Hewing hatchets

[Mike Holbrook]

Sorry Paul, somehow I thought George was the original poster and missed where you explained that you were more looking for an axe for chair work. The first post mentioned a hewing axe. Drew sells two axes other than the Gransfors both of which I think are better for chair work. My favorite general purpose axe is Svante Djarv's Little Viking axe, which Drew just started carrying more recently. I also have the Hans Karlsson New Sloyd axe. The Gransfors axe is built for the job, but at 35 oz. many people find it a little heavy to use for longer periods. The Karlsson axe is great, but at 24 ozs. I find it a little small & light in my hands. The Little Viking at 28 ozs with a long curved 5 3/8" cutting surface vs the Karlsson 4 1/4" surface seems just right for me. I am about 5'10" Drew is more like 5'6" I would guess. The Karlsson is a better spoon and smaller object axe. Drew does a good amount of bowl, spoon, serving tray & smaller object work that I suspect causes him to prefer the smaller axe. Drew sells the Svante Baby Axe too which at 14.5 oz with a 3" cutting surface might actually be the best spoon axe.

If you want to see the Little Viking working check out Alex Yerks making a Kuksa cup with one. He actually starts splitting a small log with a froe & home made maul. The video shows how to hollow out the cup with a small adze too. Inspiring how much fine work he can do with a relatively large axe that most people would consider a crude tool:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjUOCIjIQBY

[Ray Selinger]

I used a Plumb hand axe, great for driving spikes and trimming timbers to fit. Every carpenter should have one. Mine got stolen and I never found another. I have couple of single bevel hand axes, but not a Plumb.

Scotty, an older carpenter told me this story. hmmm that would have been 40 years ago. He had learned the trade in Glasgow Scotland. One day they were doing the finishing work on a ship and his journeyman came by and said " Come on, it's quitting time" "Naw, I got to fit this door, it's too wide." His journeyman then took out his hand axe and quickly trimmed it. Scotty was impressed.

[paul cottingham]

I have a nice True Temper carpenters axe. I would like a braod axe for hewing as well. Mike, i would love to buy an axe from Drew, but i dont have any way to buy stuff that expensive over the internet. That plus, his wares are outside my price range. So im looking for alternatives.

[george wilson]

Another reason I recommended a Plumb hatchet,is too many of the hatchets and axes sold in woodworking catalogs are actually castings.

I met the guy who supplied Woodcraft years ago with axes and hatchets they said were hand forged. They were made in medieval designs,if i recall correctly. He might have told them they were hand forged,but he admitted to me that they were cast from tool steel. That is never the best way to make a cutting tool. And,it is NOT to be confused with the old "cast steel" tools made in the 19th. C. and earlier 20th. C. They were made of tool steel CAST ingots,but subsequently FORGED into tools. Forging compacts the grain,and gives it good direction to make a strong tool.

The Plumb hatchet might not look as cool as a hatchet of ancient design,but it will not be cast. I don't know about new ones,so I suggest finding an older one. Has Plumb gone Asian yet?

Gransfors and the other Scandinavian hatchets will be forged also.

[Stanley Covington]

Another reason I recommended a Plumb hatchet,is too many of the hatchets and axes sold in woodworking catalogs are actually castings.

I met the guy who supplied Woodcraft years ago with axes and hatchets they said were hand forged. They were made in medieval designs,if i recall correctly. He might have told them they were hand forged,but he admitted to me that they were cast from tool steel. That is never the best way to make a cutting tool. And,it is NOT to be confused with the old "cast steel" tools made in the 19th. C. and earlier 20th. C. They were made of tool steel CAST ingots,but subsequently FORGED into tools. Forging compacts the grain,and gives it good direction to make a strong tool.

The Plumb hatchet might not look as cool as a hatchet of ancient design,but it will not be cast. I don't know about new ones,so I suggest finding an older one. Has Plumb gone Asian yet?

Gransfors and the other Scandinavian hatchets will be forged also.

It is a pleasure to read your posts, George. No half-baked theories, no marketing BS, just the simple truth.

Stan

[Mike Holbrook]

I thought you mentioned the Gransfors Paul, which is why I brought up the other ones Drew sells. I just bought an E.C. Simmons/Keen Kutter axe head on ebay for about $20. There seem to be a good number of them available. I have been watching some for a while and it looks to me like some of them had heavy use without breaking. I was looking for an axe I could pound with a froe club or mallet. The ones I have been following have close to flat ground sides, similar to the axes Drew sells, but with a heavier back end for striking. I have seen a fair number of Plumbs too. The only issue with these is you will probably need to make or buy a handle and fit it. Keen Kutter engraved their axes in large clear letters so it is still easy to see the maker clearly in a picture. So many of the old axes have no identifying manufacturers mark, which means there is no way to know if the steel is decent or junk just from auction house pictures.

[Steve Friedman]

I agree with Mike about the axes and other tools Drew sells. But, if you find a decent axe head, it's pretty simple to reshape it to fit your needs. I have a small hand hewing axe (I don't like calling them hatchets) that was given to me by someone who make it by taking a random orbital sander to a plain axe head. He ground one side perfectly flat and put a flat bevel on the other side. It's a little heavy for me, as the guy who made it is bigger and younger than I am, but I still grab it before my Gransfors Bruks carving axe.

As Mike said, weight is subjective. Head needs to be heavy enough to do the job, but light enough to avoid tiring you out too quickly.

Steve

[Mike Holbrook]

If you read the Axe information on Drew's site, you will find that he recommends grinding the sides of Gransfors axes to flatten out the slight curvature to the sides that is how they arrive after sharpening. Drew refers to the axes he sells as symmetrical and particularly well designed for carving. Drew explains that the handle design and symmetrical blade design tend to keep the blade straight, comfortable and predictable in use. He mentions that carving axes can do some hewing but suggests that a hybrid version with asymmetrical bevels or a broad axe may be preferable for larger amounts of hewing. These axes are often either left handed or right handed, since the bevel is different on one side to improve hewing ability. Some axes can be bought in this hybrid form or the owner can flatten out a hewing side of an axe already owned.

[Bill Houghton]

Estate sales, yard sales and all of such ilk tend to be very happy with cash.

jtk

Yes, but single-bevel hatchets are not common everywhere. I looked for years before finding one, and this is a relatively rich yard/garage/estate sale area.

[steven c newman]

A friend of mine might have a few..Goes by the "handle" of madjesterwoodworks

As for me. All I have right now is a "Official Scout Axe" by Plumb. Says so right on the handle. Has a screw in the wedge. And, has the Boy Scout logo on the blade of the axe/hatchet. It does have a slot to pull nails, though...

[Paul Sidener]

Ive read Drews book on chairmaking cover to cover several times. I am already quite proficient with a drawknife, and am just looking for a way to hew off wood quickly for things like chair legs and the like.
i bought a True Temper carpenters hatchet from a fellow, and it is very useful, even with the claw. I am just looking for something that will help with hewing and flattening. I am considering the swedish carving axe from grunsfors, or am looking for a used single bevel broad hatchet. I am just having trouble finding one in decent shape ftom a vendor that takes payment without involving a credit card.

The True Temper you have is probably better than the one in your OP. I would try and flatten the back bevel of that with a course diamond stone, and save the money for now. I had to do a little work on the bevel on my Gransfors, it isn't difficult.
From Drew's website,

GRANSFORS BRUKS. Axes from Gransfors Bruks come with slightly convex bevels. This is fine for camping, firewood and forestry. But carving axes intended for shop work and hewing are far more efficient when they have a flat inner bevel. (If you are right handed, the inner bevel is on the left.) Flattening the inner bevel will improve hewing action by giving the edge a more controlled bite.
To flatten the bevel, clamp the axe on a workbench with the inner bevel facing upwards. Use a coarse 220 grit DMT diamond stone, rubbing along the length of the bevel. (Do not work perpendicular to the edge.) Begin honing the center of the bevel band– the highest area. Stay at a consistent angle. When the full width of the bevel is flat, hone with 325, 600and 1200 grit diamonds. You are not removing the bevel or changing the angle – you’re just taking out the very slight curvature.

http://countryworkshops.org/Axes.html

What do they have at the Lee Valley by you? They should carry Gransfors Bruks. Another good axe to look at is Wetterlings. They have a good broad axe with a short handle that should work for you. Their carpenters fine axe is good too.

[Karl Andersson]

Sorry to be late with this info, but for those still interested in the LV hewing hatchet, I have one (got it as a gift) and have a few observations:
- the non-bevel side of the blade is completely flat in all directions (from the poll to the blade and along the blade edge)
- the handle, as shipped, is ridiculously uncomfortable, but I believe they made it that way so you could trim it to your hand. It is already radiused somewhat on the edges, so it only takes a few minutes with a spokeshave and rasp to round it off and make it better (I went further and shaped the square end as well). My only complaint now is that the handle is only about 3/4" thick (the max original thickness, I didn't do it), which I find a bit more narrow than I like to have a comfortable, relaxed grip that stays oriented in my hand between chops.
- I have used it to smooth-shape spoons, bowls, and small riven planks for boxes after having rough-shaped with a double-bevel hatchet. Sort of like a fast paring chisel that you can use with one hand -and I normally use it "choked up" with my hand midway up the handle. I consider it a decent addition to my tool set - which already includes a vintage Kent-pattern hewing hatchet with a heavier head- because it is better (faster, more convenient) to use in some instances than a drawknife, spokeshave, or other hatchet, although I did get by just fine without it before.
- it is pretty light, which means you have to work harder to use it in flattening; your arm provides more of the momentum needed to chop it, and in order to get a smooth surface, you have to take more, thinner slices, as the lighter head won't "power through" a nice thick slice like a heavy one will. On the other hand, it won't tire your wrist or forearm as much from its weight.
- overall, I'd say this hatchet has value and would be good for folks that want to do small-scale or occasional green woodworking or that want to try green woodworking techniques on a few projects to see if they like it. Certainly, it has some use in general woodworking and green woodworking, as any decently-made tool will, but if you were going to do a lot of green woodworking you'd need a heavier hewer for most larger flattening as well as adzes and double-bevel hatchets for shaping, etc.
- It would also be a useable hewing hatchet to develop technique and knowledge while one was looking for a heavier, vintage one to show up: in my area, I've been hunting vintage tools for almost 20 years and have seen precisely 2 hewing hatchets and one hewing axe, despite the rich shipbuilding history that kept them in use into the 20th century. Out of those, only one was useable (the one I have), the others were eaten up by salt water and/ or abuse. For an alternate source of a hewer, somewhere on Peter Follansbee's blog you can find his depiction of how Jennie Alexander ground a common double-bevel hatchet head so it was a small single-bevel hewer - or it might be on Alexander's site.
let me know if you have any questions about the LV, since I have it
Karl

[Mike Holbrook]

I decided to make a couple gluts out of dogwood today. When I got the pieces in the shop I realized I did not have any sort of break to work with in the shop. Yes, a project to do a project. I just happened to have a white oak log that another Creeker and I split a couple weeks ago only to find it had a bad place in it. It was pretty flat on the split side though so I decided to saw 1/3 or so through the curved side and hew out the waste to make a break I can just lay on a matt in the shop. The axes I have worked pretty well, then I tried a large chisel, wanting a relatively level bottom. Then I thought I would try my chair seat adze. The adze I have was designed by Drew Langsner at Country Workshops (made by Hans Karlsson) and turns out to be much like the scorp he sells. The major part of the middle of the adze blade is just about flat and the sides have a steep curve. The steep curve is great for working close to the back edge of a seat and the flatter center is very good for scooping out seat bottoms. There are adzes with flat blades that are reasonable $ new or offered at auctions.

The reason I bring this up here is I found the Adze much easier and faster for hewing the flat bottom I needed in the half log I was making into a break. I was able to chip out the majority of the wood between my saw lines in short order and retain a nice smooth relatively flat bottom too, double win.

[george wilson]

Just find an old Plumb hatchet and save all the grinding.

[steven c newman]

I did.
IMAG0149.jpg
"Be Prepare" emblam
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Among a few other things...