Axes

Started by Optimist, October 07, 2021, 06:10:42 PM

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Moab

#20
I just researched the crap out of axes recently. Majorhavoc turned me onto Ben Scott on youtube. And I spent a fair bit of time on bushcraftusa.

A big complaint about gransfor bruk is that alot of bushcraft consumers get hung up on steel types. Because most come from the knife world. They get humg up in comparing steel type. And this has affected the steel type of gransfor bruks a great deal. The steel they use is so hard that Ben Scott claims you really need a belt sander to sharpen them. So they are inappropriate for alot of field work. I beleive he is a logger. And does not use gransfor bruk at all.

He is much more fond of typical axe steel types like the Council Tool and Oshkenopf(or however its spelled! Terrible name for a product. Lol!) Etc. Which use a more typical carbon steel. That can be easily sharoened in the field.

There is also a big difference between felling axes and limbing axes. In EU trees are typically felled very low to the ground. To conserve as much wood as possible.  As trees are a more finite source than in the US. In EU they cut them almost to the ground and near the root structure. Which lends itself to the thinner bladed EU style axe. That can cut thru rougher material and less likely to get stuck.

US logging was typically done at waist or swing height. Or even higher on big huge trees. As trees were more plentiful and much larger. So no one worried as much about tall stumps.  And mills didn't want to deal with the harder knottier wood in the stump.

Which also meant both cut at different angles too.

In EU a single logger would typically carry a felling axe and a limbing axe. And do both jobs. Where as in the US more skilled felling loggers used a single style felling axe. And less skilled limbing loggers used another type of axe. This allowed the owners to separate the two jobs and pay limbers less.

So thats basically the history behind the more scandinavian style EU axes. And the US axes.

Generally speaking I got the idea that US style axe heads like the Council Tool are preferred for felling and bigger trees. While the EU style head is preferred for dropping smaller trees, and limbing etc. Both can do either job. And guys like Ben Scott like axes of both types. For felling and limbing. Its not like the EU can't cut down trees. Or that the US style can't limb. They can. But each style was developed for two different, specific purposes.

Ben Scott has great reviews. And great suggestions for axes in every category. He loves Council Tool as the steel is good and they have what many believe is the nicest stock handle in the industry. They also have a new way of placing heads on handles. That involves high pressure of some sort. And iirc two round stays in the top of the handle. To better keep the axe head on.

But he also likes a number of axes. EU and US style.

I originally wanted a Husqvarna forest axe. Which was $64 five years ago. A EU style head made of Swedish steel. But its been discontinued. And its next closest model is now creeping towards the $150 mark. But both had a shorter handle. But at 6'3" I wanted a longer handle.

I then wanted a Council Tool 3.5lb 36" jersey axe. And then an Oshenkopf with a 3.5lb EU style head and a "34 handle. But once I heard about the handles on the Council Steel axes. And how tiring a 3.5lb axe can be vs a 2.5. I changed my mind and found the Council Tools Boys axe in a 28" handle. Rather than the 24" it normally sells with.

Its rather expensive at $80(?). But sort of in a sweet spot for a variety of uses. Including loading it into the back of your car or trunk, hiking with it, felling fairly good size trees while not making you quite as tired, the list goes on. But we'll see. Its been ages since I swung an axe or splitting maul. In my younger years I was expected to split wood. And drop trees while hunting and hiking. But in those days (or maybe in my families income bracket) you never analyzed a simple tool like the axe that much. It was an axe. "Go get some damn wood!". Lol. I couldn't even tell you the brand of our axes. I don't remember even looking. But I guarantee they were good but not expensive. And whatever you had was good enough. And it got used. No matter how well suited it was for any given job.

This time around I thought I would go for "good but not expensive" again. So I think the Council Tool boys axe will be fine. And later I might get a more bushcraft friendly EU style hatchet. For more fine work.
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