Questions? - Axe Handle Length & Style

[Steve Sr.]

Hello,

I have an old Plumb 3.2 Jersey pattern head that I want to turn into a working tool once again. It will mostly be used for volunteer trail work.

For a little background I am pretty much a novice with an axe and not a spring chicken anymore (early 60's) I am also only about 5'9" and 150 pounds with not a lot of upper body strength.

It looks like the available handle lengths are 32 or 36" and the pattern is either straight or curved. Any recommendation on which of these options I should favor?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Brent Halverson]

The handle style may depend on what you will be doing during your volunteer trail work. My guess is mostly removing branches that are hanging out across the trails? If they are small branches I would use a much lighter hatchet, and if they were big branches they would be more easily removed with a regular size hand-saw. In fact a nice saw may be a lot lighter, more versatile and more compact than a standard axe for what you are doing.

If I had a nice old Jersey head I would put a standard length curved handle on it and wait to use it when a job came up that it was made for, chopping trees down or light-duty splitting, than trying to make it fit a job that it was not really made for. Also since I am older to, I like making things easy too, and if I had to trudge through the woods all day I would rather carry one of the lighter more suited tools than a heavy standard axe.

 

[Steve Sr.]

The handle style may depend on what you will be doing during your volunteer trail work. My guess is mostly removing branches that are hanging out across the trails? If they are small branches I would use a much lighter hatchet, and if they were big branches they would be more easily removed with a regular size hand-saw. In fact a nice saw may be a lot lighter, more versatile and more compact than a standard axe for what you are doing.

I do have a small pruning saw for the smaller branches. The axe would be for bigger blowdowns.

If I had a nice old Jersey head I would put a standard length curved handle on it and wait to use it when a job came up that it was made for, chopping trees down or light-duty splitting, than trying to make it fit a job that it was not really made for. Also since I am older to, I like making things easy too, and if I had to trudge through the woods all day I would rather carry one of the lighter more suited tools than a heavy standard axe.

So what is the advantage of a curved handle over a straight one? I noticed that the old timer "expert" in "An axe To Grind" said he liked straight handles usually less than 36".

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I find 32" an ideal length for a full-sized axe. Straight vs. curved mostly depends on if you plan on using the poll much and/or where you want the bit positioned when your hand is gripping the handle at a natural pronation, but there's not a huge practical difference in that particular respect.

 

[Brent Halverson]

I do have a small pruning saw for the smaller branches. The axe would be for bigger blowdowns.
So what is the advantage of a curved handle over a straight one? I noticed that the old timer "expert" in "An axe To Grind" said he liked straight handles usually less than 36".

Whether a tree is upright or laying down, I think a wider range of branches will come off with a saw than an axe. You are older and smaller, so maybe a shorter handle is better for you, size of the user certainly is a factor, I am very tall, so unless I am working in a tight space I can use a longer axe handle, or a longer golf club what one person says about length is not going to mean much unless they are the same age, height and build as you are.

If a tree is down across a trail and it is small an axe may take care of the entire project, but a large tree with big branches will be more quickly and easily dealt with if there is a good hand saw or chain saw around. I have some small hand saws for pruning that have the same style teeth as a large crosscut, pairs of cutters rakers between, and it is amazing the work that saw can do ! I have cut branches up to eight inches with it, and even felled trees of that size or a bit larger with it and an axe. Try whatever you want to try, that is how we learn, but over the last 40+ years of cutting trees I would say that having nothing but a standard size axe might be more tiring and more work than carrying a hatchet on a belt and a good saw in the hand.

 

[Trailsawyer]

Hello Steve
I also like to do quite a bit of volunteer trail work. If I'm going out by myself on a "scouting" hike, I prefer to carry a sharp Pulaski, on a 36" handle.
I end up doing mostly dirt work most of the time..... but can chop smaller down trees, brush, or limbs. I generally carry a 12" pruning saw in my pack also. If I'm taking a crosscut saw, I like to carry a 2 1/2 lb. boys axe, hung on a 28" straight handle - good for lighter chopping and useful for setting wedges! At 5' 10" tall, I like to use a #4 head on 32" haft for "serious" chopping work!
What part of the country are you working in?

 

[HeavyHanded]

Hello,

I have an old Plumb 3.2 Jersey pattern head that I want to turn into a working tool once again. It will mostly be used for volunteer trail work.

For a little background I am pretty much a novice with an axe and not a spring chicken anymore (early 60's) I am also only about 5'9" and 150 pounds with not a lot of upper body strength.

It looks like the available handle lengths are 32 or 36" and the pattern is either straight or curved. Any recommendation on which of these options I should favor?

Thanks,
Steve

I would go with the 32" in a straight handle. The curved handle really facilitates pulling the handle in a bit at the end of the swing - conservation of angular momentum by reducing the radius at the last instant.

For chopping at different angles/limbing, the straight handle probably handles a little better and not really give anything up for cutting through downed trees on the trail. Either will work fine, but I'd go with straight.

 

[Steve Sr.]

Hello Steve
What part of the country are you working in?

North Carolina and the southern Appalachians.

 

[Steve Sr.]

If a tree is down across a trail and it is small an axe may take care of the entire project, but a large tree with big branches will be more quickly and easily dealt with if there is a good hand saw or chain saw around. I have some small hand saws for pruning that have the same style teeth as a large crosscut, pairs of cutters rakers between, and it is amazing the work that saw can do ! I have cut branches up to eight inches with it, and even felled trees of that size or a bit larger with it and an axe. Try whatever you want to try, that is how we learn, but over the last 40+ years of cutting trees I would say that having nothing but a standard size axe might be more tiring and more work than carrying a hatchet on a belt and a good saw in the hand.

a chain saw is my usual tool of choice. However these (or any mechanized devices) are not allowed in any wilderness areas.

 

[Brent Halverson]

a chain saw is my usual tool of choice. However these (or any mechanized devices) are not allowed in any wilderness areas.

There you go. If a chainsaw is your usual tool of choice, then a nice saw will do the same exact thing a chainsaw will do for you, just not as quickly. And of course the saw is much less weight than the chainsaw.

Studies by Hultafors show a three-pound axe is the largest that a person of average fitness can swing comfortably for any length of time, I would listen to them before I would listen to the arm-chair experts that internet forums are full of who need extra size and fashionable collectors items to secure their egos. Besides that, the other interesting fact that Lars Mytting's book on harvesting and processing wood for heat has in it is that the three-pound axe swing at 42 feet-per-second has the same impact as a five-pound axe swung at thirty-two feet-per-second.

So your 3 and one-half pound axe head, which is what the 3.2 on axe heads actually stands for, is as heavy as you would ever need, and with a short handle to match your physique it will be ready to try out. Maybe one day you could take your axe, the next try a nice saw and see how it goes, because personal experience will beat advice from others every time.

 

[Steve Sr.]

So your 3 and one-half pound axe head, which is what the 3.2 on axe heads actually stands for, is as heavy as you would ever need, and with a short handle to match your physique it will be ready to try out. Maybe one day you could take your axe, the next try a nice saw and see how it goes, because personal experience will beat advice from others every time.

Thanks for the input. Since I am relatively new at this I am hoping to gain from other's experience and not have to start over with a different length/style of handle.

 

[Glenn Bailey]

I find 32" an ideal length for a full-sized axe. Straight vs. curved mostly depends on if you plan on using the poll much and/or where you want the bit positioned when your hand is gripping the handle at a natural pronation, but there's not a huge practical difference in that particular respect.

yup, this

 

[HeavyHanded]

I have some small hand saws for pruning that have the same style teeth as a large crosscut, pairs of cutters rakers between, and it is amazing the work that saw can do !

I used to dread working with old bow saws, the ones from my youth and young adulthood, even with new blades tended to bind and cut with distressing lack of effectiveness.
A few years back I sharpened up one from a friend using a diamond taper, reset the teeth and tested it out. Night and day! It worked better than my triple ground modern pruning saw - no binding, hogged a nice kerf.

I don't like saws for when the limbs can move around, but if the work is stable the saw is def less work.

 

[Brent Halverson]

I used to dread working with old bow saws

I like to use a one-man crosscut saw that has the same type of blade with cutters and rakers as the well-known two-man bucking saws. It is pretty easy to find them in lengths from 24" to four-foot. The bow-saws are nice and light, and no matter which saw it is how they are tuned up that makes them nice to use or horrible. I actually have a 5-foot two-man crosscut, but the blade is of such thick gauge I can use it as a one-man, and it is nice because it will let me cut branches up as high as I can reach without a ladder. I would not want to carry it in the woods all day though for sure. I have some 24" crosscut hand saws that are amazing for cutting off almost any branch up to five or six inches diameter.

 

[catspa]

Steve, if I had that axe head, I’d hang it on a 36” straight handle and put a splitting edge on it. My favorite splitting axe is just that, except a Dayton pattern.

I don’t do trail work per se, but I work several acres of wood lot in the PNW. I fall saplings 6” dia or less with a TT Kelly Perfect double bit on a 36” straight handle (hereafter referred to as “the falling axe”). Like HH, I find it frustrating to cut limbs that are moving around. Up to about 4”, I try to sever them where they join the trunk or another substantial limb with a 2-1/4# boys axe on a straight 32” handle (hereafter referred to as “the limbing axe”). If that’s not feasible, I use a Corona pruning saw farther out from the trunk. For overhanging limbs, it’s always the saw - grip with left hand, undercut with right, sever cut from top of limb.

Sometimes, on a slope or in an awkward position, I use whichever axe is handy as a prop for the limb, while saw cutting it at or near waist level.

No chainsaw restrictions in my woodlot.

Parker

 

[catspa]

PS. If you make your own handles, the available lengths are “whatever you want”. But be careful, it’s a slippery slope.

Parker

 

[Steve Sr.]

PS. If you make your own handles, the available lengths are “whatever you want”. But be careful, it’s a slippery slope.

Parker

Sort of like CAD - Chainsaw Acquisition Disorder. I am pretty safe with axe handles as I don't have the required tools or skill to fabricate a handle!

 

[FLINT77]

I do a good amount of trail work and the axe I take with is either a 4lb jersey on a straight 28" handle or a 4lb jersey on a curved 32" handle. If my primary/only job is chopping, I'll take the 32" curved jersey - otherwise, I always take the 28" straight jersey. The short straight handle is much easier to pack and the straight handle makes it more useful for punding wedges or posts or whatever else. and I find that 28" is plenty long enough for most chopping jobs as well. Last time I was out I cut out several blowdowns with it and it worked great.
I'm 5'8" (but with long arms for my height) and for me a 36" handle is only good for having less control, accuracy and smashing your bit into the ground and rocks. 32" is max handle length for me. My favorite is 30" but its impossible to get that length any more. All my handles are either 28 or 32. I do have one 30" handle that I got off an old axe at an antique store - bought the axe just for the handle.

Handling an axe isn't a permanent proposition either - if you put one handle on it and you don't like it or it doesn't work for your purposes, then try something else. I've spent hours on a handle before just to decide that I didn't like it and ended up putting something else on.

Also you mentioned that you were a novice with limited upper body strength - I'd recommend the 32" handle. you will have way less control with the 36". good chopping isn't about smashing the wood as hard as possible, its about controlled, intentional well placed chops.

 

[Steve Sr.]

I do a good amount of trail work and the axe I take with is either a 4lb jersey on a straight 28" handle or a 4lb jersey on a curved 32" handle. If my primary/only job is chopping, I'll take the 32" curved jersey - otherwise, I always take the 28" straight jersey. The short straight handle is much easier to pack and the straight handle makes it more useful for punding wedges or posts or whatever else. and I find that 28" is plenty long enough for most chopping jobs as well. Last time I was out I cut out several blowdowns with it and it worked great.
I'm 5'8" (but with long arms for my height) and for me a 36" handle is only good for having less control, accuracy and smashing your bit into the ground and rocks. 32" is max handle length for me. My favorite is 30" but its impossible to get that length any more. All my handles are either 28 or 32. I do have one 30" handle that I got off an old axe at an antique store - bought the axe just for the handle.

Handling an axe isn't a permanent proposition either - if you put one handle on it and you don't like it or it doesn't work for your purposes, then try something else. I've spent hours on a handle before just to decide that I didn't like it and ended up putting something else on.

Also you mentioned that you were a novice with limited upper body strength - I'd recommend the 32" handle. you will have way less control with the 36". good chopping isn't about smashing the wood as hard as possible, its about controlled, intentional well placed chops.

Thanks for everyone's input. I think I am going to go with a 32" straight handle.

The only ones that I have found with the correct eye profile and I think length are Tennessee Hickory (but can't find a reseller) or House Handle. Apparently all this stuff has gotten scarce during Covid.

 

[FLINT77]

Baileys sells Tennessee handles but I don't think they carry a 32" straight one. There is a place that you can theoretically order any Tennessee handle from, but I placed an order with them a year or so ago for I think five handles. Two months went by and three handles showed up one of which I hadn't ordered. So, I'd stick with house. I don't care for houses bent handles but their straight handles are fine - just really really fat. You will need to slim it down quite a bit.