Billhooks anyone?

[paulhereford]

Good evening,

Does anyone use a billhook for anything bushcrafty?

I know a billhook can be a little on the heavy side but personally I can put up with that due to the usefullness of a hook.

 

[wingstoo]

Good evening,

Does anyone use a billhook for anything bushcrafty?

I know a billhook can be a little on the heavy side but personally I can put up with that due to the usefullness of a hook.

You best go and hunt down posts by British Red, he uses one, amongst many other sharp and shiny things

 

[paulhereford]

You best go and hunt down posts by British Red, he uses one, amongst many other sharp and shiny things

lol thanks. I will have a scout around. I was just wondering as I have used one for hedging, coppicing etc and haven't seen much evidence of there use in bushcraft.

I took a hook to a weekend survival course in the New Forest last May and whilst my using it raised a few eyebrows a number of my fellow trainees seemed quite impressed by its usefullness for shelter and reflector building

 

[John Fenna]

I have been converted to the Billhook.......when I can afford the weight
I still love my axe and knives, but, to be sure, the Billhook is a very versatile tool indeed!

 

[Dougster]

I have seen old photographs of bodgers in the woods with differential grinds - a much higher finer grind at the back allowing for finer carving and broad convex chopping edge at the front. I am attempting to get mine the same way and it's proving very very useful.

I'm also working on a light mask to allow me to take it around a bit more, I'll show pics when I get around to it, but my wife has just asked for a messenger bag....

 

[Cael Nu Mara]

Ahh the hooker, now slightly redundant, though i really should make an effort to use it round the estate

pictures if you please gentlemen, i would especially like to see any masks or sheaths




Thank you

Sam

 

[w00dsmoke]

I'll do anything that an axe can do and a whole lot more with my billhook and a lot quicker too. But there's billhooks and billhooks. I've worked with many different types when I spent a few years working with willow and hazel professionally and I settled on a Morris hook, a newton. If I had to change I'd probably go with a lighter spar hook.

I'm interested in the geographic variations/development of this tool particulary in Scotland. It's endemic in use England, but in Scotland there's a lack of info on regional variations/development. Up here it was more recently associated as a general purpose agricultural tool for example used for howking neeps and topping them (up until gthe 70's).

 

[John Fenna]

I just made a big, wide sheath out of wax-dipped leather with a braided loop of leather thonging to secure the handle in transport.
It is set up for a crossbody draw.
Too crude to bother photographing....

 

[British Red]

Ahh the hooker, now slightly redundant, though i really should make an effort to use it round the estate

pictures if you please gentlemen, i would especially like to see any masks or sheaths




Thank you

Sam

These might be useful for some ideas - the sheaths for my Newton and Khighton pattern bills.

All credit of course to the incomparable Topknot and Singteck!

Red

 

[Chopper]

Red, is that your fur coat we can see?

 

[Dave Budd]

billhooks have come up a couple of times recently here. Seems that they are becoming more popular amongst bushcrafters. About time too!

such as:
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47416&highlight=billhook
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37041&highlight=billhook
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50288&highlight=billhook
infact doing a search for 'billhook' brought up over 300 hits

my everyday hook is a copy of a 3rd century one and does well for me. It's the bottom one in this pic.

and sheathed

The handle that is on there has been replaced since the pics were taken (I ran a 7 tonne digger over my hook ). The new one is oak and much better shaped for control in that it is broadly L-shaped and flat on the sides; I'm not a fan of round handles.

 

[British Red]

It is indeed Chopper. Its a beaverskin waistcoat from Norway. Really warm and amazingly wind and waterproof. A surprisingly coarse fur but very practical

 

[subedarmajor]

I love my billhook, it's a plastic handled Fiskars/Wilkinson Sword one.
I have in the absence of a decent axe used it for roughing out some carving projects.

Again I love my billhook.


Alan.

 

[markheolddu]

I have a few and have used them a lot around the farm over the years, In british woodland they are very hard to beat.

The top one has now gone to a better place (John Fenna's Place)
The middle one is my main user.

Mark

 

[John Fenna]

Just been using it to gather driftwood off Poppit beach....

 

[Everything Mac]

i have lost mine in the depths of the shed

damn fine tools they are too. had my one for years and years.

i dont know the name but there is a brand which makes them with a swell at the tip - which is very useful for splitting.

will track one down one of these days.

andy

 

[Robby]

It's quite interesting for me seeing all of these pictures. I'm a big fan of billhooks and have used them a lot while working in foresrty around Lanarkshire. What you guys are posting pictures of are more like what we would have called Hedge knives and been on a longer 3 or 4 foot shaft. A billhook to me should have both the hookblade and a wider blade giving a straight edge on the back.

 

[Cael Nu Mara]

It's quite interesting for me seeing all of these pictures. I'm a big fan of billhooks and have used them a lot while working in foresrty around Lanarkshire. What you guys are posting pictures of are more like what we would have called Hedge knives and been on a longer 3 or 4 foot shaft. A billhook to me should have both the hookblade and a wider blade giving a straight edge on the back.

to me thats a yorkshire or stafford patten, i may be wrong, i normally am



Sam

 

[Dave Budd]

yep, or 'widow makers'. ideal for that nice hedge layers' second parting

I think I'll stick to a single edged billhook myself