Views, reviews, thoughts, opinions, impressions? Got my eye on the Ochsenkopf Universal Gold Forestry Axe that has 1kilo head and 60cm handle.......
Anyone tried Ochsenkopf Axes
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they are very good, don't know much about them but i know they make competition axes for timber sports.
pete
pete
Yeah, excellent kit Ive a camping hatchet, and a forestry axe, I think this is the one http://www.tooltrolley.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=56098&manufacturers_id=335.
The camping hatchet is very good at carving and small splitting with a slight re-profile, and ive converted most folks who want a well made forged axe but a bit cheaper than the bushcraft must have axe
Been using it very regularly for 3 years.
Best thing is I get them half price and no VAT through work
The camping hatchet is very good at carving and small splitting with a slight re-profile, and ive converted most folks who want a well made forged axe but a bit cheaper than the bushcraft must have axe
Been using it very regularly for 3 years.Best thing is I get them half price and no VAT through work
ah looking at your link addo it turns out i have one of these lol i have one with ILTIS stamped on it. i havn't really used it much but it seems well made and has very good steel.
i think some of the stihl branded axes mite be made by them too.
pete
lol i have one with ILTIS stamped on it. i havn't really used it much but it seems well made and has very good steel. i think some of the stihl branded axes mite be made by them too.
pete
Yes I think they must be.
I was interested in the Ochsenkopf Universal Gold Forestry Axe (Ochsenkopf OX 20 H-1007 Universal Gold Forestry Axe (Hickory)) because it was a similar weight and length to the GB ScFA and the new GB (RM) Wilderness axe. I have no idea what the shape of the blade is like in comparison to the above. They seem to be quality and you can get them cheaper than this (I have seen them at £42 plus vat)
http://workshopheaven.com/cgi-bin/c...str=HOME:OCHSENKOPF:Ochsenkopf_Universal_Axes
No experience with that particular one but I have a few others I really like....
Iltis Oxhead wide flare
Narrow flare
An older one needing a new handle, made before reunification
Great axes, excellent steel. Everyone I've had needed work on the edges, but no big deal. Handles are pretty crappy on many for good grain & quite often are less than straight.
Pick one out in person if possible.
bb07 is right. I don't have one, but from what I've been told the bit on them is much thicker than the ScFA, so you'll have to do some work on it. Their balance is also off because of the small poll.
The blade on the top and bottom axe, measured back almost 3'' from the edge, is still only 1/4'' thick. I don't have a Scandinavian Axe to compare but would say a 1/4'' is pretty thin. It's the bevels that really needed the most work, as they were uneven.
I wouldn't say the poll is small. Rather, the wide blade (it's close to 6'' when new) is what makes them bit heavy rather than nicely balanced.
The camping hatchet is very good at carving and small splitting with a slight re-profile, and ive converted most folks who want a well made forged axe but a bit cheaper than the bushcraft must have axe
It looks like I'll be ordering one of these. I think that I'll go with the 1000g.
I believe that a person would be wise to select the best one of a bunch and not order onlne.
Basically Iltis Oxhead were the goto axe for clearing/limbing soft stuff like alders, until their QC went downhill with mis-aligned heads, poor grind, and they were replaced with other brands by many suppliers in W Canada.
http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/iltis.html
I put up a warning about this:
"Update: I decided to replace the handle on this axe because it just never seemed quite right. That's hard to explain, but if you use axes enough, you'll get to feel when something just doesn't feel right. I cleaned off the end of the handle and found that it is wood wedged. I drilled out the wedge and around the tube like wedge until I could pry it out. It's only 1/2" long. I was then able to remove the head with very little trouble - which is not a good sign. Part of the problem was that the wooden wedge wasn't thick enough and had bottomed out on the bottom of the slot cut for it. Inside the axe head I found a wooden (veneer) shim at the back. Basically there was not 80% wood contact between the handle and the head. This is surprising to me since I'd soaked the head in linseed oil. I guess I didn't clean off the paint around the head/handle junction enough to allow lots of oil to soak through - maybe the shim was the problem. Anyway I'm still impressed with the axe head, and right now I'm trying it with a much longer handle to see how it balances and uses. If you have such a complete axe, though, you might want to carefully scrape all the paint around the handle/head junction and leave in a bucket of regular (non boiled] linseed oil for a while. Or of course you could re-handle the blade too. It really is a great axe head and it really does ring like a bell - and a nice sound it is too!"
Anyway I got a heavier head from Lee Valley later. Go shopping with a ruler to lay against the sides (or in my day have someone at LV do that) and you are likely to get a good axe (no warping of blade) if everything else has been checked, like alignment. I had to modify the eye of the heavier head to get good alignment.
All that being said, yep you could have a really fine axe with an Iltis. A good filing/grinding job will develop wide cutting bevels which are also acute - and the slope to the ramp to eye is super. So it will cut deep despite the wide cutting edge, can be used to slice tomatoes and onions, and will split well with a baton. I used the light head on a long handle to teach kids splitting on a block, and despite grit on the block, the edge held well. If you are into smacking your axes with metallic objects, then yes the Iltis does have a distinctive ring... What's not to love after a bit of TLC?
Basically Iltis Oxhead were the goto axe for clearing/limbing soft stuff like alders, until their QC went downhill with mis-aligned heads, poor grind, and they were replaced with other brands by many suppliers in W Canada.
http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/iltis.html
I put up a warning about this:
"Update: I decided to replace the handle on this axe because it just never seemed quite right. That's hard to explain, but if you use axes enough, you'll get to feel when something just doesn't feel right. I cleaned off the end of the handle and found that it is wood wedged. I drilled out the wedge and around the tube like wedge until I could pry it out. It's only 1/2" long. I was then able to remove the head with very little trouble - which is not a good sign. Part of the problem was that the wooden wedge wasn't thick enough and had bottomed out on the bottom of the slot cut for it. Inside the axe head I found a wooden (veneer) shim at the back. Basically there was not 80% wood contact between the handle and the head. This is surprising to me since I'd soaked the head in linseed oil. I guess I didn't clean off the paint around the head/handle junction enough to allow lots of oil to soak through - maybe the shim was the problem. Anyway I'm still impressed with the axe head, and right now I'm trying it with a much longer handle to see how it balances and uses. If you have such a complete axe, though, you might want to carefully scrape all the paint around the handle/head junction and leave in a bucket of regular (non boiled] linseed oil for a while. Or of course you could re-handle the blade too. It really is a great axe head and it really does ring like a bell - and a nice sound it is too!"
Anyway I got a heavier head from Lee Valley later. Go shopping with a ruler to lay against the sides (or in my day have someone at LV do that) and you are likely to get a good axe (no warping of blade) if everything else has been checked, like alignment. I had to modify the eye of the heavier head to get good alignment.
All that being said, yep you could have a really fine axe with an Iltis. A good filing/grinding job will develop wide cutting bevels which are also acute - and the slope to the ramp to eye is super. So it will cut deep despite the wide cutting edge, can be used to slice tomatoes and onions, and will split well with a baton. I used the light head on a long handle to teach kids splitting on a block, and despite grit on the block, the edge held well. If you are into smacking your axes with metallic objects, then yes the Iltis does have a distinctive ring... What's not to love after a bit of TLC?
Yeppers!
However whether the same quality control was used om the German labelled axes as with Iltis - who knows?
However whether the same quality control was used om the German labelled axes as with Iltis - who knows?
This is so true and it's the best advice possible. Several years ago I was able to check out some new Ox Heads purchased by an exploration company. This one was a bit of a shocker:
This pic really didn't capture just how badly skewed this head is. At the time I must have had the camera at an angle, because it's so badly skewed that I was truly shocked when I first picked it up. It's much worse than it appears!
The mighty Gransfors Bruk is not perfect either. This is a Scandinavian. Again, the pics aren't showing it as much as is seen by eye. This one too is worse than it appears.
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Back in the day Cliff Stamp wanted a 2kg Hults and so I went looking for a good one. And when I saw everything local had warped heads I drove everywhere to find a good one (which is a long way here). The best of them all was still warped so I sent it gratis and with warning. His review is probably still up somewhere, but remember that his idea of a huge tree is 8" diameter which might differ from your idea of a big tree.
I have to say that in a couple of decades of axe collecting, I've never seen anything so horrifying as your second picture.
I have to say that in a couple of decades of axe collecting, I've never seen anything so horrifying as your second picture.
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