Red_Beard
Member
Registered: 11/27/07
Posts: 379
Loc: IA
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I think my data was a touch off. I probably got most of it from Robin Wood where he says:
"It has 3 drawbacks, first it is expensive at around £80, second it needs someone with reasonable forearm strength to use it properly and they don't make a lighter version and third whilst Wille designed it to have a slightly longer bevel on the left side to help control carving and they used to come that way it now comes either completely flat on the left like a side axe or with an even bevel. Out of the two I would favour the even beveled one as the flat sided one tends to dig in a little and be more difficult to carve concave areas. (update 17/5/11, I have been talking with Joakim Nordkvist
Managing Director at Gransfors and it looks like we may get the grind returned to the original, watch this space)"
It is a really good article.
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God bless,
~ Red
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AHill
Honored Veteran
Registered: 01/16/06
Posts: 5144
Loc: Antelope Valley, California
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Well, actually, they sell it in right-handed, left-handed, and double bevel versions. That's why I asked. I did find one source that offered all three versions, but Lee Valley and Woodcraft don't state which version they sell. I'm assuming that unless otherwise stated, it's a single bevel on the right side (for right-handers).
JClark said:
The Gransfors Swedish carving axe is a single-bevel hewing style hatchet. I bought mine from Lee Valley.
Josh
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Still Learning,
Allan Hill
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Scott W
Member
Registered: 12/14/06
Posts: 1849
Loc: Mt. Pleasant, NC
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I realize this is a link to a GB, but not the super expensive one. I have this one and carved a spoon with it. Feels good and is a lot cheaper and lighter than the Swedish carving axe. My only complaint is I wish the handle was maybe 2 inches longer.
For some reason I can't get the LV link to work...$108, no derusting, no grinding or anything. Get it and go...
It is the small carving axe listed under the carving section. 
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"Life is too short for bad tools.".-- Pedder 7/22/11
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Bibliophile 13
Moderator
Registered: 09/08/06
Posts: 7070
Loc: South Alabama
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Oh, and FWIW, if you do manage to find a vintage hatchet in the wild, you can use the ruler trick on the flat side, just as you would on a plane iron.
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Steve S.
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Tradition cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour.
- T. S. Eliot
Tutorials and Build-Alongs at The Literary Workshop
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AHill
Honored Veteran
Registered: 01/16/06
Posts: 5144
Loc: Antelope Valley, California
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The Gransfors small carving axe LV sells is definitely a double bevel axe. I have a double bevel hatchet and I find it's not ideal to remove bark or for shaping. It keeps bouncing off the log if I'm trying to take shallow cuts. Hence my desire for a single bevel carving / hewing axe. I went ahead and ordered a Gransfors Carving Axe (the normal sized one).
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Still Learning,
Allan Hill
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TGW
Member
Registered: 11/28/06
Posts: 370
Loc: Finland
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As others have mentioned: Swedish carving hatchets traditionally had double bewels and then it was up to the preferences of the user whether he (or she) did grind two similar bewels or a wider and a narrower bewel.
Mine has similar bewels on both sides and I like it that way. Apparently the former owner also liked it that way.
I think that Wille Sundqvist (an aquintance of an aquintance) originally designed the Gränsfors carving hachets to be ground with double bewels as he is strictly traditional in his way of working. Apparently the maker has started making single bewel ones as well probably for markets abroad.
Over here we use double bewel axes for many kinds of general shaping. Even broad axes have double bewels in most parts of Sweden and in all of Finland. Single bewel broad axes and hatchets are almost unknown and the few specimen that can be found are almost always by American makers so those axes were rather exotic imports back in their days.
Shaping wood with a double bewel hatchet is only a matter of training and proper grinding. The bewels must be rather flat to support the edge.
Unforunately I am unable to upload photos of my double bewel axes and hatchets and thir use. I have a hard time finding a spam-free photo hosting site that I could use without gettiong my e-mail adress spread all over the planet for spammers to use.
Edited by TGW (07/20/12 02:48 AM)
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