Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

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Pokey
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#61

Post by Pokey »

justjohn wrote:
Wed Jan 15, 2020 7:38 pm
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I have had this one since 2015 and, it is still my favorite! :D
John, you beat me to it. I was going to post a picture of my 335. ;)
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Woodpuppy
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#62

Post by Woodpuppy »

Pokey wrote:
Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:09 pm
justjohn wrote:
Wed Jan 15, 2020 7:38 pm
Image
I have had this one since 2015 and, it is still my favorite! :D
John, you beat me to it. I was going to post a picture of my 335. ;)
Well go right ahead! Chuck Berry did great things with his!
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kennethsime
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#63

Post by kennethsime »

JD Spydo wrote:
Sun Jul 05, 2020 9:47 pm
I had an engineer tell me a few years back that the Swedes make great steel. He said he worked over there for a couple of years and he really liked their tools. That one company Sandvik is a Swedish steel company. I've often wondered if Sandvik might make axes themselves?
Hey JD,

I had some extra paracord sitting around so I decided to try my hand at doing a whipping knot wrap to protect against overstrike. While watching that video I noticed the guy has a Sandvik axe head. I've never seen that before!

Here's the wrap:
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I'm happiest with Micarta and Tool Steel.

Top four in rotation: K390 + GCM PM2, ZCarta Shaman, Crucarta PM2, K390 + GCM Straight Spine Stretch.
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#64

Post by JD Spydo »

kennethsime wrote:
Thu Jul 16, 2020 5:05 pm
JD Spydo wrote:
Sun Jul 05, 2020 9:47 pm
I had an engineer tell me a few years back that the Swedes make great steel. He said he worked over there for a couple of years and he really liked their tools. That one company Sandvik is a Swedish steel company. I've often wondered if Sandvik might make axes themselves?
Hey JD,

I had some extra paracord sitting around so I decided to try my hand at doing a whipping knot wrap to protect against overstrike. While watching that video I noticed the guy has a Sandvik axe head. I've never seen that before!

Here's the wrap:
That's a great idea with that paracord because everyone misses their target at least once or twice a day while working with an axe or Maul. And that paracord wrap would be just enough cushion to prevent the handle from getting accumulative damage over time. And a little damage on a tool handle most usually turns into major damage over time. Therefore it just makes perfect sense to prevent it to begin with.

It used to be that the Collin's Axe Co made a rubber type slipover device that would prevent such damage but I didn't like that because it just seemed awkward for some reason. But I'm now tempted to do that to one of my axes and probably one of my most used Mauls as well.
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kennethsime
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#65

Post by kennethsime »

JD Spydo wrote:
Fri Jul 17, 2020 7:33 am
That's a great idea with that paracord because everyone misses their target at least once or twice a day while working with an axe or Maul. And that paracord wrap would be just enough cushion to prevent the handle from getting accumulative damage over time. And a little damage on a tool handle most usually turns into major damage over time. Therefore it just makes perfect sense to prevent it to begin with.

It used to be that the Collin's Axe Co made a rubber type slipover device that would prevent such damage but I didn't like that because it just seemed awkward for some reason. But I'm now tempted to do that to one of my axes and probably one of my most used Mauls as well.
I like the idea of these leather overstrike collars that look a bit nicer, but this took about 10 minutes with some scrap paracord so it'll surely do for now. :-)

I wonder how that Sandvik axe performs.
I'm happiest with Micarta and Tool Steel.

Top four in rotation: K390 + GCM PM2, ZCarta Shaman, Crucarta PM2, K390 + GCM Straight Spine Stretch.
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#66

Post by JD Spydo »

kennethsime wrote:
Fri Jul 17, 2020 9:02 am
JD Spydo wrote:
Fri Jul 17, 2020 7:33 am
That's a great idea with that paracord because everyone misses their target at least once or twice a day while working with an axe or Maul. And that paracord wrap would be just enough cushion to prevent the handle from getting accumulative damage over time. And a little damage on a tool handle most usually turns into major damage over time. Therefore it just makes perfect sense to prevent it to begin with.

It used to be that the Collin's Axe Co made a rubber type slipover device that would prevent such damage but I didn't like that because it just seemed awkward for some reason. But I'm now tempted to do that to one of my axes and probably one of my most used Mauls as well.
I like the idea of these leather overstrike collars that look a bit nicer, but this took about 10 minutes with some scrap paracord so it'll surely do for now. :-)

I wonder how that Sandvik axe performs.
I've never owned a Sandvik ax but If I ever find one at a garage sale, flea market or thrift store I will be getting one.

I'm now wondering if the Swedish people might have good knives over there for sale that never get to the USA market. Because I've heard from at least a half a dozen sources that the Swedes do indeed make great steel. I've also heard the the country of Belgium also produces high quality steel but I've never owned any of their knives, axes, hatchets or any other edged tool.
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#67

Post by kennethsime »

JD Spydo wrote:
Fri Jul 17, 2020 12:00 pm
I've never owned a Sandvik ax but If I ever find one at a garage sale, flea market or thrift store I will be getting one.

I'm now wondering if the Swedish people might have good knives over there for sale that never get to the USA market. Because I've heard from at least a half a dozen sources that the Swedes do indeed make great steel. I've also heard the the country of Belgium also produces high quality steel but I've never owned any of their knives, axes, hatchets or any other edged tool.
I'm sure you're familiar with Fallkniven JD, right? They make some very expensive, but very nice knives. They use VG-10 a lot actually, much like Spyderco. I also really like the look of Helle Knives, though those are Norwegian. Both a bit expensive for what they are I think, but excellent craftsmanship.

I've never heard of much coming out of Belgium except for chocolate, the EU, and FN-FAL. :-)

I'd love to see some Belgian knives some time.
I'm happiest with Micarta and Tool Steel.

Top four in rotation: K390 + GCM PM2, ZCarta Shaman, Crucarta PM2, K390 + GCM Straight Spine Stretch.
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#68

Post by JD Spydo »

kennethsime wrote:
Fri Jul 17, 2020 8:07 pm
JD Spydo wrote:
Fri Jul 17, 2020 12:00 pm
I've never owned a Sandvik ax but If I ever find one at a garage sale, flea market or thrift store I will be getting one.

I'm now wondering if the Swedish people might have good knives over there for sale that never get to the USA market. Because I've heard from at least a half a dozen sources that the Swedes do indeed make great steel. I've also heard the the country of Belgium also produces high quality steel but I've never owned any of their knives, axes, hatchets or any other edged tool.
I'm sure you're familiar with Fallkniven JD, right? They make some very expensive, but very nice knives. They use VG-10 a lot actually, much like Spyderco. I also really like the look of Helle Knives, though those are Norwegian. Both a bit expensive for what they are I think, but excellent craftsmanship.

I've never heard of much coming out of Belgium except for chocolate, the EU, and FN-FAL. :-)

I'd love to see some Belgian knives some time.
Yeah I'm very well aware of the Fallkniven line. But I've heard that a lot of them are imported from Japan. Now that doesn't make them a bad knife because I'm sure they are good. Also when they first got big many of their models had VG-10 steel and I think a few of them still do. I'm also impressed with their sharpening products too.

Yeah I've also heard of Helle and Frost Mora both. I've heard that many of their knives are the best you can get for the money. I can't even remember all the articles in magazines that I've read about Frost Mora especially>> because I've read a lot of them over the years.

The Belgium thing really baffles me. Because one of my Uncles was a big time gun collector and he bragged more about his Belgium made guns than he did with most other. So with that said I would assume they must be decent at making steel??

Come to think of it with all the knife shows I've been to I have never seen a knife made in Belgium>> factory or custom either one. You would think as close as they are to Germany and Switzerland they would also have decent knives. They might just keep all the good stuff for themselves. I'm just guessing at this point.
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Woodpuppy
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#69

Post by Woodpuppy »

My favorite Belgian thing is a 1954 Browning Sweet Sixteen Auto-5 with a 28” modified choke, solid rib, and tiger striping in the gloriously finished wood.

My new cookware is from Belgium too- Demeyere. Very pleased thus far. Looking for high quality, induction optimized, not Chinese made, and with no rivets- handles are welded on. With those requirement it’s a small pool of contenders.
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#70

Post by JD Spydo »

Woodpuppy wrote:
Sat Jul 18, 2020 6:37 am
My favorite Belgian thing is a 1954 Browning Sweet Sixteen Auto-5 with a 28” modified choke, solid rib, and tiger striping in the gloriously finished wood.

My new cookware is from Belgium too- Demeyere. Very pleased thus far. Looking for high quality, induction optimized, not Chinese made, and with no rivets- handles are welded on. With those requirement it’s a small pool of contenders.
OK point well taken. And I bet both items are super quality. So where are their axes, hatchets, knives, machetes ect????

I've never seen any edged tools made in Belgium. I would love to and I'm sure they would make great stuff. But it behooves me as to why they don't trade with the USA :confused:

Yeah I bet their cookware is awesome. But again I want to see their edges tools>> especially their knives and axes.
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#71

Post by Woodpuppy »

I’ve not heard anything about knives or axes from there either. Belgium’s historic cottage industry was firearms. The Germans produced some excellent axes, but it seems the Swedes and Fins were the folk known for axes. Perhaps it has to do with use of trees for wood fuel as opposed to coal?
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#72

Post by JD Spydo »

Woodpuppy wrote:
Mon Jul 20, 2020 6:21 pm
I’ve not heard anything about knives or axes from there either. Belgium’s historic cottage industry was firearms. The Germans produced some excellent axes, but it seems the Swedes and Fins were the folk known for axes. Perhaps it has to do with use of trees for wood fuel as opposed to coal?
You know that's also kind of strange when you think about it. Because as popular as many German made items are here in the USA you would think that they would export their axes, machetes and other edged tools. I have some German made woodworking tools that were my late dad's. And the quality of those are excellent needless to say.

As far as I know there isn't any hatred or animosity between Belgium and the USA >> or any trade embargoes that I'm aware of.

Yeah their magnanimous quality with their firearms is about the only thing I've heard about Belgium that I can remember. But if they know their metallurgy well enough to make top quality firearms then you would think that their knives would good too?
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kennethsime
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#73

Post by kennethsime »

I promised JD I would post some pics of my hatchet. I took it out today and realized it needed sharpening. The Hults Bruk stone sure doesn't remove a lot of material at once; that or I'm just lousy with free-hand sharpening. Anyway, just like the Kisa, I left a small ding in it, visible towards the bottom of the edge. Still quite sharp.

When I was a teenager, I worked at a YMCA Summer Camp in the Sierra Nevada. We'd take kids up to the mountains for the week, and do your standard camp stuff like nature hikes, arts + crafts, etc, then do a 3-day overnight backpacking trip where we'd take them out into the backcountry. A lot of the kids were foster children from the city, and had never had a chance to experience nature up close & personal before. Needless to say, the backpacking trip was usually the most rewarding part of the week.

One week, I had some older boys and we hiked out to Kennedy Lake. We camped in a meadow about a mile or 2 from the lake, and after dinner the fog set in so thick you could barely see your hand in front of you. If that wasn't spooky enough, I'd been perfecting my scary stories that year, and had the tale of the Hatchet Man down pat.
One night back in the 70s, John and Mike were out backpacking out here at Kennedy Meadow. They were strong hikers, and made good time on the way in. Since they had the time, they decided to head the extra mile-or-two in to enjoy an afternoon of swimming, cliff jumping, and relaxing in the Sierra sunshine.

Just as they were getting ready to pack up and head back to camp, they heard a rather unsettling howl. As their eyes focused on a lone man standing on a rock on the far side of the lake, the howl turned to laughter. An uncouth-looking man, he was dressed in dirty denim overalls held up with only one suspender, and no undershirt. As they watched on, he started hopping up and down, hooting and hollering, and waving a small hatchet around above his head. before taking off into the woods behind the lake.

Disturbed, the buddies turned around and hurried back to camp. Around their campfire, the two talked through their experience, and agreed that it was probably just some old drunk old-timer trying to get a rise out of them. They'd see tomorrow, as in order to bag Kennedy Peak the next day they'd have to

Sometime in the middle of the night, Mike awakes to a shrill cackle followed by a steady thud, thud, thud. As he opens his eyes, he sees the figure of the old-timer from the day before. Mike bolts upright when he realizes that the man is swinging his hatchet again and again into John's now-limp body. He runs, and he runs, and he runs until he reaches the trailhead, a pack station thankfully-equipped with a working phone.

Later the next day, Mike returns with a team of rangers. There is no sign of the old timer, and nothing left in their tent but a pile of torn and bloody sleeping bags. In the days that followed, it was announced that a dangerous man had escaped from the local mental institution. Search and rescue teams scoured the area, but were unable to uncover any signs of the Hatchet Man.
Needless to say, the kids (middle school/early high-school age) were pretty spooked. At least two slept with their shoes on, just in case they awoke to their friends being murdered in the middle of the night. :o

The next day, I was walking up the hill away from camp to relieve myself, when I kicked something heavy in the jeffery pine duff which littered the hillside. I bent over and found this old hatchet, rusted over and with no handle. I took it back with me as a souvenir, though I hid it under my arm as to not raise alarm with the boys. Later, I heard them arguing about something; "I went back and it's not there! Someone took it!" It turns out the boys had found the hatchet while digging in the woods the day before, then briefly buried it so as to not get in trouble (we had a strict no weapons policy in those days, the boys couldn't even have Swiss Army Knives). Unbeknownst to me, the rusty hatchet found in the woods added another dimension to the fear factor of my story the night before; I genuine felt bad for the kids, and I spent the rest of our trip reassuring them that I had in fact made the whole thing up. :(

Fast-forward to the end of the week, I soaked the hatchet in a mixture of Apple Cider Vinegar and Molasses for about 10 days until the rust was mostly eaten away. Then I scrubbed it down with steel wool. With the help of my father, I put it in a vice to straighten out the handle, polished the head (well, somewhat) and put a halfway-decent edge on it, cut out some scales from scrap pieces of oak, mounted with t-nuts, and then spent a week applying Danish oil to the scales. That was about 15 years ago, and it's been with me on every camping trip (and several backpacking trips) since.

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Last time I searched, I wasn't able to find much on it. I found a useful article on ScoutKnives.net about a very similar Boy Scout Hatchet. While mine is not a BSA hatchet, it looks like these were manufactured by Bridgeport Hardware Manufacturing Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut from the 1934-1969, in a couple of variations. They've even got a copy of an ad from 1954 when it was sold for $3.75! I've also found several similar Bridgeport hatchets for sale on eBay and the like, usually under the name "Boy Scout Hatchet."

I'm under the impression that this type of hatchet is referred to as a Box Hatchet, and is uniquely suited to unpacking wooden crates. The poll is well-suited as a hammer, the full-tang construction means the whole thing is a prybar, and the nail puller is a nice touch. Steel seems to be pretty good, though I really don't have a lot to compare it to.
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Top four in rotation: K390 + GCM PM2, ZCarta Shaman, Crucarta PM2, K390 + GCM Straight Spine Stretch.
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Woodpuppy
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#74

Post by Woodpuppy »

Outstanding!
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kennethsime
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#75

Post by kennethsime »

Image

Saw this on reddit and thought of you all.
I'm happiest with Micarta and Tool Steel.

Top four in rotation: K390 + GCM PM2, ZCarta Shaman, Crucarta PM2, K390 + GCM Straight Spine Stretch.
JD Spydo
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#76

Post by JD Spydo »

You know with all our modern metallurgy aside I've been wondering ever since this thread launched. I've been wondering how the older axes compared to some of the newer models of today. I find it interesting that when I watched that video of Bernie Weisgerber with the National Forest Service>> he revealed that he was using an older model of ax which used to be popular at a major hardware store here in the USA.

And this guy could have had any ax he wanted. But yet he chose that older ax. Which begs the question??>>> I'm wondering if finding a high quality older ax wouldn't be better than buying one of these brand new premium models?

There were guys that literally made their living with axes back in the day. And you just know they wouldn't settle for any piece of rip-mart garbage. And I'm wondering just how critical metallurgy would be? I'm wondering if overall design wasn't the key to having an ax that performs well?
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kennethsime
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#77

Post by kennethsime »

JD Spydo wrote:
Sat Aug 22, 2020 7:38 am
You know with all our modern metallurgy aside I've been wondering ever since this thread launched. I've been wondering how the older axes compared to some of the newer models of today. I find it interesting that when I watched that video of Bernie Weisgerber with the National Forest Service>> he revealed that he was using an older model of ax which used to be popular at a major hardware store here in the USA.

And this guy could have had any ax he wanted. But yet he chose that older ax. Which begs the question??>>> I'm wondering if finding a high quality older ax wouldn't be better than buying one of these brand new premium models?

There were guys that literally made their living with axes back in the day. And you just know they wouldn't settle for any piece of rip-mart garbage. And I'm wondering just how critical metallurgy would be? I'm wondering if overall design wasn't the key to having an ax that performs well?
Good question JD!

I think the issue with most modern hardware store axes is that they're made in China, and are mostly designed around being cheap. Steel quality is questionable, axe head pattern is questionable, etc.

There's an axe subreddit called r/axecraft that is mostly pictures of people restoring and re-hanging old axe heads, often $5-10 yard sale finds. Most of us don't use axes every day anymore (sorry, homesteaders), so I bet that most of us would do fine with the quality of a vintage American-made axe head. My hatchet (which I gather was made pre-70s) is certainly fine enough for the occasional demolition and camp chore.

I'd bet that just like with knives, edge geometry matters quite a bit. And that the overall design of the axe including head & handle could be specific to the person using it and the task being performed. I'm no expert, of course; the number of axe head patterns is rather overwhelming.
I'm happiest with Micarta and Tool Steel.

Top four in rotation: K390 + GCM PM2, ZCarta Shaman, Crucarta PM2, K390 + GCM Straight Spine Stretch.
The Meat man
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#78

Post by The Meat man »

My wonderful wife gave me this Gransfors Bruk Scandinavian Forest Axe for Christmas. It's by far the best axe I have ever used! I've had a lot of fun with it so far.

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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#79

Post by mikey177 »

Yes, I really like my GB small forest axe. It's great for processing kindling.
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Re: Got a favorite ax? Post ‘em up!

#80

Post by JD Spydo »

The Meat man wrote:
Sun Jan 10, 2021 4:42 pm
My wonderful wife gave me this Gransfors Bruk Scandinavian Forest Axe for Christmas. It's by far the best axe I have ever used! I've had a lot of fun with it so far.
Keep us posted as to how you like that Grandfors Bruks ax because I would love to have one myself. But with the prices they charge for their axes, mauls and hatchets I've got to know that I'm getting the very best for those lofty prices.

I have heard that their splitting mauls are second to none. Although I've got a couple of the older "Collins" mauls that I would love to put up against them.

There is just something interesting about all the Swedish made axes I've looked at over the years. It's more than interesting that Grandfors Bruks has gained the popularity that they have with a tool that many have declared antiquated.
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