Why axes? (Axe v. Billhook v. Machete/Parang v.Saw v. Large knife)

[ToneWood]

BTW I'm not anti-axe [see above, I am "investing" in a good axe]. The premise for this thread was, I guess, to provoke discussion. It struck me that there is suddenly quite a big axe culture and I want to understand it and my own rather sudden interest and involvement in it (Ray Mears has a lot to answer for). Also, I should make clear that I have never used a high-end Swedish axe, nor even a very sharp 'ornary one - of which I am acutely aware (and sharpening rabidly to remedy ).

I like saws too though (especially Scandinavian ones) - I surprised my neighbour, a landowner, by whipping off some quite thick limbs from a beech tree that had been bothering him. He was convinced that it required a chainsaw but my small (18" & 24") bush saws made short work of it (that's how they amputated human limbs in battle in Nelson's day, I've seen the saw they used, had to be fast, no anesthetic). I regret not being able to save my grandfather's old 2 handled crosscut saw that sat rusting in the woodshed during my childhood - probably thrown away years ago .

Although Ray Mears (and Baden-Powell before him) has clearly been something of a catalyst for all this, I do get the sense that folk are keen that we not loose the old skills and knowledge (we might well need them again). I think in Britain, perhaps we did loose quite a lot of it, but fortunately the Scandinavians (and Germans, Americans, antipodians, eastern europeans, native peoples, etc.) have preserved various things that we can refer back to and learn from. (How is that Ray Mears isn't Chief Scout?)

 

[British Red]

I regret not being able to save my grandfather's old 2 handled crosscut saw that sat rusting in the woodshed during my childhood - probably thrown away years ago .

So - buy a new one

http://www.flinn-garlick-saws.co.uk/acatalog/One_and_Two_Man_Cross_Cut_Saw.html#a57

I use a 3' two handed version - but one day I'll step up to a 5'

Nice tools - and can be hand sharpened

 

[ToneWood]

Wow, they still sell them. An interesting alternative to the chainsaw - cleaner, quieter, (only slightly) cheaper to purchase, cheap to run, greener, comes with free exercise, as much as you can use!

This one might be more practical for some:

http://www.flinn-garlick-saws.co.uk/acatalog/____strong____NEW___Ray_Iles_Froes_____strong____.html

 

[ToneWood]

I just roughed up the shiny polyurethane (yuk) coated handle of my splitting maul - an idea I got from one of the excellent old US Forestry Service axe guides on-line. Very pleased with the result - looks and feels more like the carving axe to hold (well sort of ). I used a big (12"x1.25") old rasp (looks like a huge file) - the rasp's handle repair looks more than 50 years old, so I'm guessing this is a very old tool. I picked it up at the local charity shop several years ago, they had probably cleared out an old chap's shed. There were probably 10 other similar big, odd looking tools; in hindsight perhaps I should have bought more but I really didn't (and still don't) have a use for them. Something about this particular rasp grabbed me though, it was the biggest, coarsest and ugliest of the bunch - I had the distinct feeling that I would never see a tool like this again, at least not that big and coarse. So I finally found a use for it today - roughing up axe handles .

...
BTW Since I started using a splitting maul (the cheapest - and bluntest - one available in the local small USA chain hardware store, as recommended by a helpful assistant), I haven't found a need for wedges or sledge hammer (although I have them). The maul is like an axe and wedge all in one - only better (synergy?), at least that is my experience. Splitting mauls are ace - highly recommend them. I guess I have more weight to put behind it these days but I don't put a lot of effort into it, they just work really well. I think mine is 6lb but I reckon I would go for a lighter one if I had to buy another.

Turns out my maul is 8lb - perhaps that is why it is so effective! I would go for a lighter one if buying now - 6lb should be more than enough especially if sharper, and Ian S. pointed out. I did "sharpen" my a bit recently to try out my new files - I quote the "sharpen" because the broad edge angle isn't much changed, mainly I just smooth out the factory rough grinding and straightened the edge. It used to be blunt enough that it didn't have to be treated as a sharp edge - it probably does now though.

 

[mrcharly]

I had three Christmas trees to reduce to kindling. Started with secateurs. Hmm, wood too tough. Then Opinel saw. OK, but slow.

Hang on, isn't there a cheap hatchet in the shed I roughly sharpened?

Thock, thock, 5 minutes later, trees de-limbed and bagged.

A billhook would have been just as useful, but I can get a cheap hatchet for under £10 from the corner hardware.

 

[dwardo]

Its all personal but lately i have found the billhook is my go-to tool for splitting smaller diameter staves with more accuracy and also roughing out to near bow dimensions. It is a lovely tool that i have only been using for the past year.
I have 3 axes and grannies but i only ever use the scandi forest axe, the hatchet i find next to useless besides an impromptu splitting wedge. (I Only ever use soft hammers)
I can use my scandi axe for everything but the billhook is so much lighter in the hand so is less tiring.
If i go bushying at my local hideout i always take the axe. Mainly due to its fast cutting/bashing ability when it comes to dead wood for the fire. Also a great as hammer for pegs n bits.

 

[Ratbag]

So - buy a new one

http://www.flinn-garlick-saws.co.uk/acatalog/One_and_Two_Man_Cross_Cut_Saw.html#a57

I use a 3' two handed version - but one day I'll step up to a 5'

Nice tools - and can be hand sharpened

The family that owns this company are friends of ours, so I'm not entirely impartial here, but their saws are just superb in both looks and use. And they're manufactured in the UK. What more reason do you need?

Rat

 

[British Red]

None - they are superb - can you get me a discount on a five footer?

The three footer with the second control handle is amazing - but I would love to have a proper two man one

 

[John Fenna]

I like and use all my sharps - Axe, folding saw, buck saw, Leuko, Golok (MOD), and bill hook - I have yet to get hold of one of they nice big saws!
I realy like the GB SFA for its versitility - I can chop down trees, split logs, split kindling, rough carve projects and pose with it.
None of the other tools is as versatile - but each is better at its own particular task set (I would not want to chop down and split a tree with only a folding saw or split kindling with a buck saw - nor fell a tree with only a bill hook...) If I know that I am only going to be cutting small wood then the folding saw or bill hook - even the golok comes along, for clean sawn woodwork only then I will take the buck and folding saws.
If I am not worried about weight - then they ALL come along!
Each tool has its strengths and weaknesses - a small axe is probably the most versatile.

 

[robevs73]

AXE's ROCK!!!!!
A man's tool, knives are for girls to cut food up!!!!!

 

[dancan]

AXE's ROCK!!!!!
A man's tool, knives are for girls to cut food up!!!!!

Now that statement I like !

I own and use more than a dozen chainsaws (exact number a secret from the wife) when I'm working my saws on clearing jobs I pack an axe with me to drive felling wedges , clearing some branches or to chop out a pinched bar . An axe serves me well .
My billhook is a FS550 .

 

[demographic]

Cerain tools are much better for certain purposes as stated. Lets take an example - the "Scandinavian Forest Axe" - a 24" light headed narrow profiled axe.

Now fell a tree with a chainsaw and decide you need to "sned" it (remove all the side branches). Stand on one side of the trunk and hold the (long) helve one handed, striking the branches off the other side. Faster than snedding even with a chainsaw.

A maul or splittling axe is fine - but you need to know how to use splitting wedges as well for large rounds. When you come right down to it a pneumatic splitter is the quivalent of a chainsaw - pricier and quicker (and more dangerous too).

All tools have their place - saws are fine at cross grain cutting - but slow and poor at along the grain cutting or splitting. Thin cutting cross grain (like hedging or snedding) is still quicker with a manual impact blade than a powered saw.

Its not a question of "better" - more a question of "better at a given task"

I disagree, you can't have seen anyone who was fast with a chainsaw then.
I'm not fast but you watch someone who does it all the time and its seriously impressive.

Plus fellers on piecework use the fastest way they can to get the work done. I've not noticed many that sned with an axe round here anyway.

Admittedly I don't particularly like using a chainsaw constantly and sometimes its just nicer to use something hand powered and for someone not used to either the axe might be faster but I don't agree that its faster in practised hands.

 

[British Red]

That's okay - we can disagree - indeed we usually do

 

[mr dazzler]

I love the brylcreme hairdo and the blokes felt hat on the aussie video. The building technique isnt dissimilar to the stave board method that was used to build the earliest wooden church buildings only they used horizontal rather than vertical boards. Frame and panel on a huige architectonic scale

 

[demographic]

That's okay - we can disagree - indeed we usually do

Can't say I'd noticed, is there a shrug smilie here?

 

[Smudge]

Bushcrafting I like a hatchet or khukri myself, axe not really required.

 

[Jared]

My preferred billhook pattern is larger (24"+) heavier and more dangerous (double edged) than a GB SFA, so...

I do think axes come into their own felling, and snedding. Snedding is a pure pleasure with an axe.
I have also heard that sawing frozen wood is a nightmare (sort of fibre reinforced ice), and an axe becomes favourable.

As an aside, woodworking cultures where traditional hand tools are used (Japan, Sweden, Germany, maybe France) all have axes and hatchets, and not billhooks, as woodworking tools. I think there must be something in this.

I suspect its to do with Inclosure Acts which helped to create our Hedgelaying tradition. Axe is a bit unwieldy in a hedge, machetes/goloks and long knives too light, so hence the billhook.

 

[forestwalker]

Wow, they still sell them. An interesting alternative to the chainsaw - cleaner, quieter, (only slightly) cheaper to purchase, cheap to run, greener, comes with free exercise, as much as you can use!

I've use this type of saw a little bit (mostly a 3' one man). Surprisingly fast, takes some skill to file and set (the only ones you see in the old barn here have the simple tooth pattern, so they are not *too* tricky). The Finn-Galick ones are on my "drool" list. *Wants*.

 

[Ian S]

Whoops - I've not been 100% precise about my terminology.

By woodworking, I really mean timbering, hewing, joinery ,carpentry etc rather that working in the woods, or for want of a better expression, forestry.

Any of the THJC traditions above seem to use axes and hatchets as wood shaping tools.

I think that billhooks have been found in possibly Iron Age settings, certainly in Dark Age (post Roman) Britain right through to modern Britain, and billhooks are also found in France, maybe Spain and just about Scandinavia.

Billhook use seems to be more woodland management, so hedging and coppicing tools, or in Europe a vineyard tool, so a heavy pruning and coppicing tool again. They don't seem to be used in a THJC context.

Cheers