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Which type handle?
- Thread starter Win3855
- Start date
There is a much safer way of clearing brush and that's with a Sandvik brush hook. Similar to a hacksaw the blades are even replaceable. The Junior Forest Ranger program for 17 year olds in Ontario stopped using axes many years ago (liability and safety concerns) and switched over to Sandviks for brush clearing. The only reason I have a mean-looking implement like yours is that the handle says 'Walters, Hull PQ' on it. In 25 years I've never taken a swipe at anything with it.
Previous posts on this type of implement suggest that conventional axe handles, but without the saw kerf, were used. The one I have has an open saw kerf in it and I got that tool from the original owner who had bought it in the early 1960s thinking it might be useful on his arctic exploration geology field trips. He hardly ever used it but never had the heart to throw it out either, and it certainly didn't attract me except for the handle stamp.
A bit more shine and embellishment and you could feature one of these things in a sci-fi combat fantasy movie!
Square_peg
Gold Member
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- Feb 1, 2012
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- 13,823
Here's one I restored last year. The brush axe head is from the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad. The handle is off of a vintage True Temper. As 300Six noted a true brush axe handle will have no kerf as no wedge is used. The strap below the shoulder keeps the head on the handle.
Carefully rasp down the handle until the the head will just slip down far enough to attach the strap. You might have to force the bolt a little to get it through but that's good. This way there's no wiggle in the mounted head.
I think it's important to use a curved handle for a brush axe. It stays in your hand better. You're swinging it like a big pendulum and the force pulling it out of your hand is greater than the force generated during typical axe use. A generous and abrupt swell at the end of the haft is a must for this reason. If you have any doubts about your grip then add a short band of friction tape just on the swell. Any more tape beyond that will just raise blisters. Best is a great swell and no tape.
This haft has the classic unclipped fawn's foot (no flat spot on the end) that I find most desirable.
Restoration thread.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1003659-Railroad-brush-axe-restoration
Carefully rasp down the handle until the the head will just slip down far enough to attach the strap. You might have to force the bolt a little to get it through but that's good. This way there's no wiggle in the mounted head.
I think it's important to use a curved handle for a brush axe. It stays in your hand better. You're swinging it like a big pendulum and the force pulling it out of your hand is greater than the force generated during typical axe use. A generous and abrupt swell at the end of the haft is a must for this reason. If you have any doubts about your grip then add a short band of friction tape just on the swell. Any more tape beyond that will just raise blisters. Best is a great swell and no tape.
This haft has the classic unclipped fawn's foot (no flat spot on the end) that I find most desirable.
Restoration thread.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1003659-Railroad-brush-axe-restoration
Your advice makes imminent sense for anyone wishing to experience/experiment the joys (?) of swinging one of these ominous things. Not having to have a flat at the end of the handle makes sense too since very little tapping or banging is required in order to seat the head.
Some novel implements have withstood the test of time but I don't think this is one of them!
Square_peg
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- Feb 1, 2012
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- 13,823
Yeah, it's not my favorite tool by a long shot. For most brush work I prefer a long machete.
Yep. And I seat axe heads by holding them upside down in the air and pounding on the swell with a rubber mallet. That's all the force ever needed. It draws the head up onto the handle. And it does zero damaged to the swell.
A clipped fawn's foot makes it easier for a machine to drive the handle into the head. But a clipped fawn's foot is uncomfortable to me. The corner at the end of the swell will sometimes raise a blister on the heel of my palm. Unclipped fawn's foot handles extend through the palm and never raise that blister. Of course others may have a different preference than mine.
Yep. And I seat axe heads by holding them upside down in the air and pounding on the swell with a rubber mallet. That's all the force ever needed. It draws the head up onto the handle. And it does zero damaged to the swell.
A clipped fawn's foot makes it easier for a machine to drive the handle into the head. But a clipped fawn's foot is uncomfortable to me. The corner at the end of the swell will sometimes raise a blister on the heel of my palm. Unclipped fawn's foot handles extend through the palm and never raise that blister. Of course others may have a different preference than mine.
As far as use of the thing goes, in the Pacific Northwest is you clear a patch of ground in the woods and come back a year later it'll be covered with salmonberry (woody stems up to 1.5 in) and alder saplings. Most of it would be too big for a scythe and awkward for even a sawblade gas weed whacker. If I wanna cut if off near the base without doing too much bending over or putting my machete in the dirt I used a brush hook. I don't know of an official technique but I would assume something like a "horse" stance to get a bit lower (I'm 6'5") and since I'm a righty I'd swing it right to left at ground level. It'd cut a four foot swath and I'd advace a step and repeat. If I came across a bigger sapling the blade is thick and heavy enough to chop with. Cutting at an angle I believe I could go through up to 3" green alder with one swipe.
You're a better man than me! I may love and reminisce about axes but purposely enrolled in a college small engine program a few years ago because Stihl Co. makes short and effortless work of just about anything to do with live and dead shrubs and trees. For Arctic fly-in and wilderness hunting trips and canoe-in camping I still go for hand tools but that's about it.