Axe Recomendation
#39
(03-10-2018, 09:24 AM)AHill Wrote: I should clarify that I used the file to reshape the axe, which was double beveled, to more of a single bevel, since I use it as a carving axe.  Hence the file.  I did note that I followed up the file with a stone.  I gave the wrong impression that one should use a file every time you sharpen.  I would not recommend using a file for every axe honing.  Just to clean up damaged edges.  I appreciate that you and Admiral wouldn't ever let a file touch your axes, but it is a recommended method (both by Gransfors Bruk and other axe users) to clean up damaged edges or reshape an axe.  I would say just be careful not to remove too much steel.  I don't have a handy belt sander to reshape edges, so I used a mill file.

.......
Alan, it isn't that I wouldn't use a file, it's just that a file just "skates" on mine. The steel is as hard as the file or maybe a little harder...If they ever need sharpening {which is very seldom any more at my age
Crazy } I use a "slack belt" grinder in different grit sizes to put a convex edge on them, followed by polishing with a leather belt on the machine. I have dozens of different stones but in the end, power sharpening is the ultimate for me.
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#40
(01-17-2018, 12:42 PM)Scoony Wrote: I am going on a Elk hunt this fall in a wilderness area in Colorado. We will be getting packed in on horses and living in a wall tent for a week. Outfitter's recommended gear list included an axe and splitting maul. I already have a splitting maul, but I do not have any full size axes.   I do have and use small hatchets around the house, but a full size axe will really only get used maybe once a year on these hunting trips.

Without going over $100, what would you guys recommend? I would like a nice axe, but I don't need a top of the line axe. If anything, I would spend the $ on a hatchet and go a little cheaper on a full size axe. I have been looking online at the Huskavarna forest axe, but it gets mixed reviews.  

Just don't want to get a piece of junk that will bounce off wood while I am out there.

Being a smarty pants here.  How about a sharp axe?

Also me being from the Mountains of Colorado I would think it would be much easier to use a bow saw and a hatched instead.  I have camped hundreds of times while hunting and never needed more then that.
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#41
I just want to add a few things:

Hults Bruk made great axes for a long time but in the last years their quality is said to have gone downhill.
Gränsfors and Weterlings (nowadays uinder the same ownership) have always made good quality axes. I have visited Gränsfors bruk and seen them forge their axes in huge excenter presses from square stock to finished axe on one heat manually moving the axe head from one die to another along the lenght of the press. That forging improves the quality of the steel.

However theese high end swedish axes are tempered differently so the steel is harder than it is on most American axes. Hence they cannot be sharpened with a file the American way. Soft American axes would need resharpening many times a day when felling and limbing Scandinavian spruce in winter. They don't stay sharp enough for carpentry and up here axes were traditionally as much carpenter's tools as logging tools.
If you ever find a used American axe up here it is sometimes worn out so little more than the eye is left from resharpening several times a day....... or more commonly unused and discarded because it didn't hold an edge by our standards.
However I can see that soft American axes had a bit of an adwantage when exploring and hunting in remote wilderness because you didn't have to bring a big hand cranked grindstone with you. Logging camps in this part of the world often had a big hand cranked sandstone wheel for grinding or else every logger had several axes which he ground at home while going home for the weekend. American loggers did it on the spot with a file they could carry in their pocket.

Personally I could never imagine going on a hunting trip like that without a full size axe. However I grew up using axes and I have worked as a log house carpenter so I have learned to use an axe with reasonable speed and accuracy.
However I would not recommend anyone to go into the wilderness without first learning to use an axe properly. Rescue missions are usually neither cheap for society nor painless for the victim. The best way of learning it is to actually use your axe.
Part timer living on the western coast of Finland. Not a native speaker of English
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#42
(03-13-2018, 09:37 AM)TGW Wrote: I just want to add a few things:

Hults Bruk made great axes for a long time but in the last years their quality is said to have gone downhill.
Gränsfors and Weterlings (nowadays uinder the same ownership) have always made good quality axes. I have visited Gränsfors bruk and seen them forge their axes in huge excenter presses from square stock to finished axe on one heat manually moving the axe head from one die to another along the lenght of the press. That forging improves the quality of the steel.

However theese high end swedish axes are tempered differently so the steel is harder than it is on most American axes. Hence they cannot be sharpened with a file the American way. Soft American axes would need resharpening many times a day when felling and limbing Scandinavian spruce in winter. They don't stay sharp enough for carpentry and up here axes were traditionally as much carpenter's tools as logging tools.
If you ever find a used American axe up here it is sometimes worn out so little more than the eye is left from resharpening several times a day....... or more commonly unused and discarded because it didn't hold an edge by our standards.
However I can see that soft American axes had a bit of an adwantage when exploring and hunting in remote wilderness because you didn't have to bring a big hand cranked grindstone with you. Logging camps in this part of the world often had a big hand cranked sandstone wheel for grinding or else every logger had several axes which he ground at home while going home for the weekend. American loggers did it on the spot with a file they could carry in their pocket.

Personally I could never imagine going on a hunting trip like that without a full size axe. However I grew up using axes and I have worked as a log house carpenter so I have learned to use an axe with reasonable speed and accuracy.
However I would not recommend anyone to go into the wilderness without first learning to use an axe properly. Rescue missions are usually neither cheap for society nor painless for the victim. The best way of learning it is to actually use your axe.

That's interesting information for sure.  GB axes typically are tempered to Rockwell C 57, which is soft enough to be manipulated with a file.  Their steel is proprietary Swedish steel, somewhat equivalent to AISI 1055 (0.55% carbon).  That's a lot lower carbon content than US made axes, which tend to use steel at 0.72% carbon or higher.  I would think that Swedish axes would be tempered to a lower hardness compared to US axes, because if used in extreme cold, a very hard axe edge would have a tendency to chip.  But I'm not a forestry expert and I don't chop down trees with axes either.
Still Learning,

Allan Hill
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#43
I've built a lot of things over the years besides a fire whilst in the bush. Fences, shelters, windbreaks, crude washstands and once helped build a small dock. I've used a bunch of different axes and within my collection are a few I really like. For a wilderness trip I carry an Estwing hatchet in my daypack, a 28" 3 lb foresters style axe I got at a garage sale and a 24" tube frame bow saw from a hardware/camping supply store. The blade guard on the saw is a length of plastic tube with a slit and a couple 550 cord ties. A saw can be much more useful than an axe at times.
Blackhat

Bad experiences come from poor decisions. So do good stories. 


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#44
I have the Fiskars ax the next size up (28 inches) https://bestoutdooritems.com/best-felling-axe/ That was great. Very sharp and remains sharp. I probably split about 3 cords with it, primarily from red oak. He just blows around. So much better than the poop hammer and wedge that I used as a kid.
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#45
(03-14-2018, 07:48 AM)AHill Wrote: That's interesting information for sure.  GB axes typically are tempered to Rockwell C 57, which is soft enough to be manipulated with a file.  Their steel is proprietary Swedish steel, somewhat equivalent to AISI 1055 (0.55% carbon).  That's a lot lower carbon content than US made axes, which tend to use steel at 0.72% carbon or higher.  I would think that Swedish axes would be tempered to a lower hardness compared to US axes, because if used in extreme cold, a very hard axe edge would have a tendency to chip.  But I'm not a forestry expert and I don't chop down trees with axes either.

I'd say TGW is FOS
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#46
(04-03-2018, 11:35 PM)jasfrank Wrote: I'd say TGW is FOS
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
To file....or not to file....THAT is the question...
Crazy Glad we have it nailed down now.......
Crazy
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Often Tested.    Always Faithful.      Brothers Forever

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