Do you love billhooks?

[John Fenna]

I just aquired one from Mark - the top one in this photo of 3 - and hope to try it out as soon as my Tennis Elboe is fixed!
In the mean time I will be getting a razor edge on it - though it is pretty sharp already - and cleaning it up a little more - though it is in good nock now.
Basically - I want to play with it NOW!
It feels very good in the hand, balanced and "wanting to work"...
The atraction is there and I feel sure love will follow....

 

[John Fenna]

Wooo Hooo!
I just had a play with Whillamina van De Hook (Bill Hook to her friends, Nee Elwell) and it is deffo LOVE!
I only had to lightly sharpen and strop the edge, lightly sand and oil the handle and she was ready to go - and Boy! is she a goer!
All I have done this morning is a tiny bit of hedge laying and trimming some Ash twigs for kindling (my poorly arm precludes realy hard work) but she is eager and swift, well balanced but mad to work.
The steel is easy to sharpen but seems to hold its edge OK and she just feels nice to handle and play with - but I get the idea that if I take liberties she will bite me hard and deep!
My smaller axes may need to look out - they have real competition here!

 

[al21]

Another Bill Hook fan here. Much prefer them to a small axe.

One of mine, Yorkshire style, is on a four foot handle which is great when collecting firewood and easily deals with stuff up to about 5-6 inches dia. For larger stuff the saw takes over. Good bits of kit.

 

[markheolddu]

Wooo Hooo!
I just had a play with Whillamina van De Hook (Bill Hook to her friends, Nee Elwell) and it is deffo LOVE!
I only had to lightly sharpen and strop the edge, lightly sand and oil the handle and she was ready to go - and Boy! is she a goer!
All I have done this morning is a tiny bit of hedge laying and trimming some Ash twigs for kindling (my poorly arm precludes realy hard work) but she is eager and swift, well balanced but mad to work.
The steel is easy to sharpen but seems to hold its edge OK and she just feels nice to handle and play with - but I get the idea that if I take liberties she will bite me hard and deep!
My smaller axes may need to look out - they have real competition here!

Glad you like it John, I know it has a good home with you.
Mark

 

[Paul_B]

I used billhooks a lot when volunteering for BTCV. They were excellent for many uses from coppicing to hedging to even brush and scrub clearance.

As someone hase pointed out there are many different styles andregional variances. For example the standard single bladed ones are named after one of the west country counties I think. There are longer handeled ones too. In increasing handle length I think they are the Staffordshire then the Yorkshire billhooks. This is what I was told when trained in their use (only a brief safety training talk prior to a woodland coppicing).

The double bladed ones actually act as almost and axe on the flat back blade. The hook is good for clearing scrub and small diameter branches / trunks. In fact if any of you have ever used a sickle or a scythe you will surely know how usefull a curved blade is.

Personally I think it is a useful tool for a use that it is good for. Or in good English, it has its uses.

I'd love to get my hand on one again, perhaps I ought to get out BTCVing again. BTW I also love using my Dad's sickle. It was good fun slashing away at the growth on my new allottment I've just taken over.

One thing I will say is this, don't stand near a novice with a Yorkie or Staffie billhook. It is often fun watching them go Psycho on the brush with them, but only from a distance. Oh, don't wear gloves, they fly through the air well. Good for Rhody bashing.

 

[markheolddu]

The trick with the gloves is to only wear one on the left hand (if you are right handed). That way you can hold things and not get a hand full of thorns or other stuff.

Mark

 

[mr dazzler]

Think every time you see a hedge flail, that would have been billhook work 60 years ago, no wonder there are plenty about.

The vandalism of hedgerows with flail cutters is almost enough to make me into a tree hugger. I cant think of a stupider or more illogical illogical method of maintaining a hedge. You dont get any dense bottom new growth, it all happens at the top, so eventually its no longer stock proof. Its especially disheartening to see a new hedge, say 12 or 15 years old, just looking prime candidate to be properly layed according to tradition, then the next time you se it its been scalped..... But at least every year I get bundles of 3 and 4 foot sapling shoots that are ripped off by the flail and use them for kinderling

 

[addo]

Aye most flailed hedges look a right mess, but some farmers do a tidy job if they take small amounts off regularly.

A hazel hedge, was done near me badly, but loads of spindles for the bow drill set could be found!