The Axe as Art

C

Chignecto Woodsman

Joined
Aug 2, 2014
Messages
746
I'm sure some won't want another discussion on lumbersexuals, but I find this interesting. There is a phenomenon in art now in which artists/students will take images of old industrial tools, and this realist display of the unused tool is in some way an ironic (or not, which may be a further irony...) piece of art.

I found an interesting display:
dsc_1186.jpg


The individuals seem to be doing quite a bit of research and testing:
[video=youtube;Y43xUbUWi_g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y43xUbUWi_g[/video]

The axe:
6032_bromm_05.jpg


6066_kronfield_02.jpg


Next to some baby-snatching alien device:
dsc_1212.jpg


And how it was made:
img_5854.jpg


Interesting in any case. And it does look like his thesis for industrial design took quite a lot of research:
https://timothybromm.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/dave-jewett-professional-lumberjack/

The following may provide insight as to how industrial designers see the axe and would attempt to market it in this new age:
https://timothybromm.wordpress.com/2014/12/11/thesis-pre-defense/
 
Last edited:
At first I thought that the last pic was a can of sardines. Also, why is that guy wearing tights?
 
Those tights are "skinny" jeans, at least that is my guess.

Interesting axe they came up with.
 
Interesting. Certainly you can see the inventor knew how to select for optimal wood grain but the whole 'get up' doesn't lend itself for use of the poll to do anything. I do get a kick out of (what I'd call) the overstrike blade, rather than installing a guard on the handle merely weld on some more blade.

By the way this is not being displayed as art. Industrial Design is a university/college engineering program that incorporates architectural principles so as to make products pleasing to the eye as well as being practical.
 
Last edited:
Who taught them how to swing an axe? I'm guessing nobody. Not sure I'd knowingly buy an axe designed by people who don't know how to use one.
 
I like the look of the axe, I think it's pleasing to the eye and an interesting concept. I don't know enough physics to know how well it would work.

I think you might misunderstand my generation when it comes to why we feature old tools in our work. Frankly, I do this alot. I restore a fair amount of tools for an apartment dweller, and while I do use most of them frequently, I still take pride in their form as much as their function. I appreciate old typewriters and printing machines because my grandfather was a printer in the age of the linotype. I draw pictures of old things because I think it's impressive that, in a time when their only value was function, their form ended up being something worth appreciating as well. We glamourize these old things because they're from a time when things were beautiful, functional, and made to last. Now we might have beautiful and functional, but definitely not made to last. Gotta get that new iPhone every year, y'know?

Just a thought or two.
 
It is interesting because it is based on real chopping theory. You have to cut your corners and also leave a corner of your axe as an overhang. And in some way it is a combination of the Chopper axe and an extreme/artistic implementation of the high-centerline. But I think it is at the wrong end. For one, it is at the opposite third from the high-centerline; and the heel already cuts better to begin with so I am doubtful that thinning the heel would help performance. More likely it would hold the axe back as the overhang does not matter if it is thin or not, it is simply an anchor point where the axe cannot stick.
 
Implements such as this are easy enough to compare. Relate productivity (time and effort) against 2-3 versions of conventional splitters (and only one operator) in relation to same quantities (face cord for instance) of same species firewood. It's true that axe shapes have become iconic which has largely driven the industry for the past 100 years.
The included video of unskilled fellows whacking away at trees does suggest that whatever axeman does such testing should at least have lots of experience. I have mentioned a few times on here that an old gentleman I befriended, who grew up during the Depression, could split more wood with his trusty Walters pulpwood axe (2 1/4 lb boy's axe equivalent) than your average athletic guy wielding a splitting maul.
 
markv said:
what is this about?
Click to expand...

Some lumbersexual college boy's industrial design homework.

Just suppose you already know how to split wood (and how not to) and that you also wish to use your axe for felling or bucking. What good is that thing?

But one of the tenets of industrial design is that the object should give the user feedback about how to operate it. This does that with regard to splitting. It just loses the other 2/3 of an axe's function in the process.
 
A lot of axes are art, in my opinion...

Consider the first part of an equation: An axe can produce an emotional response, but it must be functional. A piece of art must produce an emotional response, and while it can be functional, it's not a requirement.

Consider the second part of an equation: If functionality is determined by one tool's performance against another's, then it can be argued that the tool with the better performance is the more functional.

Now consider this: while I love my beautiful hand-forged (well, open-die drop forged) Wetterlings for it's old world charm, the solid warmth of it's hickory handle, etc. etc., it still gets it's ass handed to it by my Fiskars 28" chopping axe, an axe that produces very little emotional response in it's user, despite it's basically peerless performance.

Foregoing a detailed breakdown of the technologies involved, it's fair to say that the very things I love about my Wetterlings make it a less functional tool than my Fiskars. Yet the Wetterlings remains. What is that, if not art?
 
Last edited:
Engineering students have to do something for their grades, and most of what they do is redundant. If I was going to look for the ultimate axe design then I would look at what designs were most popular when axes were most popular.

Also I would not use any regular axe for splitting just as I would not use a splitting-maul for chopping or removing branches.

Old axes are better looking than new axes because they are more honest. Before axes were collectibles or trendy jewelry for hipsters they were made to appeal to craftsmen. Even if a new tool functions as well or better than one made 100 years ago, the extra aesthetics forced on it by marketing executives to capitalize on non-functional sales will make it look like a toy or sci-fi movie prop that any honest user would be embarrassed to be seen with.
 
gben said:
Engineering students have to do something for their grades, and most of what they do is redundant. If I was going to look for the ultimate axe design then I would look at what designs were most popular when axes were most popular.

Also I would not use any regular axe for splitting just as I would not use a splitting-maul for chopping or removing branches.

Old axes are better looking than new axes because they are more honest. Before axes were collectibles or trendy jewelry for hipsters they were made to appeal to craftsmen. Even if a new tool functions as well or better than one made 100 years ago, the extra aesthetics forced on it by marketing executives to capitalize on non-functional sales will make it look like a toy or sci-fi movie prop that any honest user would be embarrassed to be seen with.
Click to expand...

New generation folks are supposed to be idealistic and open-minded. Had the enthusiastic fellow merely 'gussied up' an American old classic high centreline head and welded over the brand and then stamped on his own name, and submitted videos, graphs and charts of why that design profile was superior to other blade types (there are enough of them!) for cleaving wood apart he'd never have gotten very far with convincing the project evaluation panel that he deserved an 'A'.
I am personally impressed with what he accomplished in crafting a lovely-looking Swede/north American hybrid handle despite this not being the sort of thing many of us actually seek in a splitter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top