looking for Hand hewing tools

Hi,

I'm looking for a supplier, new or used, in the next months for a good right handed broad axe, and possibly a limbing and felling axe.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks a lot,
Zach

if you are knowledgable in these tools, know what your looking for and know what questions to ask, you can find great deals on such at EBAY. Wait until after X-mas though; prices are artifically high right now.

Shaun

If you want new axes, I recommend Gransfors Bruks from Sweden. I have their right handed broad axe and I love it. They aren't cheap, but they are lovely tools.

I have bought several axes on ebay, and agree with Shaun that it is a good source. Be prepared to make a handle and it certainly helps to know what size and shape axe you are looking for.

In my opinion, you can use pretty much any felling axe provided it is thick enough right behind the bit to pop the chips off instead of sticking. For scoring, it also helps to have a long handle.

As valuable a source as eBay is, I personally would not buy an antique broad ax which I intended to use, sight unseen. It is far too personal a choice and too many things can be wrong with one, often requiring a huge investment in time to return it to a useable state.

Gransfors axes are amazingly well crafted and well worth the coin, and the way I would lean if I found myself in a part of the world with few antique shops – And I say this as a long time hewer who does not yet own one.

Felling axes are all important. Perhaps 85% of your swing time is done with them. You want both a three and a five. I’m partial to Jersey patterns, the little beard saves handle wear. Most currently being manufactured are far too soft to hold the kind of edge you need to maintain. Woodings Verona is an exception to that rule or older bits the eBay way, Kelley being just one name to look for.

Be your best

You need advice from Richard Casselman (aka Northern Hewer):

i don't see a broadaxe on the gransfors website that i would use to hew with....just the double bevel style axe.
Does gransfors make a single bevel broadaxe? and do they make a goosewing broadaxe?
I have an antique austrian goose wing which i've hewn many timbers with, and i've always dreamed of finding a left-handed version. Working on both sides is easier on the muscles, after all.

ooops!
I missed the fine print.
gransfors does carry both right and left handed single bevel broadaxes:
http://www.gransfors.com/htm_eng/index.html
-mark.

Mark –

Now this is a side topic often discussed and one in which I find myself in a distinct minority, this of which side is which. I am lefty, and obviously would have strong feelings as to what side of my body I prefer to hew on and it isn’t what some folks insist it should be…
That aside

Pardon the little puns there.

I own a goose wing also, that I use on and which is hung on the side opposite of my primary axes, both for body mechanics – equalizing the wear and tear on myself and simply because as always, wood grain needs to be approached directionally and having an ax hung the opposite way, whether it has an offset poll or is simply a symmetrical bit hung that way, is I believe, a needed part of a hewers kit.

Interestingly historical goosewings are found in almost equal proportions, not in the percentages of the population that are right verses left handed.

The Gransfors-Bruks broadaxes can be purchased online at Highland Hardware:

http://www.tools-for-woodworking.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1113

It's one of the better online woodworking supply houses.

I've bought two on ebay. One works very well and the other turned out to be a mast axe, one that that has a rounded back for hewing round shipmasts, or so I've been told.

I would add that working on "both sides" with broadaxes or the adze or reversing hands while chiselling or, especially, shooting your round of arrows from both sides, not only eases the muscles but improves the technique(and, as Will writes, gives an advantage over the grain of the timber).
Using the opposing grip most often feels awkward, but I suggest trying it (maybe not on that 1000 dollar timber, though), see if you don't feel stronger coming back to your natural side.....

As far as left-handed goosewings go, I have finally discovered ebay, but still have not seen a left-handed goosewing, though i bought a right-handed one the other day almost as a joke, the price seemed very low, perhaps the steel will be bad?

I have a Gransfors broadaxe and love it to death. But I found that it is a bit lightweight for the butt end of logs. I bought a 12" axehead off of ebay and resized it to about 8 - 9". I have yet to make a handle for it. As for buying an axe head off of ebay, the only thing I would warn you about are cracks in the steel and pitting. I was fortunate to get a very nice head for a reasonable price, but alot of them are heavily pitted which would be of no value.

Hi Zack:

What a variety of suggestions I am sure all are in good faith. As I read the responses I personally would steer away from buying through Ebay for such an item. I can honestly say that I have no experience with the european axes although I have heard that some of them are excellent. My preference is a good North American style antique head with about a 10" cutting face. The bevel should be one sided, with a good quantity of tool steel showing on the inset. It is very important that you try the edge before purchasing one with a file to test its hardness, it should not bite in at all but slide across the surface.Examine the cutting edge closely for imperfections, and where it may have had pieces shattered by knots, and also cracks along the forging joint(s) Holding the head loosely and taping it with a metal object should make it ring, this means that it has good metallurgical characteristics. The cutting bit or edge should not be too flat if it is it will not work well it should have about
1\2" curvature, and if you lay a straight edge along the flatside opposite the bevel it should be slightly full at the centre, this is proper for the axe to take wood as you hew. Take it from me make and get used to your own handle,handles are something that reflect your character and stature, if you need help in that regard I can send you some information on a vhs tape that showns one being manufactured by hand and then installed in the head, in your case it would need to be right handed. Make sure that you in fact need a right handed broadaxe, I have spoke to many that wrote and did many other things right handed but when it came to handling and using an axe to their amazement they were in fact left or at least needed a left handl(ed) broadaxe. Best of luck NH

Hello and thanks so much for all the responses. This is a great forum.

Unfortunately I relied on my email to notify me of responses to my query, and receiving none, assumed no cared about hewing or my question. Never trust technology!

Well, armed with none of this great info I bought a Simmonds 13" off ebay and it's in the mail. I know Simmonds from my days using a crosscut, and they don't come any finer was my experience.

13" seems huge, and may have been a mistake, but I'll be hewing Sitka spruce and yellow cedar, so I figured a bigger edge was warrented.
Time will tell, and I'll let you folks know how it goes.

I don't have a felling axe yet (or two, the 3 and 5 pounders) and will likely be forced to try ebay again since Sitka (my home) is just a small town in SE Alaska and I don't have access to anywhere else.

If anyone has suggestions of a reputable dealer or would part with a felling axe for some good money, please let me know.

Thanks again for all the info.

The old battlecry on my wilderness trailcrew was Vive La Handtools! and I'm happy to be connected with some folks who feel the same.

Zach

Iltis and Biber, both european makers, The Iltis Oxhead is great for limbing and scoring on a sawn surface.
And if you can swing that broadaxe, I definitely bow in your general direction....

Gransfors also makes an american pattern felling axe,a friend of mine in KY.has one and loves it.I have one of their Scandinavian forrest axes and a Broad axe,I am very happy with both.I had the opportunity too try both right and left hand Broad axes.Being right handed,I was supprised that I felt much more comfortable with the left handed axe.
Save some $$$, order directly from GB.(843)875-0240 www.gransfors.com

I have had excellent luck purchasing through antique shops. It helps when you understand what you are looking for, with that in mind, other than concerns of the tools hardness, buying through ebay might not be such a bad option.

As you've already purchased an axe , maybe you will have good luck, none the less, I'll relate what I look for in an axe.

I generally practice a style of hewing that results in a very smooth finish, one which leaves little or no scoring. For this I look for three primary curves in my broadaxe.

The first is across the Bit
The second is acroos the back
and the third is from Bit to Eye.

In a broaxe such as this, no matter how great the face, contact is very limited, except when taking off large amounts of material. The finish these axes produce has often been mistaken for adze work, long, narrow, yet shallow "Trenches" down the face of the stick.

For finishes where scoring is left highly visible, a flatter axe can be quick, and very effective. Where it would tend to require slicing off long, thin strips in the afore mentioned style, in a style, such as this, where the scoring is left for all to see, the flatness of the back is actually an assest, as opposed to a liability.

A great many axes are capable of being hung for both left, and righties, for people other than Will that is, who cannot seem to make up his mind as to which he is! (Definately a cross-hander).

I've always used a 12" + face, and, as I say, due to the curvature of the blade, little of that is in contact at any one time, mainly it has provided weight, and the option of using the tip, the center, or the heel, depending on what the grain is doing, either at the top, or bottom edge (or around knots).

Don't be afraid to vary your strokes, AND, you should be striving for Zero Blowout of the lower edge. Zero. And a slightly concave face (something which almost ALL hewn timbers have in common).

For a felling axe I have generally liked a fairly decent weight (no less than 4 pounds), with a sharply widening bit, and a nice, curved face. The curves of most felling axes are very similar, and often do not vary enough to cause notice. Weight has tended to drop well below 4 pounds, these days, as well as very narrow profiles.

I have hewn with people who, for years, have used new axes almost without exception. Other than when doing two man hewing , the fact that this type of axe tends to stick in the log more than the older, wider pattern, is not generally an issue. when it is, sparks do fly , very entertaining.

Wow, thanks for the good advice.

My axe is pretty flat, and I am resisting the urge to use it until I make a handle. Northern Hewer is sending me a video on handlemaking and perhaps a few other related topics. My axe came with a handle, far too loose and long to use: 36".

I did pick up a nice 5lb felling axe that also needs a handle and good sharpening.

I'll probably be a month or so before the chips fly, or fall. I still need to order some wood for a handle--this is softwood country.

Thanks again.

Zach

I'll post an update then.