christmas trees and axes

[engineer one]

ok i am sure the mods may not like this here, but.

got a tree from outside ikea yesterday, then had to cut it back, and discovered that my little estwing hatchet was the way to shave down the trunk to go into the stand.

first time i have used an axe for shaving interesting technique to learn.
now i have to figure about sharpening and honing. since the blade is curved and so on it is difficult to put on the tormek, and even more so with water or diamond stones, anyone got any ideas?? :?

finally i noticed some little critters running around under the bark, and wonder what i should do about them, are they dangerous, ie. lymes etc,
or just a pita, and should i spray the trunk, if so with what???

at least in my part of london they recycle trees after the holiday what about elsewhere, what do you do with them???

paul :wink:

 

[Alf]

now i have to figure about sharpening and honing. since the blade is curved and so on it is difficult to put on the tormek, and even more so with water or diamond stones, anyone got any ideas?? :?

Only with difficulty do I resist commenting on the Tormek failing to do the biz... :wink: Although I thought the Tormek had an axe jig? Anyway, The Axe Book is a good source of info (3.8Mb PDF iirc). It's really just a case of taking the stone to the axe instead of the other way round; freehand... :shock: :wink:

Cheers, Alf

 

[engineer one]

thanks for resisting alf :lol:

actually you are right there is an axe jig, HOWEVER, it is for big axes only

the damn thing is too big for the smaller hand axe, and needs a spacer to set the blade properly on the wheel. once you have sorted an additional jig, then it sharpens well, but still with the problem of it being curved. :?


paul :wink:

 

[MikeW]

Adam Cherubini would be happy you have discovered the hatchet...but would be happier yet if you used it for woodworking <g>.

There are a couple ways to sharpen it. An Estwing may be too hard, but I have always used two files on all of mine if they need reshaped, a coarse followed by a fine, and then a light polish with a stone. In those steps, the head is held firm and the files and or stone moved across the blade.

Alternatively, I have also used a grinding wheel. Freehand. If I were to use a Tormek for this, just use the rest in the lower position, to support the hand holding the head and use the other hand to hold the handle and use it to arc the blade. Stone would be turning up and away from you.

I suspect that it would work fine to have it turn towards you, working from above. I've done that with the treadle stone. Just keep a firm grip on the thing.

Take care, Mike

 

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Go for it engineer One tip if you want to take off a fair amount without the axe snagging or going too deep, you need to do a few shallow cuts in at an angle on the area you want to remove and then shave down from above, the wood pops off EASY. Similar idea to crosscutting several times when doing a housing for say a half lap so the waste comes out easier. I'll show a digram if your interested?

Adam Cherubini would be happy you have discovered the hatchet...but would be happier yet if you used it for woodworking <g>.

Its like some closely guarded secret, the "humble" :roll: axe has GOT to be one of the most under rated carpenters tools. Perfect for roughing chamfer's, curved component's, framers even use one for doing tennon cheek cut's. Too often axe's are seen only as crude chopping tools when they are just as capable to be acurate slicing/planing/shaping tools as well

I do similar to you Mike, preferring files as its easier to see where your at, and I detest the screaming you get with a grinder, what little hearing I do have left, having lost a good % of it in factory's, I tend to cherish. I have a good little sandvik which stays sharp for a long time and some ex WD ones, one ground as a side axe bevelled one side only. I have a hard little polishing stone to remove the file marks; the sandvik responds well to stropping, either white/grey soap on cloth wheel or metal polish on leather.
PS who IS Adam Cherubini?

Cheers Jonathan

 

[Alf]

...what little hearing I do have left, having lost a good % of it in factory's, I tend to cherish.

Ear defenders can be purchased very cheaply these days...

PS who IS Adam Cherubini?

He writes a regular column in Popular Woodworking magazine (US), confines himself to 18thC techniques (and thus hand tools, wooden planes and a natty line in period costume :roll: ) and has a tendency to be pretty definite in his views - until challenged... :wink: You can get a fairly good idea from his not-really-publicised website. He used to hang out on WoodCentral a lot (so plenty in the Hand Tool forum archives there) and also pops up on Fine Woodworking's Knots forum.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Anonymous]

Ear defenders can be purchased very cheaply these days...

I know it, thats the type I was using in the factory's, still lost a lot of hearing though, and I still detest the grinding screaming sound even if I have plugs etc in :lol: :lol: I use grinder as little as I possibly can, I'd sooner have a great old disc of sandstone on a tripoid :lol:


That Cherubni chap was mentioned in the hold fast's thread a while back thats why I asked who he is

 

[Alf]

...I still detest the grinding screaming sound even if I have plugs etc in :lol: :lol: I use grinder as little as I possibly can, I'd sooner have a great old disc of sandstone on a tripoid :lol:

Ah yes, me too, but sometimes needs must... I resort to the iPod under the muffs and that deals with everything. Heck, if I go deaf at least it'll be listening to some good tunes along way.

Cheers, Alf

 

[joekid]

i use my axe most weeks,occasionally my kukri machete too,i love messing about in relative safety!, i use my sanding belt to hone the blades when they dull, i tend to move my hand with the curve of the blade as if chalking a small six inch rainbow on a blackboard/from right to left holding the head of the axe like a can of beer/only go one stroke then turn the axe over putting slight pressure on the edge, i then repeat over maybe helf a dozen times untill razor sharp,tha shape of the blade should stay curved and the angle of the wedge follows naturally,/try getting some mild steel and practice this excercise a couple of times paying attention to the angle your hand is at ,too low an angle tends to lengthen the wedge , too high an angle shortens it ,hope you can make sense of this (like shaping wood but slower)

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Joe you'll be a gransfors lad are you?? :lol:
What are them other socketed scandinavian axe's with an Italian sounding name (maseotti, montirotti or something like that??) they also make pukkio knives its supposed to be a good carving axe. I might just invest in some quality axe seeing as I use one mostly every day even for trimming spindles to fit into chair seat's :lol:

 

[stairman]

The way I saw a Axe sharpened on a film was to put the heal of the axe against a fixed bit of wood and fit the handle end of the file into a hole to give the required angle and swing the file back and fore turning the axe over and doing the same to the other side.
This I have used and find it cheep Quiet & effective

 

[joekid]

Hi Joe you'll be a gransfors lad are you?? :lol:
What are them other socketed scandinavian axe's with an Italian sounding name (maseotti, montirotti or something like that??) they also make pukkio knives its supposed to be a good carving axe. I might just invest in some quality axe seeing as I use one mostly every day even for trimming spindles to fit into chair seat's :lol:

is that the adzes carving axe, theres lots of exotic sounding stuff, my axe is a gerber , should have had a folding saw up the handle ,dont know where it went ,any how it was a gift ,i made a mistake sharpening it one day,so had to match the other side(make it look even) since then its been great got a good wedge/edge i shaved my arm with it its ok/the heads are made in either scandi or swiss, good quality but i use it for clearing banks for piking, small fires canoeing wild camping ,it splits small 12" logs into lots of kindling ,with a smack on the hammer side with a log,

 

[engineer one]

interesting that no one has picked up on my comments about the little bugs??? :roll:
paul :wink:

 

[Alf]

Bit difficult to say based on the info provided.

 

[engineer one]

so am i supposed to set up my microscope and a digi camera to show something that is about 2mm long, and runs about under the bark of a nordeman xmas tree???
:lol:
paul :wink:

 

[Alf]

so am i supposed to set up my microscope and a digi camera to show something that is about 2mm long, and runs about under the bark of a nordeman xmas tree???

Why of course... Actually "2mm" is a degree more info than there was before, if you think about it. Come, Watson, you know my methods - what can you deduce from these scampering critters? (and no, we won't accept "a left handed stonemason who served a spell in the Navy" based solely on the callous on the right thumb and a tattoo, so don't try it.... [-X :lol: )

Cheers, Alf

 

[engineer one]

to be honest alf i agree with you, it is just that many of the people here spend more time working with green wood than i do, and i had hoped maybe could give me a quick couple of ideas as to whether i should fumigate the whole house, or just kill the little b's as they drop off.
don't want the house to be infested :lol: :lol:

if they had been beetles etc, i would know about it, but these things look very much like tics.

paul :wink:

 

[mudman]

Do they look anything like Pine Bark Beetle?

 

[mudman]

Also unlikely to be ticks as these would be found in grasslands where they can hitch a lift and also a blood meal from passing critters such shorts wearing ramblers.