The basic wood working tool*

john k · October 31, 2012, 07:06:07 PM

Hi, Was getting ready to cut firewood, and laid out some of my choppers. The double bit Plumb is my go to axe, that always accompanies me to the timber, in case I get the chain saw wedged, it's a little over 4lbs. In the middle sporting last years duct tape, is a single bit I picked up at a thrift. On the left is a cute little (Utility Axe) by Ames. Never seen a composite axe before, and no it doesn't come apart, those are rivets. Look like it would be a handy camp axe. Found it at a flea market, at closing time, when I got a good armload for about five dollars. Another half dozen lurking in the barn, the shop, the shed, and possibly one more in the basement. Might put a handle in a forged axe head I found, its a little over six pounds, hefty for a single bit. You can tell by the look they get used. Anybody else accumulate axes?

rusty · October 31, 2012, 07:41:48 PM

I dunno if this is a dumb quezstion or not, but, what was the point of the double bit axe? Just to have another sharpened edge available?

clovis · October 31, 2012, 09:13:01 PM

I like your axes.

Isn't it great to have a 'go-to tool' that always is a trusty asset to have?

john k · October 31, 2012, 10:33:08 PM

I think it was to have two sharp edges when going out to cut timber. Have heard too that some people liked a little more wedge on one side, and would flip the axe for more aggresive chips. It fits me well, have cut through dead, dry oak, up to 13 inches thru, work, but this axe just does it. This is my grandfathers axe, believe he got it in the early 50s.

scottg · October 31, 2012, 11:58:40 PM

I never pass an ax without a second look. Any size any kind, I always look.

Premium handles are even harder to find than good ax heads though.
O.P. Link still makes 8 grades of ax handles. 8 grades of each pattern!!
But there aren't many dealers in the nation who bother to learn the difference and OP only sells old school wholesale.
househandle.com sells at least a coupe grades of most patterns.
yours Scott

Branson · November 01, 2012, 07:38:25 AM

>Anybody else accumulate axes?

That would be me. The oldest one I have is a Neolithic stone ax. The youngest is a reproduction of an early 18th Century Anglo-American ax. A bunch of others in between these two dates. Axes are hard for me to pass up. Ditto hatchets. Got broad axes, broad hatchets, an odd Italian hand forged ax head that I couldn't pass up (never used, never hafted, never fully sharpened). Got a Kent pattern head, a shipwright's ax with the original upswept handle, Kentucky bit axes (at least two), Pennsylvania pattern tiny hatchet, a small Spanish made hatchet head that apparently takes a handle that slips through the top like a trade ax, two of my grandfather's axes, a bearded hatchet that I forged... Probably have more that I just don't remember off hand. For years they just seemed to find their way to me.

Branson · November 01, 2012, 07:41:26 AM

Quote from: scottg on October 31, 2012, 11:58:40 PM
I never pass an ax without a second look. Any size any kind, I always look.

Premium handles are even harder to find than good ax heads though.
yours Scott

Yeah, can't pass them by. The ones I used at Sutter's Fort I had to make handles for. I used a pattern I found in a 19th Century book on carpentry.