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- Jan 13, 2011
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This thread certainly took on a life of it's own. I think it is a fascinating thread.
Excellent post. I also find my opinions unraveling at times. For instance, we once discussed holding your axe with the same hand on top and bottom regardless of which side of the kerf you are cutting. At that time, I had never tried switching my hands when switching sides. So I decided to give it a try. For better or worse, I now switch hands more often than not.
An axe certainly appeals to something fundamental and powerful within you. I believe that man as a species and gender is naturally fierce and wild at heart. Our culture sometimes looks condescendingly at strong masculinity, unfortunately. Getting your chopping on feels great and defies the "meek and mild fallacy." It never fails to amuse me when someone I know finds out about my interest in axes and vintage tools. They almost always look at me sideways and say "really?????" Then, almost without exception, they start asking questions and want to look at tools. They want to hold them and feel them. They want to see how sharp they really are. They want to try them out. Suddenly, if just for a moment, their basic drives are outshining their iPhone....and....damn, it feels good. I'll spare you further ponderings on the topic.
“I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat [axe]. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!” ---Dr. Seuss
True that.
Thanks for the compliment pegs.
Im going to pull out a quote from the foreword of the axe book by Dudley Cook
“If you know one thing well and set out to explain it clearly and completely, you may find yourself explaining many things. You may find the pamphlet you sat down to write has become an encyclopedia. Hence the old story of the simple cobbler who proposed to write on fixing shoes. Once fairly started, he found he couldn't write about fixing shoes without writing about hammers, benches, pegs, and awls; he had to touch on leather, as well, on tanning, on cattle, and on the anatomy of the human foot and leg. In the end, he had written about everything. The cobbler had become a philosopher.”
When I read the book a couple years ago this was interesting but nowhere near as interesting as it became later. In general, I dont think absolutism or an especially scientific view of axes and wood chopping is well suiting. There are just so many damn variables. I have thought of wood chopping in one light, only to have it all unravel when I change me perspective.
Now to justify putting you folks through one of my philosophical rambles. We all can agree that a heavy axe on a long handle will generate more power than a lighter axe on a shorter handle. Thats a simple enough thought. To generate that power, you have to lift the axe and swing it into the log. The lighter axe on a shorter handle takes less energy from you to complete each swing, this being only part of the process of wood chopping. Sometimes light, short axes work as well or better than a heavy long one. Less fatigue is another variable, if you cant hit where you are aiming you will never reach full potential, and a lighter more manageable axe is conducive to this. This is of course a wonderful excuse to own 50 axes in quarter pound increments and on different length and design handles. I could write about my own preference, but they are probably already well known and I would rather avoid the aforementioned absolutism and conclusion jumping that would be necessary.
Sorry to the OP for this philsophical crap. You never know when this will start around here these days =)
Also, pegs, that was not meant as a jab at you. You are totally correct in saying that a bigger heavier axe will impart more force on impact. I am just trying to open up some other variables here.
Excellent post. I also find my opinions unraveling at times. For instance, we once discussed holding your axe with the same hand on top and bottom regardless of which side of the kerf you are cutting. At that time, I had never tried switching my hands when switching sides. So I decided to give it a try. For better or worse, I now switch hands more often than not.
Makes me happy to think that there are other guys with axe obsession, in a sense it is the tool that built the foundations of the world we know. Pretty much every other operation I can think of involves an axe somewhere along the line to get from raw material to a finished product. Building boats, shelters, fuel, and making other tools from wood makes an axe king of tools in my mind.
An axe certainly appeals to something fundamental and powerful within you. I believe that man as a species and gender is naturally fierce and wild at heart. Our culture sometimes looks condescendingly at strong masculinity, unfortunately. Getting your chopping on feels great and defies the "meek and mild fallacy." It never fails to amuse me when someone I know finds out about my interest in axes and vintage tools. They almost always look at me sideways and say "really?????" Then, almost without exception, they start asking questions and want to look at tools. They want to hold them and feel them. They want to see how sharp they really are. They want to try them out. Suddenly, if just for a moment, their basic drives are outshining their iPhone....and....damn, it feels good. I'll spare you further ponderings on the topic.
“I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat [axe]. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!” ---Dr. Seuss
No point in getting it all scienced up.
True that.