Last week, we had an unusual June rain storm in Northern CA, followed by a heat wave this weekend. I went camping along the coast, which was a nice way to escape the heat. I bought wood from the camp host, who had wood stacked in the sun for sale. It seemed dry. My plan was to give my little frontier hawk a workout, and split a couple of logs into kindling.
As I started working, it became apparent the wood was wet inside. One piece oozed out water like blood when I hit it with the hawk! I could have tried a swap with the camp host, but I had already processed some pieces. I decided to split up all the pieces and set them out to dry for a day. Smaller pieces wouldn't burn as long, but I didn't want to tend fire all night, either.
The pieces were 3-4" wide, which were bigger than anything I'd attempted before with the hawk. I'm still on my learning curve with the hawk, so it was good to push the boundary. I knew not to try and use the hawk like an axe by hitting the log on end. Instead, I would hit the log along the side until it split. I thought it worked out well. I processed the whole stack of wood and wasn't exhausted or aching in any way. Here is a short video:
[video=youtube;5QLQaKUS7bA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QLQaKUS7bA[/video]
The Frontier Hawk had prevailed. The head, with screw removed, never came loose. Nor had the edge dulled during the job. It was not as fast as an axe or hatchet at this task, but the work was not torture, either. I stacked the wood to dry for a day.
The next day, I made 3 feather sticks, two with a knife and one with the hawk. The hawk did an effective job, though it was a little harder to control than the knife. The cutting edge is 5" from the center of the shaft, which generates more torque on the handle when carving. I tried a few grips, settling on extending my index finger on the bit, with my other fingers around the haft.
3 feather sticks, a handful of splinters and kindling, and I wondered if I'd done enough to make a fire with wet wood. Yes, I could have dowsed the whole stack with stove fuel and gotten it over with, but that would have been cheating
. With one match, I lit the feathers and put on the smallest splinters of wood. The kindling burned, but the real test were the larger pieces. There was a lot of smoke and hissing water vapor. The wood had dried just enough to sustain the fire.
The Frontier Hawk didn't let me down and I had fun using it. I believe all tools have their merits and it takes a while to learn their best attributes. I will definitely keep using the Frontier Hawk.
As I started working, it became apparent the wood was wet inside. One piece oozed out water like blood when I hit it with the hawk! I could have tried a swap with the camp host, but I had already processed some pieces. I decided to split up all the pieces and set them out to dry for a day. Smaller pieces wouldn't burn as long, but I didn't want to tend fire all night, either.
The pieces were 3-4" wide, which were bigger than anything I'd attempted before with the hawk. I'm still on my learning curve with the hawk, so it was good to push the boundary. I knew not to try and use the hawk like an axe by hitting the log on end. Instead, I would hit the log along the side until it split. I thought it worked out well. I processed the whole stack of wood and wasn't exhausted or aching in any way. Here is a short video:
[video=youtube;5QLQaKUS7bA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QLQaKUS7bA[/video]
The Frontier Hawk had prevailed. The head, with screw removed, never came loose. Nor had the edge dulled during the job. It was not as fast as an axe or hatchet at this task, but the work was not torture, either. I stacked the wood to dry for a day.
The next day, I made 3 feather sticks, two with a knife and one with the hawk. The hawk did an effective job, though it was a little harder to control than the knife. The cutting edge is 5" from the center of the shaft, which generates more torque on the handle when carving. I tried a few grips, settling on extending my index finger on the bit, with my other fingers around the haft.
3 feather sticks, a handful of splinters and kindling, and I wondered if I'd done enough to make a fire with wet wood. Yes, I could have dowsed the whole stack with stove fuel and gotten it over with, but that would have been cheating
. With one match, I lit the feathers and put on the smallest splinters of wood. The kindling burned, but the real test were the larger pieces. There was a lot of smoke and hissing water vapor. The wood had dried just enough to sustain the fire.The Frontier Hawk didn't let me down and I had fun using it. I believe all tools have their merits and it takes a while to learn their best attributes. I will definitely keep using the Frontier Hawk.
