Thread: Axe talk

Originally Posted by rsser

Thanks for that heads-up.
They've just become sequestered carbon distribution tools.

Regards
Paul

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/524669425312333462/

lot of 17 Sager Chemical Axe double bit axes incl cruiser SEATTLE PICK-UP ONLY


They do group buys on this forum, right?

( JOKE!!! )


db axes.jpg

Wow.
Actually a damn good price each.

There is of course a heap of forum, blog and Youtube posts about this, both the what and the how.

With my Kelly I jumped in with eyes wide shut, aiming to follow Leonard Lee's advice of a 25 degree included bevel with a more obtuse micro-bevel for strength. An angle grinder and a 1x30 belt sander did the job.

There's a detailed how-to here using manual methods: How to Sharpen an Axe - Picture Heavy
On profiles: Ax Prep, Sharpening & Care – Part Two | THE WOODS LIFE

If you use a belt sander in the unsupported area you'll get convexing happening automatically. Stick to the platen area obviously if you don't want that.
You can get 1x30 belts in quite fine grits so that only a quick hone is needed to finish.

Originally Posted by L.S.Barker1970

Thanks Hiroller for all that information, I recall having a Brades hatchet put away some where, and two of my Adzes are Brades as well, great gear to use.
Guys, I am really enjoying this post as I don't recall axes being spoken of here before ?!
Many thanks to Both Hiroller and Ern for your efforts here.
Ern, with your twisted wedge, I don't see why some heat could be applied, hammered flat over an anvil of sorts, then quenched in water ?

I just thought I would share some finds over the weekend at an antique fair in Central Victoria that I attended.
The first was 3 very large steel wedges made by hytest, very happy to find these as one can never have enough wedges.
Other finds were a standard axe and broad axe, both very cheep, complete with surface rust and unbranded, or so I thought.
Once home a quick clean up with the wire brush reviles that they are both made by Plumb in the US.
Now that makes for a happy day.





Melbourne Matty.

Almost shed a tear looking at these photos. Dad grew up swinging an axe as did all his brothers -8 boys all told.

This is exactly the gear dad had --Plumb (Australian Plumb axe and broad axes. Wedges look identical to those I remember.
All that is missing is the14lb. hammer dad would use on the wedges!!

I was never much chop with an axe< no pun intended. One eye meant I was like lightning, couldn't strike the same place twice!!

Thanks for the walk down memory lane!!

http://www.amazon.com/American-Axes-...9236300&sr=8-1

I remember seeing a couple of pages like this somewhere ... with different (double-bit, I thought) ... head patterns by state

Not sure if this was part of it or not ...

axhead_patterns_zpsd9b3704c.jpg

also

That's amazing.
Like species evolution in nature.

Originally Posted by artme

--Plumb (Australian Plumb axe and broad axes. Wedges look identical to those I remember.
All that is missing is the14lb. hammer dad would use on the wedges!!.....

Hah! A mere 14lb, Artme!? The 10 pounder (pun intended ) I was given at age 12 was taken away from me when I turned 16 and replaced with a 16lb job. Took a lot more effort to raise it above my head, but it sure got results when it met those wedges! After a couple of years, it got a bit lighter.

Some of the die-hard old blokes round our way wouldn't countenance steel hammers because of the way they mushroom the wedges, so they used these bl**dy great awkward wooden mallets instead. I tried one & found it hard to hit accurately with it (wrong muscle memory?), and they just didn't move a wedge the way the 16 pounder did!

Steel hammers are a bit tough on the wedge heads, though. Those sharp flakes of work-hardened steel that form as the heads are mushroomed heads could do nasty things to careless hands. One day, a sliver about the size of a threepenny bit flew off a wedge when I hit it, and lodged deep in my leg. I was wondering why the cut was so sore & not healing properly, & eventually fronted at the local hospital. An x-ray of my leg solved the mystery, and a pair of deftly-handled tweezers solved the problem....

Originally Posted by artme

....... I was never much chop with an axe< no pun intended. One eye meant I was like lightning, couldn't strike the same place twice!!...

Least you have an excuse - I have had two perfectly good peepers, but I still couldn't use an axe worth a damn.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Some of the die-hard old blokes round our way wouldn't countenance steel hammers because of the way they mushroom the wedges, so they used these bl**dy great awkward wooden mallets instead. I tried one & found it hard to hit accurately with it (wrong muscle memory?), and they just didn't move a wedge the way the 16 pounder did!


Cheers,

I'm one of the die-hards, and the great awkward things are called a "Maul" or "Beetle" perhaps try one with some lead shot plugged inside for weight and then watch your little wedges disappear.
I pity your wedges Ian ...

Melbourne Matty.

Talking of slivers flying off wedges, I had that happen to me in my 20s. Lodged in the right side of the chin.
As it didn't get infected I did nothing about it. Had a hard lump there for probably 15 years. The steel must
have eventually dissolved and there is no sign of any lump or detectable scar these days.

Dad's father died when dad was about 11 0r so. Many years later his mother married again. Vince was a timber worker
and he had some pretty good wisdom in his head. He refused to work on windy days as he maintained that if he did so
the the axe controlled him instead of him controlling the axe. For more obvious reasons he would not fell trees on windy days.

Originally Posted by L.S.Barker1970

..... the great awkward things are called a "Maul" or "Beetle"....

Matty, I hesitated to give it a name because names seem to vary with district. If you'd asked for a 'maul' round our way, you would've been handed one of these mallets-on-steroids, i.e., a large lump of wood with a handle fixed through it. But if you asked for a 'beetle', you'd get something made from a single chunk of wood, with a handle formed by trimming it down with an an axe or hatchet. We sometimes used one cobbled up for an emergency, & I hated them! They transmitted far more jar on impact, and were also not as robust, since you were clobbering the object with side-grain. They tended to disintegrate or be 'lost' fairly quickly...

Originally Posted by L.S.Barker1970

.....perhaps try one with some lead shot plugged inside for weight and then watch your little wedges disappear......

I never had the pleasure of trying anything as refined as that. These were just a couple of cubic feet of the hardest, toughest wood available, with a crude handle. The size, plus the fact they weren't particularly balanced made them just plain awkward. I've no doubt you could improve a lot on the things I remember!

Originally Posted by L.S.Barker1970

.....I pity your wedges Ian ....

I'm afraid I had no sympathy whatever for the mongrel things! As a 16/17 year old, I could think of quite a few things I'd rather be doing than driving wedges into large billets of wood all day!

My old man was usually pretty careful with his gear, but I guess he did his own calculations on this one & decided steel hammers were more 'productive' & the wedges would still pay for themselves before they expired. Dunno - I guess it's one of those "I like coffee & you like tea" situations. Had I been brought up on the end of a wooden maul, I probably wouldn't think of using a steel hammer...

Thankfully, that's all long in the past. On the rare occasion I need to convert a tree into fencepost-sized objects nowadays, I (Shhh, this is the hand tools section) get out the big stihl & put on the rip chain..

Cheers,

As a kid in NZ I never saw anyone use anything but a maul for driving wedges and was only since we retired to the south west that I became aware of wedges being driven by a sledge hammer. (Not much call for splitting wedges in the Pilbara) I've got a few wedges, all mushroomed, bought at swap meets etc, and use the back of the block splitter to drive them. Being relatively soft the splitter is beginning to mushroom. My elderly neighbour told me that his father used to heat the hammer head in the forge to soften it so as not to damage the wedges.

The mushrooming tendency with wedges (and cold chisels) needs to be removed as it becomes pronounced as it can be dangerous when the "lip" flies off. It can easily be achieved by using a thin cutting disc on an angle grinder and then dressed with a grinding disc, bench grinder or file.

Regards
Paul