Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
Last year I was discussing large blades with Greenjacket and the subject came up of using smaller blades on extended handles as axes or brush hooks. This isn't exactly "fair" use as the impact energies are many times beyond what you could generate by hand, however I was curious if the tougher steels could take it, and if so, how difficult would it be to hack it together.
I finally got around to it this past weekend. I used a TAC-11, made from high impact tool steel (A8) by Tom Johanning. I attached it to a hatchet handle using elastic tubing. It was wrapped tight enough so that I had no chance to move it by hand. I started off by doing some grass cutting and such just to get a feel for the balance. Since the blade was really far out, it was very blade heavy, really overkill for light vegetation, but it cut it easily as I had just sharpened it. The extra reach increased the cutting ability dramatically allowing me to clear a much greater area in far less time.
I then tried some light limbing and this was far more suitable for the pseudo-axe. There was enough resistance now to allow a heavy swing and take advantage of the weight and balance. I then blasted it into hard wood limbs trying to see if I could blow the knife apart. I just succeeded in knocking the bindings loose. This isn't surprising considering the nature of the steel, it has a very high fracture toughness.
I later tried some bucking, while the penetration had improved many times to one, the binding was not stiff enough to keep the blade stable on the handle. You would be better off baton'ing it. I am going to get a very bolts and screw it into the axe handle. The TAC-11 has holes in the handle already (it comes that way) so this should not be that difficult.
-Cliff
I finally got around to it this past weekend. I used a TAC-11, made from high impact tool steel (A8) by Tom Johanning. I attached it to a hatchet handle using elastic tubing. It was wrapped tight enough so that I had no chance to move it by hand. I started off by doing some grass cutting and such just to get a feel for the balance. Since the blade was really far out, it was very blade heavy, really overkill for light vegetation, but it cut it easily as I had just sharpened it. The extra reach increased the cutting ability dramatically allowing me to clear a much greater area in far less time.
I then tried some light limbing and this was far more suitable for the pseudo-axe. There was enough resistance now to allow a heavy swing and take advantage of the weight and balance. I then blasted it into hard wood limbs trying to see if I could blow the knife apart. I just succeeded in knocking the bindings loose. This isn't surprising considering the nature of the steel, it has a very high fracture toughness.
I later tried some bucking, while the penetration had improved many times to one, the binding was not stiff enough to keep the blade stable on the handle. You would be better off baton'ing it. I am going to get a very bolts and screw it into the axe handle. The TAC-11 has holes in the handle already (it comes that way) so this should not be that difficult.
-Cliff