The Axe - The Oldest Tool in the Toolbox?
The axe is surely the oldest tool in the toolbox - and perhaps the most ignored.
I don't claim to be an expert but of all the tools on the market the one tool I wish I owned is an axe.
Every home should have one.
Not the rusty lump of metal with its wobbly head and split and worn handle hidden somewhere in the back of the garden shed - but a sleek, sharp axe that I could wield with accuracy and pleasure.
Our ancestors knew the benefits of the axe - first held in the hand then put in an ash or antler handle.
A bit of knapping and it would always be sharp.
The everyday existence of our prehistoric forebears depended greatly on the axe - they needed it for creating shelter, for fuel for keeping warm and for cooking and perhaps for dealing with troublesome neighbours! But this is the 21st century and the axe is a thing of beauty now and not just for chopping wood.
Can you imagine our neolithic ancestors holding a Hultafors Throwing Axe and wondering what to do with it? They would surely recognise the shape and weight of the Hultafors Carpenters axe - and use it skillfully but would the dense steel head have them flummoxed? For me I would want to own a simple chopping axe so that I could cut down trees and bushes in the garden a lot easier than with a garden saw.
I may be wrong but I believe an axe would let you get some weight behind the action and lessen the stress on fingers and wrist.
If the axe was honed to perfection then it would cut through the trunk quicker and easier - and with a lot more pleasure - than the blunt saw.
Another benefit would be at Christmas when the tree is just a brown bald twig.
Take the axe to it and it will soon be reduced to kindling.
Those of you with wood burning stoves - why not create your own logs and kindling? You'll probably need a longer handled axe for logs so that you can get a good swing down to split the block and use a shorterhandled axe for reducing logs to kindling.
Imagine how pleased you'll feel bringing in a basket of logs that you've chopped yourself.
Just like a pioneer in the old West! So a Hultafors Chopping axe with a solid hickory shaft is the one for me.
I promise to keep it sharp and ready for use.
Now where's that tree...
I don't claim to be an expert but of all the tools on the market the one tool I wish I owned is an axe.
Every home should have one.
Not the rusty lump of metal with its wobbly head and split and worn handle hidden somewhere in the back of the garden shed - but a sleek, sharp axe that I could wield with accuracy and pleasure.
Our ancestors knew the benefits of the axe - first held in the hand then put in an ash or antler handle.
A bit of knapping and it would always be sharp.
The everyday existence of our prehistoric forebears depended greatly on the axe - they needed it for creating shelter, for fuel for keeping warm and for cooking and perhaps for dealing with troublesome neighbours! But this is the 21st century and the axe is a thing of beauty now and not just for chopping wood.
Can you imagine our neolithic ancestors holding a Hultafors Throwing Axe and wondering what to do with it? They would surely recognise the shape and weight of the Hultafors Carpenters axe - and use it skillfully but would the dense steel head have them flummoxed? For me I would want to own a simple chopping axe so that I could cut down trees and bushes in the garden a lot easier than with a garden saw.
I may be wrong but I believe an axe would let you get some weight behind the action and lessen the stress on fingers and wrist.
If the axe was honed to perfection then it would cut through the trunk quicker and easier - and with a lot more pleasure - than the blunt saw.
Another benefit would be at Christmas when the tree is just a brown bald twig.
Take the axe to it and it will soon be reduced to kindling.
Those of you with wood burning stoves - why not create your own logs and kindling? You'll probably need a longer handled axe for logs so that you can get a good swing down to split the block and use a shorterhandled axe for reducing logs to kindling.
Imagine how pleased you'll feel bringing in a basket of logs that you've chopped yourself.
Just like a pioneer in the old West! So a Hultafors Chopping axe with a solid hickory shaft is the one for me.
I promise to keep it sharp and ready for use.
Now where's that tree...
