraft Sysiphus and restoration information from this forum. I really appreciate your work on "An Axe to Grind" and your reply.
 
Perfect ! One more thought for you . My experience, and what I learned from my Grandfather, is, there were American pattern broad axes that did not have a flat side (much rarer than the single bevel hewing axe). The haft eye was centered like a felling axe and they had a flat knife edge bevel profile bit. Using one of these was exactly like using a traditional Swede axe like the current Gransfors double bevel hewing axes. The haft is not bent offset like the more common American offset single bevel hewing axe. The straight haft in the double bevel hewing axes is not a problem with barking your knuckles because you hold the axe so that the bevel you are using, either right or left handed, is "riding the wood" as my Grandfather called it. So, with the double bevel hewing axe the straight haft was offset by the way you hold it. I hope what I just said makes sense. I have learned to use my grandfathers very well for log hewing and, since I can hew, like my Grandfather, both right and left handed, I do not need two hewing axes or a removeable haft to switch sides. Their primary purpose was tie hacking, sometimes from standing on top of the log, hence the longer haft, and some times standing on the ground, next to the log, with a shorter haft. It is not easy to broad axe hew a decent finished product standing on top with either American pattern hewing axe. Look at some the old footage I have shown on hewing and you will only see hewing from standing next to the stick (log to be hewn) by men who made their living hewing.

If you have not seen the Forest Service video "These Old Cabin Logs" you might find something of interest.
 
Yes, here in Maine there was a cottage industry in rail tie manufacture and we had "sleeper" pattern axes that were basically varying sizes of double-beveled broad axes. Some were only a little wider than a normal axe, others were the size of conventional large hewing axes, but they had this distinctive shape to them. The jawline of the flared portion of the bit is straight or nearly straight. Very blocky form to them.

s-l400.jpg

sleepers-maines-webster-pattern-sleeper-axe-v0-osghb734jtuc1.jpg
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Yes, here in Maine there was a cottage industry in rail tie manufacture and we had "sleeper" pattern axes that were basically varying sizes of double-beveled broad axes. Some were only a little wider than a normal axe, others were the size of conventional large hewing axes, but they had this distinctive shape to them. The jawline of the flared portion of the bit is straight or nearly straight. Very blocky form to them.

s-l400.jpg

sleepers-maines-webster-pattern-sleeper-axe-v0-osghb734jtuc1.jpg
Click to expand...
That is a pretty different design with what looks like a heavier poll. How do they hew?
 
Old Axeman said:
Perfect ! One more thought for you . My experience, and what I learned from my Grandfather, is, there were American pattern broad axes that did not have a flat side (much rarer than the single bevel hewing axe). The haft eye was centered like a felling axe and they had a flat knife edge bevel profile bit. Using one of these was exactly like using a traditional Swede axe like the current Gransfors double bevel hewing axes. The haft is not bent offset like the more common American offset single bevel hewing axe. The straight haft in the double bevel hewing axes is not a problem with barking your knuckles because you hold the axe so that the bevel you are using, either right or left handed, is "riding the wood" as my Grandfather called it. So, with the double bevel hewing axe the straight haft was offset by the way you hold it. I hope what I just said makes sense. I have learned to use my grandfathers very well for log hewing and, since I can hew, like my Grandfather, both right and left handed, I do not need two hewing axes or a removeable haft to switch sides. Their primary purpose was tie hacking, sometimes from standing on top of the log, hence the longer haft, and some times standing on the ground, next to the log, with a shorter haft. It is not easy to broad axe hew a decent finished product standing on top with either American pattern hewing axe. Look at some the old footage I have shown on hewing and you will only see hewing from standing next to the stick (log to be hewn) by men who made their living hewing.

If you have not seen the Forest Service video "These Old Cabin Logs" you might find something of interest.
Click to expand...
Yes, that makes perfect sense about the straight haft and double bevel. I had seen a video posted that you'd gotten about a WI logger showing very large trees and them hewing on the ground. I'd also seen part of the "These Old Cabin Logs" video before, and saved it to favorites. I watched more of it today. I intend to use that stance you showed, and think it looks safer. I have played around with hewing with a regular felling axe, but have always wanted a hewing axe and to learn to use it.
 
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Old Axeman said:
For a look at my Grandfathers Beatty knife-edge tie hackers broad axe see "An Ax to Grind" manual, page 10, figure18c.
Click to expand...
I just looked at that axe, and to my eye, the one I'm buying looks pretty similar. I'm reading through the manual, and am glad such a resource is available.
 
Swede, it is hard to tell from the pictures, but it might be a knife edge tie hackers axe. Can you get a picture shot of the right side (every picture I see is of the left side). Also a shot from the top, straight down so we can see if there is a eye bulge to either side and if it has a single bevel (chisel edge) or a double bevel (knife edge). If you get this axe, start the clean up with the brass wire wheel before you use the flap disks. You might find a makers mark that way. This looks like a great axe restoration project with actual log hewing use after the restoration.
 
Thanks Ben, you did a much better job describing what I was trying to convey.
Also, my opinion on hewing with a symmetrical head, knife edge broad axe would be that the Gransfors bruk knife edge broad axes give very excellent results.
I have owned, and used, their 1900, 1800, and 1700 models. The 1700 and 1800 broad axes are from their ancient collection, which I do not think you can find anymore. I am particularly fond of the 1800 model (look in the Highland Hardware Catalog for pictures, etc.) About 20 yrs ago I built a hand hewn log, off the grid, workshop on my place in Montana with the 1800 model. I don't know if you can find a photo of the edge profile on these axes but they flair out to very thick at the edge which gives a very large, fat, and very flat profile to the knife edge bit so it is easy to "ride the wood" when hewing.
 
Old Axeman said:
Swede, it is hard to tell from the pictures, but it might be a knife edge tie hackers axe. Can you get a picture shot of the right side (every picture I see is of the left side). Also a shot from the top, straight down so we can see if there is a eye bulge to either side and if it has a single bevel (chisel edge) or a double bevel (knife edge). If you get this axe, start the clean up with the brass wire wheel before you use the flap disks. You might find a makers mark that way. This looks like a great axe restoration project with actual log hewing use after the restoration.
Click to expand...
O Old Axeman it sure just has the one bevel, and the bulge is to the right. I've worked on it briefly tonight and think I see really faint outlines of what might be the makers mark, but it definitely has a star down from the eye bulge. I'm leaving some WD40 on that area tonight. It is a 9 inch bit with a handle of 33 1/2 inches from top of the eye to the end knob and 29 1/2 inches from the shoulder at the lug to the end. The handle is really nice and thin in the front almost making an edge and has signs of hand carving and pretty offset. The flat side of the bit seems to have a line where the steel is smoother than the metal further toward the eye. I'm thinking this shows a good bit of hard steel is left. Here are some pictures.
https://imgur.com/JE7V21Z
https://imgur.com/JE7V21Z
https://imgur.com/a/SuN7JoA
 
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Swede, Thanks for the photo's. So it is set up correctly for a right handed hewer and has an early handmade (looks like) haft. Set up the way it is now it would not efficiently turn out quality broad axe hewn logs or square timbers. The haft is too long for good control. It might hack out some ties if you have a need. But what you might consider is to save the old haft, restore the head, make a new hickory dog leg or S bend 22'-26" haft and hew some fine looking logs or timbers from the ground.
I hope you let us follow your progress.
 
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