Here's some of my work with the Breitbeil.



We've been working hard at hewing our pine logs, and have fiddled around a lot with our methods. Currently, here's how I do:

Notch with the German Bundaxt, then use same to split of the juggles, being as accurate as I can at this step and trimming the face down to about 1/4 from the line.

Then, I just go right at it with the Breitbeil (goosewing)
I find it is much faster to forgoe the Plankaxt (the llong handled broad axe) altogether when going for a very clean finish like we are doing here.

However, if we were hewing smaller faces (today we hewed 2 12 1/2 inch faces) then I would make much more use of the Plankaxt.

The notching technique is interesting. Would be easier to make accurate notches but seems to take longer.

Interesting technique with the Breitbeil maybe he is left handed and could not get the hang of using it as it was meant?

Where did the name Goosewing come from? I had thought that it came from a medieval style that resembled a birds wing and the name persisted as the axe head shape changed over time. However, I also thought that this style of axe is from the German, Austrian, Hungarian and surrounding countries. If that is the case why are they called Breitbeil, Breitaxt or Breithacke or in other words Broadaxes?

When Americans talk about pine they describe it as southern pine, western pine, northern pine, yellow pine, white pine etc.

Species names don't seem to be mentioned at all. Can anyone tell me what group/name Monterey Pine or Pinus radiata fits into. Ocaisionally I can get scots (baltic, red, riga) pine, Pinus sylvestris, but generally they are too large for hewing and I would get better value from milling them.

Someone else would have to clarify better, as pine isn't what I know the best. But as far as my experience goes, in the eastern half of the US our pine tends to be divided into 2 categories, white and yellow. Our white is generally Eastern White Pine, or Pinus strobus, the yellow pines include a mixture of pines, such as Longleaf Pine or Pinus palustris, shortleaf pine or Pinus echinata, slash pine or Pinus elliottii, and Loblolly Pine or Pinus taeda.

That said, there are a LOT more varieties of pine to be had, and that's why they are so often classed into broader categories -it's too confusing for that average person to keep track of.

As for the Goosewing,
The classic goosewing axe has a shape somewhat reminiscent of a gosse's wing, hence the English name. You may have to use a little imagination, but I suspect the Americans found it easier to say goosewing than Breitbeil.

I use a left-handed axe. The term really does not have anything to do with which hand you use, but rather to which side of the log you stand.

The notching technique is in fact faster, keep in mind these two are hewing a very large oak log here, with very big notches, and which from the sound of their axes I's guess to be extremely hard.

The disadvantage of this system is that you need 2 people to do it! Also to work the best, the log has to be pretty high up -dictating that about all of the work is done standing beside, rather than on top.

Oh thats funny. I watched that video and I thought gees that wood must be soft. Here is Australia we have some of the hardest woods in the world. Just down the road from me (30mins) are Yellow Box (Eucalyptus melliodora), Red Box (E. polyanthemos) Red Iron bark (E. sideroxylon) among others that have a air dried density of between 1100kg/m3(Yellow Box) to 1250kg/m3 (Grey Box/Red Iron bark). The exotic pine and cypress I can get is around 500kg/m3. Natives that I can get occasionally locally are messmate, E. obliqua (white oak equivilent?) 750kg/m3, Manna Gum, E. viminalis 650-700kg/m3 (red oak equivilent) and Blackwood and Lightwood, Acacia melanoxylon and A. implexa which my book says are around 650kg/m3 but I'm sure the stuff we have locally is much heavier/harder.

The notching did look quick but there were two of them. Is this method more than twice as fast as one person working from the top of the log?

P. radiata is the most commonly cultivated tree in the world but in its native range it is endangered.

The classic medieval (15th, 16th century) goosewing does actually look like a wing but most of the american colonial exmaples have so far changed that you really have to squint to see the resemblance if at all.

Funny how things work out. I've just read in "The woodrights companion" by Roy Underhill that the term Goosewing axe was first coined by Henry Mercer is his book "Ancient Carpenters tools" published in 1929. Apparently another name for these axes was die Barte or bearded axe.

Hello,


When I lived out there in Albany, and had to stoke the water heater every morning I use to collect a car load of roots because cutting and splitting that hard wood was to much work and I didn't have tools to do it anyway.
Man, what are you doing timber framing in Australia? The termites are going to eat it all up.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff

Rob Hadden is building successfully down under. I don't recall him mentioning termite problems. Is this a serious issue?

Termites in my area are not too bad and one of the reasons that I'm keen to use the monterey cypress is that the termites leave it alone even if its damp. Many other woods are ok as long as you keep them dry.

You are likely to have more problems with council planning and building approval than with termites.

I picked up a Blackwood/Lightwood (almost impossible to tell the difference and they form hybrids to make it even more difficult) the other day.

I got three logs about 6' long from 12" to 10" in diameter.

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd481/Weaverofduart/2012-05-16161722.jpg

I split each log in half and took a 3" inch slab off each half of the 12" log while they were in place. They were still far too heavy to get out by myself. After moving them across a creek I gave up my solo effort after falling backwards into a patch of stinging nettles. The next day I got a friend to help me get them up the bank of the creek and onto the ute to get them home.

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd481/Weaverofduart/2012-05-16161722.jpg

The dunnage that they are resting on was from another smaller tree (about 7") that fell over at the same time. Blackwood is a beautiful wood with some incredible colour and figure. Blackwood can come with a lot of fiddle back but fortunately this tree had pretty straight grain.

After reading about hickory handles being made from the sap wood rather than the heart I think some of these logs will get cut and split into handle blanks. The rest will be a shaving horse and chairs.