Your favorite axe?

R

Ralf

Joined
Oct 11, 1998
Messages
565
The thread about the primitive tool of choice got me interested in a good axe. It seems the double edged type would be better suited as a single outdoor tool than the type where one side is a hammer head. This way one edge can be made razor sharp to function as a cutting tool like a knife, while the other can have a tougher edge to be used for tasks like splitting wood, etc.

Question now, are there any favorite brands for this type of axe? What kind of handle (wood, plastic) is better?
 
Gransfors Bruks makes two double bit axes. One is a throwing axe and the other is a Felling Axe. I've never handled either but, based on the quality of my wildlife hatchet, I doubt you could go wrong with one of these. Personally, since it's a given among knife knuts that they would have a knife handy (getting away from the single tool scenario), I would get a single bit, which gives you an end to to some hammering with. Nevertheless, a good double bit is handy when one side is ground for splitting and one for chopping. Personally, though, I prefer a heavier, thick-bladed maul for splitting.

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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
I post another vote (subject to recount)for gransfor bruks. I have two.. the carving axe and the hunters axe, both wonderful tools.
Does anyone have a URL to their site, mine must be old.
 
I still not have too much current experience with any of the axes sold in the US but might help with some links.
Here it goes:
Marble Arms: http://www.marblearms.com/axe.html
Estwings: http://www.estwing.com/
Gransfors in German: http://www.feinewerkzeuge.de/grans.htm
General post: http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum54/HTML/000440.html
Marion David Poff's organized links (find Gransfors link there): http://www.geocities.com/mdpoff/plinks.html
More axes: http://www.knifeoutlet.com/axes.htm http://www.benmeadows.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/scstore/c-AFEC.html?L+scstore+dnov1098+974051797

The Gransfors Bruk link somehow does not click in in English.

Hope it helps somewhat,

HM
 
I have read that some people used to sharpen one edge of a double bit razor sharp and the other less sharp for splitting, chopping roots, and other abusive tasks, but I have never come across anyone who actually did so. You would basically have to ruin one edge, file it down to become blunter/thicker for splitting. Better to use something like a Pulaski (an adze on one side and an ax blade on the other) for abusive work like chopping out roots (that's what firefighters use them for). I have one very old double bit that has been worn down so much on both sides that it is ideal for splitting. A maul intended for splitting makes a lot more sense. Use the proper tool for the job.
 
It sure sounds like a good idea to have a double bit for cutting and splitting. That's where it stops though.
There are very few real felling axes any more of single bitted variety - they're mostly thick bladed axes to serve for some chopping and some splitting. You'd have to look for an Iltis or Gransfors to even see a thin bladed axe. All double bladed axes are thin bladed felling axes - at least all I've seen.
So the regular hardware store axe can be used for chopping but it's really too thick to cut in deeply. A proper felling axe of either single or double bitted variety is probably only 1/8" thick a couple of inches behind the edge and will really cut in. Your eyes will pop the first time you use one.
In the old days people used to split wood with felling axes but there's a trick to it. You have no steep wedge on the axe so you twist the axe slightly just as it hits the billet - and this wedges the billet apart. This might have been OK for people who used an axe extensively but will result in an axe stuck in the billet if you are too slow in twisting, and likely in surgery if you twist too soon since the axe is likely to glance of the billet and into you.
I believe that the stories of a sharp bit for felling and the opposite bit for splitting are just stories. In some cases the second bit was ground to a steeper bevel for cutting off limbs (bucking) as some trees particularly hemlock will secrete silica just where the limb joins the trunk. This will damage the edge and a steep bevel is less damaged and easier to sharpen again. It really won't be any easier to split wood with the second edge as the blade is far too thin and changing the bevel won't help.

I guess I haven't helped much! If you're really interested I can type in the story of Nessmuk and his double bladed hatchet - that's right - hatchet! He used one bit for chopping and the other with a steeper angled edge for splitting the pelvic bone of deer. How he got around having to split wood is interesting..
 
Guys, my suggestion of grinding one blade for splitting and one for chopping comes from when I was growing up on a farm. Our farm house had a wood furnace. Additionally, we chopped wood in the winter during butchering times. Don't know how popular it was in general but our double bit axes were sharpened on one side for splitting and the other for delimbing. We felled and bucked our trees with a chainsaw. In those days (this was back in the 50s), I never even heard of a splitting maul so an axe had to do it all.


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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
Originally posted by budman:
Does anyone have a URL to their site, mine must be old.
Click to expand...
<a href="http://www.gransfors-bruks.com/">Gränsfors</a>.
They love to change the structure of the site, so URLs pointing to a certain product or the English/German/Swedish start pages aren't to be trusted in the long term.



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Urban Fredriksson www.canit.se/%7Egriffon/
Latest updates:
Fällkniven K1+K2, EKA Nordic W11, Schrade Lake & Walker

"I've always been fascinated by Scandinavian knives [...] they're simple, in an advanced way". - Bob Loveless
 
Originally posted by Jimbo:
If you're really interested I can type in the story of Nessmuk and his double bladed hatchet - that's right - hatchet! He used one bit for chopping and the other with a steeper angled edge for splitting the pelvic bone of deer. How he got around having to split wood is interesting..
Click to expand...

Jimbo,
A fellow Nessmuk fan! Do you know of any other works by him other than "Woodcraft and Camping"?

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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
Hi Hoodoo:

Firstly a sincere apology for my choice of words in my last post. I re-read what I posted and then went back to what you had posted previously - and felt pretty bad. Sometimes there are big gaps between what I write and what I mean.
I've tried to track down information on how people used felling axes to do stuff like splitting wood always coming to a dead end. So it's pretty significant if you know something from first hand experience. I should have been busy asking - and I surely will be.

Right now I just have the woodcraft book by Nessmuk having given away the canoeing book I had, and having lost the writings from magazines in a hard drive crash. (Someone had scanned some of his writings years ago). I really enjoy his writing because it leaves so much in question on how he came up with his ideas. I actually had to go out and try his setup for overnighting out in the woods before things became clear of exactly how he went about things. I'd sure like to try his double bitted hatchet - the one put out by Norlund many years ago was a lot larger and heavier.
It just goes on and on with Nessmuk's ideas - you have to try his methods (at least I do)before knowing what he was getting at.
 
Thanks for the URL Griffon...I'm thinking of a felling axe next...Could you recommend the name of a retailer you use .
 
Jimbo,
No offense taken! Just wanted to let you know how some people used to use their double bits. One of my best memories of childhood was splitting wood for the huge cook kettle we used during butchering time. We always had a crowd of people over. Talk about knives! Anyway, it was always in the dead of winter and I used to get the job of chopping wood. It was a lot of fun for a kid that was only 10 years old. But I remember well my dad telling me which edge to use for chopping on that big ol' double bit and why. Things like that you don't forget. Same for when we went back to the woods to cut our trees for the winter. My dad would fell the tree and I would delimb it. Always loved that job.

Anywho, think I need a trip to the library and do some research on Nessmuk. He sure was a character! And I think you're right. You need to go into the woods and practice Nessmuk's way to really appreciate his methods. Sad to say, many of his methods are too intrusive for today's modern campgrounds. And even in many backcountry areas, you'd probably get ticketed if you tried building fires his way. The days of unlimited wilderness are, for the most part, dead and gone. Many places will not allow fires and often fires are restricted to specific fire pits. As Nessmuk himself said: "Of course, this is progress; but, whether backward or forward, had better be decided sixty years hence."


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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM

[This message has been edited by Hoodoo (edited 11-23-2000).]
 
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