Interesting axes?

[405]

Anyone have any favorite axe types???

When out dong whatever, like hunting, the only other type of cutting tool I've ever carried has been either a small hatchet or break-down Wyoming saw. If in a vehicle sometimes I've carried some form of axe. But did come across something different a few weeks ago.

Since the focus is usually on knives thought I'd throw in something new to me. Recently I had the opportunity to see an unusual axe in action in rural Africa. These axes are likely a regional thing and all are forged in some of the villages. The metal is salvaged from broken vehicle leaf springs and the handles are a specific type of secondary limb growth from mopane trees that have been knocked over by elephants. The blade is long and narrow and the pointed end is simply held by wedging friction in a hole in the large end of the handle. Mopane wood is extremely dense and fibrous. It is one of the most common hardwoods in this area of Southcentral Africa. Other common hardwoods include ebony, leadwood, mahogany and some others I'm not familiar with. The leading edge of this blade is only about 3 1/8" long. My theory about its effectiveness is the relatively large amount of energy focused behind and on the relatively small cutting edge.... especially for cross cutting tough, dense hardwoods. Watching these axes and the tough fellows swinging them..... felling and limbing these hardwoods was truly impressive! BTW, I never saw a chainsaw or any other form of power equipment being used by the locals and foot or bicycle are the primary modes of transport. The only engine I heard running was a long stroke single cylinder small popper that ran the village corn mill once or twice a week.

[nicholst55]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing. I'm always interested to see how the 'other' fellow does things.

[tomme boy]

I really like the small Gerber hand axe. I use it all the time. It is very sharp and during hunting season, that is all I carry. Makes short work out of field dressing a deer.

[LIMPINGJ]

Did you get to bring one back?

[405]

Makes short work out of field dressing a deer.

Absolutely. I can testify that these axes make short order of dis-assembling hippos and buffs. I also saw these folks carrying and using, for smaller projects, an identical version about half the size.

LIMPINGJ- Yes the close-ups are the one I have. Traded for it. :)

While most conventional axes use a ringed head for hafting these simply use a hole. The pointed end is heated then pushed thru the wood head (series of steps)... making for a perfect fit. This narrow form really reminds me of the narrow "hawk" heads used historically by North American Indians. I'm going to try it on some of the nuisance oak around here just to see if I can make it work.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I like a good machete , they just have so many uses and cut so fast thru the small stuff that accounts for most of what i cut when the chain saw isn't around , i have cut a 8 inch pine that fell across the road one year while on the way out hunting , normally we would have had the chain saw in the truck but we had a few extra guys riding up under the topper so it got taken out

but it it's an axe the i like a 30 inch Michigan with a 4 1/2 inch cut , i like to get some swing

i have a swede carpenters hatchet that i like it has a 14 or so inch long handle for really swinging but the head is made so you can choke right up on it for fin detail it is grunsford brunks or somthing like that i don't recall exactly

[hotwheelz]

Well not really an axe but I have had 4-5 of these buck 106 hatchetts since i was a kid got my first 1 along with a buck 110 when i was 7 the first year i got togo hunting and I dont go into the woods with out either of them ever since..

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/7707/buck106b.jpg
By hotwheelzzz (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/hotwheelzzz) at 2011-08-20
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/8193/buck106a.jpg
By hotwheelzzz (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/hotwheelzzz) at 2011-08-20

[HotGuns]

I've made a few dozen over they years, every style imaginable. Some were meant to cut, some were meant to fight and throw and some were meant to look pretty.

One of my favorites is this one that I use to clean deer and bear and it is very efficient for that. It throws well to.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b130/HotGuns/Homemade%20tools/Tomahawk002.jpg

In this picture, it still has hair and blood from the last deer that it cleaned.

[Wayne Smith]

Snow and Neally, Bangor, Me. Been making them for over 100 years.

[MBTcustom]

I agree with greencountypete, I like my 30" machete for just about everything. But my favorite hatchet is an estwing E45A.

[cajun shooter]

I know I am dating myself but I have carried many of these axes over the years. Many of them were liberated by fellow hunters to put it in a nice way. The ax is the MARBLE'S SAFETY AX.

[Old Goat Keeper]

.....I have a swede carpenters hatchet that i like it has a 14 or so inch long handle for really swinging but the head is made so you can choke right up on it for fin detail it is grunsford brunks or somthing like that i don't recall exactly

The name of this company is Grandfors Bruck and I'd kill for one of thier axes! I saw a guy demonstrate the factory edge on one once. He had a customer pick out an unopened box from a shelf and he used it to shave! BTW, each smith signs the axes he makes!

T-o-m

[nicholst55]

The name of this company is Grandfors Bruck and I'd kill for one of thier axes! I saw a guy demonstrate the factory edge on one once. He had a customer pick out an unopened box from a shelf and he used it to shave! BTW, each smith signs the axes he makes!

T-o-m

Grandfors Bruck US (http://www.gransfors.us/index.html)

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

An interesting note: if you look at the two men in the picture, you will notice that both are wearing coveralls. I have hunted Zim and RSA and this is standard dress for safari crews.

120 degrees, and they have two or three layers of clothing.

Rich

[405]

An interesting note: if you look at the two men in the picture, you will notice that both are wearing coveralls. I have hunted Zim and RSA and this is standard dress for safari crews.

120 degrees, and they have two or three layers of clothing.

Rich

Good eye! ;-) Only one who has been there can fully appreciate rural Africa. This is in NE Zambia. Another note: everyone of these guys swung with a cross-handed (left-handed) grip. I probably watched at least 15, all swinging cross-handed.

[scrapcan]

somewhere here on the forum is another thread about axes. I have yet to find it but there were some links to documents on axes.

Maybe someone can help me out.

[405]

Hmmm, I looked a little in the search engine and mostly found "axe(s)" in threads about how to cut up big hunks of lead but nothing specifically about axe reference documentation. Are you talking something like 20th century North American collectible axe reference material? I know there are a few antique/collectible reference books out there primarily devoted to knives but would have other cutting tools like axes included. Most all the reference books I have deal with historic arms and armor from different parts of the world. The North American edged weapon and tool references I have deal mostly with pre-1840 stuff.

[jbunny]

here is the machete i just made from .090 stainless of the belt from the MDF plant.
(mediam density fiberboard) this is magnetic stainless and is it ever tough and is heat treated and is like spring steel. it,s 3 inch wide blade, weighs 2 lbs and realy hols a good edge.it cuts up to 1 1/2 alder in one swing. the long 2 handed handle is for sawing.
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q273/MOUICH/grizzlyadams.jpg


[QUOTE=GREENCOUNTYPETE;1363835]I like a good machete , they just have so many uses and cut so fast thru the small stuff that accounts for most of what i cut when the chain saw isn't around , i have cut a 8 inch pine that fell across the road one .

[tacklebury]

I like a camper axe, which I carry lashed to the outside of my pack. I alway have a shingle axe also, because it seconds as a hammer, and has a nail notch in it for pulling nails. I can also use it in combo with the bigger camp axe. I also throw both, so through the years I got reasonably good sticking them at 15 yards max or thereabouts.

http://www.forestry-suppliers.com/product_pages/View_Catalog_Page.asp?mi=6696&title=Council+Camp+Axe

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Hammer-Hatchet-Axe-Nail-Puller-ROOFING-SHINGLE-TOOL-/120762697485

I have also have another style shingle axe that doesn't have the crowbar tip, but only a point on the end. It is nicer for throwing, but couldn't find a picture of it the same. ;)

[Geraldo]

My Estwing hatchet has been hard at work for years.

Not outdoorsman stuff, but I used to use these on a daily basis:

[scrapcan]

405,

the thread was a similar thread as this one but was more of request for what kind of ax should one get. For the life of me I cannot find it. I know Redneckdan posted on it, I was hoping he would be able to help out.

The online ax book is a forest service publication and talks about how to use, maintain, and pick an ax.

there is also a great book by Whipple, THE AX Book. it may be available at your library or it is available for purchase. Bruks also has a small book for the axe that you can get.

I will continue to look.

[Rangefinder]

This one always gets interesting looks when I bring it out... ;) Made it quite a few years ago.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l259/hillsjim/WarAxe001.jpg

[405]

RF
That is an interesting axe! Looks very similar to many variations seen in 17th-18th century Indo-Persian battle axes. Also, nearly identical to one of the prop forms used in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy as carried by some in the Rohirrim cavalry IIRC.

Attached is a pic of an early 18th century Indo-Persian battle axe with a "zirah bouk" or mail/armor piercing spike. (handle not original to piece)

[Rangefinder]

405>> I've always liked the Nordic style (heritage and all) so I styled it after a Viking Bearded axe with a little extra size and a heavy counter-balance pommel. It has a POWERFUL impact at full stroke and is very maneuverable choked up under the beard. VERY nice Indo-Persian axe, too! I've been an edged weapons collector and practitioner for MANY years--axes are my favorite weapons for armored combat.

[405]

RF,
Interesting you mention the Nordic connection to your axe. I believe much of the culture of Rohan (land of the Rohirrim) in Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien book) is derived from historic Nordic culture. In the movie much if not most of the prop arms, armor and armament designs have some connection to actual historic forms from various cultures around the world.

Also, you're right about utility in hand to hand combat. A well balanced, short axe and/or mace would be very formidable! I'm not a creative anachronist but can easily see how well they would work. The handle on your axe looks very correct to many original examples I've seen. Even the Indo-Persian I posted likely originally had either a tubular metal handle or wood handle with the sheet metal reinforcements similar to yours.

[Twinkiethekid]

Shoot I had to use my machete last weekend on some oak trees worked good got my arm pretty sore.

[Fishman]

I picked up a marbles #6 safety ax with my son at the Fort Worth gun show last weekend. He's 9 and a 9 year old boy needs a good ax. It was an older one made in the US but as new. He couldn't be more proud.

My first ax as a boy was a Norland. Still have it.

[waksupi]

I keep an old Hudson's Bay felling axe in my vehicle. I found the head in a junk store up in British Columbia, for a couple bucks. Rehung it when I got home, and it is a great axe. Razor sharp, and it can clear a tree off a road in no time.

[beemer]

I usually use an Estwing my Dad gave me back in the 60's. A little Norlund turned up at a flea market in a box of junk, I picked it up for almost nothing. I am not really into hatchets other than utility use but the Norlund looked to be well made so it came home.

Several years ago I bought a small axe head at a flea market for about $5. It laid around my shop for a good while till I decided to clean it up. The mark on the head is S A W with each letter in a circle with Made in Sweden and drop forged below the mark. I did some digging around and found that it is a Wetterlings, the things cost more than some guns I own.

Dave

[x101airborne]

My favorite reference on all things ancient and sharp is a book called "Firearms, Traps, and Tools of the Mountain Men" by Carl P. Russell. Covers most knives, axes, hatchetts, etc. of the fur trappers and explorers of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. An extremely interesting read for under 10.00.