The Traveler's Celt -- "Rough Draft" Prototype Pictures

[FortyTwoBlades]

I've been mentioning for a while now that we've been working on getting a fun new design into production, and I think it's time for us to lift the curtain on what it is.

Behold--the first draft prototype of the Traveler's Celt! A pack-friendly tool that can be used in a variety of ways depending on what the situation calls for. Use as-is as an ulu or hand axe, on a haft made from the junction of a branch with the trunk to use it as an axe, adze, or hoe. On a straight shaft it can be used as a bark spud or digging bar. The lashing holes (for an extra secure fit) are missing from this example and the rolled edge of the socket will be going away so they can grind the socket on an angle so that the top-down profile forms a virtual wedge instead of being off to one side.

It was inspired by Bronze Age socketed axes and the various tools prized by poor rural agriculturalists in developing nations. As most of you know, I'm a huge fan of machetes, and for many of these blue-collar (or no-collar!) folks the machete is the tool of choice when you can only afford a single quality steel tool. However, in many places like rural Africa and Asia, the hoe is the tool of choice. For others, it's the axe. This tool is designed to serve as a counterpoint to the machete in such a "one tool" situation for the kind of survival those people call daily living.

 

[MrFixIt]

Looks good!

 

[LEGION 12]

Very nice looks like old Egyptian axes I have seen in books .

 

[CubeLW]

Wow that's really cool. Would be great for a survival kit

 

[300Six]

That's quite the 'critter' you've proffered! Folded sheet steel has been a uniquely American inventive way of cutting costs and yet retaining excellent 'end use' properties for quite some time and likely even inspired an outside cat by name of Alexei Kalashnikov somewhere along the way. What you're offering is the Remington 870 equivalent of a Winchester model 12. Time has proven that both are reliable and durable but one cost 10X as much as the other to make. All of this is neither here nor there if there aren't uses or customers for them. That part I am quite interested in hearing about.
I've hunted and fished and camped for 50 years and am still scratching about what I'd do with your 'baby'.
Sir Charlie Ross invented and built a military rifle that "he wanted the world to have" (the Canadian-made 280 Ross Mk III) but reality of "what the world wanted him to make" (some version of Lee-Enfield 303s, 03 Springfields or 98 Mausers) conflicted enough that his business did not survive for very long.
Good of you to be looking forward and experimenting with new ways of making potentially useful items.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I've hunted and fished and camped for 50 years and am still scratching about what I'd do with your 'baby'.

The idea is in the ability to have a versatile tool kept in the pack that can be readily field fashioned into a larger harder to pack one. It travels with the user in its "larval form" where it is of some use as an ulu, hide scraper, chisel, small splitting wedge, etc, and if things should turn serious it may be turned into a capable chopper for crafting things away from civilization.

 

[Liberatus1]

I suspect that if you added an edge to one side at a ninety degree angle you'd have a serviceable cleaver and axe on there too. Make some sort of sheath that could reveal only one edge at a time and the versatility of this thing goes through the roof. I like it, reminds me of the Cold Steel Bushman but taken to the next level.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I plan on squaring the concavity on one side for use as a scraper when making handles, and do agree that a double-beveled edge on one side could be quite handy--I had been considering adding one. The question is whether or not to have it come stock with those options as opposed to letting the end user modify it to their own desires. I may make those Special Grade options and simply build compatibility into the stock sheath.

 

[bobs1415]

Looks good. I'll have my hand hovering over the keyboard to order one as soon as they become available.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Thanks! It'll be a while yet, though. I've had the design drawn up since 2013 but it's taken until now to get to this point. These things move slowly.

 

[halfaxe]

I've run across old tools like that called bark spuds. For removing hemlock bark for tannin back in the late 19th century up to the 30's.

 

[Twoinch]

id like to toss a couple ideas at ya.

have you actually mounted it on a branch yet? im seeing a whole bunch of work to get the needed section of log/branch out of the donor tree... without already having an ax, how would something like this be accomplished? also, i am having doubts about the strength of the limb to trunk connection, especially once its been wittled down to such a small section and mounted. the design lends itself to a huge amount of pressure and leverage being imparted on that branch/tree joint.. i would hate to spend such a huge amount of time fashioning such a handle, to have it break off in the first few good whacks.

i feel as though i could do the same with a small ax or hatchet. do you have any ideas of why it would be a better choice to pack over a small ax or hatchet? seems like a healthy hunk of steel!

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I've run across old tools like that called bark spuds. For removing hemlock bark for tannin back in the late 19th century up to the 30's.

I actually mention use as a bark spud in the OP.

id like to toss a couple ideas at ya.

have you actually mounted it on a branch yet? im seeing a whole bunch of work to get the needed section of log/branch out of the donor tree... without already having an ax, how would something like this be accomplished? also, i am having doubts about the strength of the limb to trunk connection, especially once its been wittled down to such a small section and mounted. the design lends itself to a huge amount of pressure and leverage being imparted on that branch/tree joint.. i would hate to spend such a huge amount of time fashioning such a handle, to have it break off in the first few good whacks.

i feel as though i could do the same with a small ax or hatchet. do you have any ideas of why it would be a better choice to pack over a small ax or hatchet? seems like a healthy hunk of steel!

To remove the section of branch/trunk, baton the blade into the trunk to remove the needed portion. The strength is quite high, as it is made from wood grain that flows through the curve. Such hafting methods were used extensively during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age, and even survives today in rural Africa. See examples:

Bronze axes

Modern steel African axe (locally hand-forged)