How Sharp Do You Keep an Axe?

So? Do you keep an axe scary sharp like a knife or not, because there's too much force applied to the blade? I'm talking about an axe, not a splitting wedge.

Reply to
-MIKE-
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May sound strange, but for optimal performance I think you have to take into consideration how you are going to be using the axe (type of wood, for instance). The angle of the bevel will clearly determine the strength of its cutting edge. I won't offer any numbers as frankly I lack the experience to prescribe them. Sharp axes are known to be safer than dull ones!

Bill

Reply to
Bill

I don't take the time to Scary(tm) an axe, but I sharpen frequently on a 600grit diamond hone to DamnearScary(tmLJ). I'm taking out an apple tree in the side yard right now and the first couple licks on a 4" diameter root blew me away. It sounded like rifle shots as the axe hit that superhard wood. Amazing.

And after seeing a deep lateral almost the size of my waist, I have decided to dig around it and cut it off beneath the surface with a chainsaw instead of digging the roots out or stump grinding.

-- The United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world. -- Ayn Rand

Reply to
Larry Jaques

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

LJ:

I'll go with DNSS and up that to SS assuming mill wood or that you are talking any wood clear of rocks, nails or other hard, blunting inclusions that, say, a tree may have acquired over its growth. You want the axe to have the maximum penetration your selection of force allows and, lordy, under any circumstances, you don't want the thing to jump, deflect or skip. Blunt axes will do that. Should they then land outside of your target zone--or on parts of the axeman--a guy may have a real reason to hate long division. Sharp axes stick. But I sure wouldn't use them for peeling or without clearing the area an arc would take them to if you heman it through a limb that should have been tougher than that.

If you're felling, the difference between a powerful axe blow and one a tenth as powerful not only wastes time but it practically convinces you that 1x10 doesn't equal 10. With a 10 blow you shatter and crack. So, other things come into play in assessing what works best. Those things are the heaviness of the head and the length of the handle. Force being equal, a weightier head and a long handle rule.

A practical trick that also works well is to wrap a length of inner tube about

4" wide in two layers just below the head on the handle and use automotive band clamps to keep it there. This protects the handle from protuberances and the head from loosening. Wrap it much thicker and you might get that ill bounding we talked about and want to avoid. But, done as indicated and after sentences of practice, the only setback seen with this procedure is that the clamps will break or crack sooner or later in.

Lastly in the area, another jeopardy from extended hours with a heavy axe is "trigger finger". Your handle reverberates and causes a traumatic knot to occur in the finger tendons that cross the palm, especially on the topmost hand. Symptomatic is a finger starting to lock closed, then opening with a pop. Keep on keepin' on when the sign first appears and you win an operation which alleviates the difficulty without remedy of the damage. In other words, go and do something else for a month or so if the omen shows. Another alert from persistent use is "white finger" but I won't get into that here except to say if the digits go numb, quit and get reading.

Prevention for the cited maladies is to wrap a handle tightly in foam pipe insulation along with the wearing of some expensive gloves whose name can be fetched on demand. If the wrapping reduces your handle control, it isn't tight enough or it's too thick. This last paragraph works for sledges too. There's an odd lanyard technique for allowing the release of sledges before the acutal moment of impact but we'll save that one until we meet on the rockpile.

See how a simple question hooks up one thing with another?

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

Reply to
Edward Hennessey

Scary sharp is not required, but a good sharp ax is. If splitting wood lengthwise, the bevel angle should be relatively high. When cutting cross-grain, the bevel angle should be lower.

Buy an old ax or one with reasonable metal, so that it doesn't dull so easily. The handle should have coarse grain, not close/tight grain, to prevent/reduce vibration or splitting easily.

A sharp ax will leave a clean cut on a hard wood. Problems cutting those apple roots: your ax is either dull or the bevel angle is too high.

Sonny

Reply to
Sonny

Ayup. And I take a wide stance on roots since the trajectory of the axe head is between them if anything does wrong.

I'm about ready to spend some money on a new handle for this $3 garbage sale axe, but it hasn't finished itself off yet. Ditto the $5 gs pick mattock.

I'd never, ever wrap a handle with foam. The rake is the only implement which gets that treatment, and it's not critical to my wellbeing if it slips.

Besides, I only use the axe when there are a few laterals and I can't get the mud out of the way easily. I don't mind getting a few dings on the axe from the dirt. I wouldn't do that with a felling axe I used for real work, but I don't do that, anyway. I give the wood to neighbors willing to take their chainsaws to it and haul it off. ;)

Like me asking (with a giggle) "On what prison farm did you learn these tough life lessons, Ed?"

-- The United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world. -- Ayn Rand

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Sculpting axe, yes, if I want the hewing marks part of the finish. For a regular utility axe, file or coarse stone, the edge isn't going to be babied.

Reply to
Father Haskell

The special tape used for wrapping up tennis racquet handles is good. Sticks well, has some cushioning but also provides a good grip without requiring too much of a squeeze from the hand. This is a tip I learned from a blacksmith. My favourite hammer is treated this way and it works well.

Reply to
Stuart

Well.... I generally sharpen my axe, hatchet and machete "shaving sharp..." I want them to cut and stick, not whack and bounce. A dull one of any of them can be down right dangerous. As needed, I do a relief grind on a slow speed grinder or water grinder. The machete is finished with a buffing wheel and the others on Arkansas stones. My intent is to keep these tools out of the dirt. On that note though, I've encountered embedded dirt, rocks, barded wire, bullets, and other things in trees.

If I'm chopping roots I use a sharpened Cutter Mattock (e.g.,

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This is sharpened on the grinder only... it's cutting in dirt after all!

The right tool and a sharp tool make the job easier and safer!

John

BTW, I sharpen my shovels, post hole digger, and other gardening/digging tools on a grinder also... I don't personally know of anyone else that does that today but do recall back in the 1960s an elderly man whom had apprenticed as a blacksmith as a child in Poland who did so. He came to the US after WWII and had acres of hand turned, and maintained vegetable gardens. I recall watching him cutting fields with a scythe! He had a stone in his pocket to keep that sharp too.

Reply to
John Grossbohlin

Some of the new fiber-glass handles reduce both problems significantly.

I like the ones with molded rubber grips.

Reply to
clare

I like to do a little bit, but if a lot needs to be done, I hire it out and charge the client accordingly. Or pay the neighbor kid to do the dastardly deed for me.

-- The United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world. -- Ayn Rand

Reply to
Larry Jaques

A sawzall with a long coarse blade is the best way to cut roots... unlike a chainsaw it does not mind the occasional dirt.

Cheers, Shawn

Reply to
RimaNeas

Shawn, you make a bloody good point there. I have some 12" woodworking blades for my recip, too. I'll try that later today, iffen the rain stops long enough. The smaller recip will get into tighter areas, too. I like it!

-- The United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world. -- Ayn Rand

Reply to
Larry Jaques

"Larry Jaques" wrote

Those recip saws are handy.

Had a neighbor who had a bunch of junk to get rid of, but it would not fit into the garbage can. I brought my recip saw over there and cut everything up into small enough chunks to satisfy the garbage man. I have done the same thing myself. Roots, branches, old office chairs, etc. It is versatile. And when it bogs down, just change the blade. I did not have one for along time. But when I got it (on sale) I have been finding uses for it again and again. The only problem is when the stock is not secure. As long as the stock is secure, everything else works just fine.

Reply to
Lee Michaels

AAMOF, you can get pruning blades for a Sawsall which work great on roots. BTDT

Reply to
Robatoy

Besides a standard Milwaukee with a tail, I also have an 18 volt Milwaukee Sawsall. Talk about handy.

Reply to
Robatoy

On 4/14/2011 9:00 AM, Lee Michaels wrote: The only problem is when the stock

That reminds me of when I tried to cut hardboard with a scroll saw. It didn't work At All. At the time I was in disbelief. The problem was explained to me (in this forum).

Bill

Reply to
Bill

"demolition" blades are great - they'll even go through spikes or fence wire without damaging the blade, and they are aggressive enough to handle wet roots quite quickly.

Reply to
clare

My backyard has an apple and a pear tree, they both send up weird branches and need to be aggressively pruned every couple of years. The recip is the tool of choice with a demolition blade, did the same with a stump in the backyard when we bough the place, dug around it a bit with a shovel, then slice and dice time. Couldn't find the spot now if I tried.

Reply to
FrozenNorth

I tried that and on the roots I was cutting (young and succulent) the standard demo blade filled up very quickly rendering it practically useless after a few strokes. I can see a standard demo blade being just fine for something a bit more dense, dryer, and mature.

Reply to
Robatoy

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