Hewing for Homesteaders- Tie Hacker style with different axes
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ย. 2024
- This video just demonstrates that you can hew to the line with widely different axes and get a similar result. Here I’m testing out the phantom bevel jersey axe I hung in a previous video series for scoring. I was wondering if the longer handle, which had made bucking awkward in some cases, would be useful in scoring. It worked quite well.
For hewing I first used my double bevel broad axe. I have this axe hung on a long 34” white ash handle. I believe that this axe head was originally a standard American single bevel broadaxe head at one time, but that a previous owner had re-profiled it to a double bevel. Inspired by onsek, / @onsek5936
I decided to try hanging this axe and using it with a long straight handle and try some hewing tie-hacker style in a method similar to the one he often uses. I’ve found this to be a very efficient and comfortable method of hewing, and I’ve found it adapts well to almost any double bevel axe, not just broad axes.
To test that theory, it the video I hew the other side of this small log with a 2.5 lb boy’s axe that I hung a little over a week ago. I’ve never used this axe at all up to the video being shot, and it proved to be a fun and efficient little axe for hewing. I will definitely be hewing some more surfaces with this axe.
The edge on that hewing axe has got to be well into the “danger zone”.
Nice work, I’m going to try my hand at hewing a bench this fall.
I watched this to improve my hewing for bowl and spoon billets/blanks, and it was helpful indeed! Thank you!
I'm in the process of learning log-house building in a tradeschool, we started learning hewing with the smaller axe like demonstrated in this video, you can do it easier and have more control over the axe and be more precise, and the time difference isn't totally awful either, but a pro with a broad axe can hew the heck out of someone using a smaller axe.
Thanks for the video. It was wonderful. My love for axes is validated.
I've been thinking about hewing some logs but haven't had the money to by a broadaxe. This video encouraged me to give it a shot with what I have!
I bought a broad adx with a angle handle for 20.00$ at a flea market.
I don't comment often, but I am enjoying your videos.
Thanks terry. Appreciate that.
Forged under a magical oak tree in Sweden!😂 Great video man! Keep it up!
Awesome and just what a lot of people need to see. Skills over gear! That smaller head looks over 2.5 lb. did you weight it?
oh yeah, and "forged under a magical oak tree", LMAO :)
Yes, came at almost exactly 2.5 lb.
Mock oysters? I'm really impressed how well the boy's axe did. I've done a fair bit of hewing with a 16" broad axe, demonstrating at a living history site, picked up a 12" at a farm auction, but it was in my trailer when it was stollen. I'll have to try out some smaller axes.
They are hard to confuse with true oyster mushrooms as they are bright orange and there aren't any orange true oysters.
Oxbow Farm do you know their latin name? Is it Phyllotopsis nidulans?
Yes
Love the handle on that broad axe
I only weigh 145 pounds and those big hewing axes just wreck my day. So much happier with a small light axe and hewing hatchet. the little boys axe was a surprise?
I don't know about a surprise exactly. I've done another whole timber solely with the boy's axe now. Its not my favorite, but it can do a fine job. I'll post the video in the next week or so. It might be interesting to the bushcraft crowd as they tend to prefer dinky axes in this size and smaller to felling axes. I dislike bending over and/or kneeling to hew, and I don't enjoy lifting logs up high to make a short handled broad axe comfortable to use (for me). So my favorite style requires a long handled axe. The boy's axe handle is a bit too short for my taste, and it definitely took a lot longer to get the timber done.
Great video. Thanks!
good video - would have been cool to finish with a close up view showing the differences between cut finishes.
I will do that. Right at the moment the area I'm hewing in is mucky as all get out and getting different angles is awkward without sinking into ankle deep manure/mud. One of the reasons I'm hewing these logs in the summer pen is too add these pine chips to the area to hold down and dry up the mud a bit. So a timber or two more and there will be a nice bed of chips for me to lean on and get better angles more comfortably.
Freshening up my hewing lingo, lol, for today's video. Is the cribbing the actual timber you're hewing or the two logs the timber sits on? And the GB axes, never owned one nor do I ever see myself parting with that much money for an ax. Use what ya got. For me, nothing over $20 except the big broad ax I picked up at an antique store. Just cut the handle down from 36 to 20ish.
Cribbing is the support logs. It was probably set up as a tie-hacker's broad axe originally, I think the supply of railroad ties was mostly met from Southern timber, mostly oak, till they switched to the creosoted ties.
I have one of the Yerke’s & Plumb hewing axes that needs a handle. The only problem I have is wether I want it left or right handed.
That being said, I think a fixed handle is wrong as the axe head can be correct in either direction. I believe folks might have bought 1 axe head and used it both on the left and right side of the log
I need to select an axe for hewing green spruce and green ash logs.
Request weight and dimensions of the best effective hewing axe (blade length & handle length) and the best head weight. Thank you for sharing.
Tie Hacker, OH YEAH! Love it! Are you working on a structure that has you hewing now?
I've got a couple of projects this year. A real woodshed will be the goal this spring.
is a single bevel axe better ? Looking at cheap English Kent style axes which have a straight handle and straight blade.thank you. Really hard to find an axe and no opportunities to test them prior to buying.
I'm going to forge my first ax coming up. I am looking fora shape to make and wondered. The boys ax had a small blade edge so is that why the ax over scored so much? less blade causes a deeper cut? So the broad ax, although harder to control, seems to cut less deep, (possibly cuz it's a larger cutting area?)
I'm going to use a fat short, thick piece of leaf spring and hammer out the end after i bring both sides together. i've already annealed the steel for cutting and bending over to forge together. however, i've not cut the steel yet cuz i am not sure what sort of edge i want on it.
I'll be honest, this is mostly going to be a kick assed ax that most likely will rarely be used but i want it to be utilitarian. and to hew a log into a beam, well that seems the most likely use for a broad ax.
Have u done any blacksmithing?
I've designed a wood burning forge (trough shaped) with a double piped air flow to control which sections of the trough get air flow. i've got an old 1.4 amp blower that i salvaged and made a housing out of a computer case (one guy said that is hte most useful way he's ever seen a computer used) bhahahaha,
anyhow, i made the trough out of some old metal shelving units at a 90 degree angle and lined it with keo wool and fire brick.
when i modify the bricks i can use two sections of the air flow to melt aluminum but can't seem to get it hot enough to melt brass. (1300-1500 degrees F).
the forge is about 4 feet long
it the insulation is good enough to touch the bottom of the forge on the wood trolley with the bare hand while it is burning.
plus i use a renewable resource (i cut the wood up into 1.5 inch squares). ply wood and composite wood burns the best and i also dump in saw dust while it's heated up to increase the temperature
thanx for the broad ax demo and good luck with ur youtube adventures
I would say the main reason I was having overscoring issues with the boys axe was because I was switching from much heavier axes and was swinging it far harder than necessary and was getting overpenetration. With more time with the axe it isn't an issue. Normally you'd only use one axe for a particular job. In another video I hew an entire timber just with the boys axe and didn't have so much overscoring. As far as penetration and axe style, the width/mass ratio no doubt will be some factor, but not as much as you think. 90% of it is becoming accustomed to the axe you are using at the time. The width of blade definitely impacts the final surface finish, and a wider axe will make a clean-hewn, flat surface much more quickly than a narrow one.
Good luck forging the axe. I do some blacksmithing, but I am not skilled enough at forge welding to attempt an axe yet. I'm still making tongs and basic projects.
When does turkey season open?
Spring turkey season is the entire month of May.
Mine opened yesterday, woo hoo!
those mock oysters are they edible?
Hey Deva, I haven't read anything saying that they are poisonous, but they smell disgusting so I don't think anyone ever eats them. They are pretty though.
Oxbow Farm oh OK good to know never heard of them.
usually mushrooms on dead wood are poisonous. Just saying that as a rule of thumb though.