hello everyone tonight

Well just hunkering down tonight, very cold here in Ontario

Was in the bush today getting out next years wood supply, cut some nice white ash logs also-- will square 10 by 10 at 25 feet, thank the lord for 4 wheel drives, and hydraulic loaders, tried to tell a couple of the young lads how things went 100 years ago in the bush--no chain saws, no hydraulic loaders, just axes, crosscut saws, horse drawn sloop sleighs

they began to ask me questions like how did you load the logs, I told them you used your brawn, and when that didn't work you rolled them up at a loading site, prepared at a location usually in a clearing or just outside the bush line, actually it worked quite well and went fast, the sleigh's bunks, being close to the ground facilitated the loading dramatically, just the high logs needed help--here you again used your brain--large logs on the bottom small top wood on the top--you would be surprised what two men could load with just cant hooks and a couple of 12 foot skidding poles!--could average 4 to 5 cords a day depending on the conditions--the colder the day the harder you worked to keep warm

Father would upon reaching the bush, and the cutting area would immediately strip down to his shirt and then grab the axe start felling trees, chopping in from one side, carefully eyeing the landing site for the tree so it wouldn't be lodged, and then a few blows from the opposite side and down she came, usually right on target. the larger trees say over 12 inches needed the crosscut saw's help on the opposite side from the guiding chopped v on the opposite side, now this crosscut saw cut was always just a little above the guiding "v" say 2 inches, I have fond memories of helping him with the sawing, the rakers on the cross cut saw fetching out long strings of wood meaning things were working pretty good

for those that do not know what rakers are well they were placed between sets of cutter teeth, and these rakers would be about a thin dime above the points of the cutting teeth, and filed straight across on their points, and as they passed along the cut would rollup strings of cut wood

enjoy

NH

When my great-grandfather built this house, all of the wood was taken from on the hill out back by horses in the winter. It was taken next door to the neighbor's sawmill. That was in the late teens. Last year, I bought timber from the neighbor, and dragged it through the same woods with a Timberjack to my mill. I think it would be fun to try a little hand logging, but only a little.

No possibility of logging around here but once that's done plenty of transport still needed. Here I am rolling logs of 6 meter sweet chestnut around back to my squaring-up station, with some help this time. http://vimeo.com/109727652
I load using that old jack, cant-hook and picaroons.

hello everyone tonight

another cold one here, but then that is January here in Ontario

to continue-----

As I was talking and explaining some of the bush/logging stories to the young lads they seemed to become interested in sleighing in general

one line of interest seemed to be what a couple of horses could draw, well I explained that you first would break the hauling trail and let it freeze, then with well shod horses--this really threw them--here I explained that the horses not only needed to have steel horse shoes nailed to the bottoms of their feet, but they needed corks or sharp points attached to the steel shoes so that they would not slip on icy patches--anyway everything being equal after the loads were rounded up the horses anxious to be off would slightly jump forward using their full body-weight to break the sleigh loose and start it to move forward

they knew that they needed to exert their full force to keep the momentum going, the corks on their shoes would rip out pieces of ice, bark , sod, grass under the snow--if you were on top of the load you hung on for dear life as the sleighs lurched over humps, fell into swails, maybe through the crusty ice covered swail holes, at times nearly rolling over, at least feeling that way--I must say it took a lot to roll a sleigh because of its low center of gravity

once out of the bush the land would be smooth and the team would fall into a trot, the steam rolling off them in the cold brisk air

enjoy NH

hello everyone tonight

well lets talk about axes and their handles

My dad always liked his double bitted axe, which had a straight handle, this was necessary so you could turn it over to use the opposite side--his take was one side for chopping, and one side for trimming--both sharpened a little differently

he did have a one bitted or single bladed axe used exclusively for splitting firewood, this axe had a thicker blade which was necessary in the splitting action, and stronger along the edge to guard against hard knots and unusual twisting associated with wood splitting. this old axe to look at seemed pretty grim but man would it split wood!!!

the handle in this axe was hand made following a pattern that hung in the shop. it wasn't until I was involved more with wood working that I realized the importance of handles in general and how devastating it was to break one that you had become accustomed to. hanging a new handle needed many decisions such as not only the sweep of the handle but the angle of the cutting edge.

Creating and Installing a broken offset broad axe handle is one of the hardest jobs to do successfully, no matter how hard you try a new handle takes a lot of getting used to

Just the patina on the surface of the new wooden handle will feel strange and irritate your skin

The old handle that you became accustomed to made splitting the chalk line seem easy, slitting the line with the new handle will be aggravating and challenging to say the least

What wood did you like to use for your broadaxe handles, Richard?

Hello everyone tonight

Hi Don and others:

Well give me a nice curved piece of wild cherry--hard to find--but it is worth the hunt--the wood will after some use produce a wonderful smooth finish and just reek with personality, produced with your sweat, and the polishing action of your grip changing position as you work

you can steam bend a straight piece of cherry, but the true natural bent wood is best

My experience with steam bent wood is that it removes some of its natural composition and will feel differently when you go to use the finished handle--it will just feel and act dead so to speak

another approach is to take the green blank and bow it using sufficient force, heating or boiling just the area to be bent, this will soften the natural bonds in the wood fibre so it will bend without breaking

Some types of wood bend green better than others

Some people when it comes to handles swear by hickory, others white ash, and I am sure that other local woods depending on where you live will be the specie of choice--it will be interesting to here a take by others on this subject--I for one would be interested in hearing what others have to say

NH

My broad axe handle is a piece of elm. Jack Sobon told me to grab a funky piece of wood off the firewood pile. When he saw it, he said, "not that piece!". I've gotten used to it, but it isn't pretty. Jack said he has steam bent handles, but they tend to straighten out. A natural curve is best.

hello everyone tonight

thanks Dave for coming on board

that is very interesting indeed, in all my years I have never heard of elm being used for a handle, but then again one thing is certain elm is mighty strong, especially a tree that has grown in the open--just try and split it--the grain runs in all directions--my father cautioned me to not use elm for handles because it has a tendency to move around, that is probably why I never used elm my self

Elm has many good qualities it makes a very strong joist where strength is required over a large span, you can't beat it for reaches in sleighs--especially rock elm--our sleighs had rock elm reaches that stretched between the bunks close to their ends --they were about 2.5" in diameter, and their main purpose was for support for the sleepers to roll up large logs on the bunks from the skid ways--you can imagine pulling the sleighs alongside the skidway--a place you drew the logs out of the bush and readied them for movement to the sawmill or a collection area closer to a road

elm also bends good without fibre separation--my father made up some large circular cement forms, lacking cables as a holding medium around the outside of the forms he took elm plank and sawed of 1/2" strips which he wrapped around the form tacking them as he went along building up a 2" thickness, worked well--the forms were around here for years, and were used over and over to make large round cement water tanks for livestock, many people came and borrowed them

thanks again Dave for come in for a chat

maybe someone from another area of the world might give their take on handles and what they used

NH

You could make a whole study of implement handles and the woods that have been found to be most suitable from a regional stand-point. There was a time when the farmer or carpenter or tool maker made handles with what was available locally and a whole body of knowledge developed about which wood to go to for the best ones. Of course with the onslaught of the capitalistic impulse, mostly that knowledge has gotten obscured by the limited choice of what you can find in the box store on the outskirts of town where the racks are stocked by management types, or order up over the internet, to put it in an up-to-date way.
Anyway, around here - middle part of Europe, I have found that next to ash, elm is most often seen as a handle for a broadaxe and then beech wood. Then you would look to the North of here and in the Baltic area and it seems elm is preferred but they also use birch from the tree which your grandfather had picked out and started manipulating in its growth when the tree was just a sapling. The real knowledgeable ones will tell you to get your handle from crab apple. On the other side, the Frenchman has gone into it and found that hawthorn is a suitable wood and particular kinds of ash, to which the Dutchman will add that that ash must be a male and not the female one. This is really only a sampling of the woods found to have particular charismatics which make them suitable for good handles.