HUSQVARNA FOREST AXE: Grinding the Bit To Chop Well, & Why Most Axes Don't 

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It was just background this time, which is fun, though they can be pretty annoying at times.

I kept looking around my house thinking a chicken had got inside.

One hour to cover a whole lot of science, philosophy, semantics, practical skills, tools, techniques, etc aint too bad. He didnt go very deep, but deeper than 5 min wranglerstar "file 'er then stone 'er" videos

@@William_Asston, well said. One of these guys is the antidote to the other.

thanks :)

Cool. I find it much easier to index with the file with the back drag.

he he...

awesome :)

@@SkillCult Well I tried this. You made this look WAAAAAAAAAAY easier and faster than it really is. At least as a first timer.The stone is AMAZING !!!!! Talk about this thing more. It seems I have NEVER EVER used a proper edged axe. I did final sharpen with a Work sharp at 20 DEG..If its chippy or rolley,next time I will 25 DEG it My cheeks came super puffy and WAY uneven.

Maybe I should have a chalkboard in firelight next time :)

So true for me. I have to be careful to realign my attitude when using aggressive power tools.

yeah, those guys both show what happens when you actually chop a lot in the field.

Mine came very rough, but they may have changed it.

Well, I hope I get it done, but it's really mostly an expanded and more explained version of this. Most of the important stuff is here or can be extrapolated at least.

cheers :)

Awesome. It is a lot easier to keep a good index when back dragging vs lifting all the way up. You can learn to be pretty fast and accurate picking up, but it's definitely slower and more difficult to learn. Stay safe. That axe is going to cut like crazy. make sure it's cutting wood and not you :)

:)

I have a couple of videos where I talk about sharpening. My main goal is usually to present what I think are fundamental truths or foundational understanding and also, what will go wrong and why sharpening or shaping might fail. It's a deep rabbit hole, that I've never really gone down and don't want to. I'd like to create the accessible version. Not to be confused with the dummy version...

Yeah, give it shot and see what you think!

It can be a little intimidating to file them down. I mean you can't put it back. Probably one reason that most don't file them down enough. it helps a lot to have some reference and info.

I was kind of hoping the bevels would show a little better, but looks pretty good.

I rarely use the term lyme even. I just use it for convenience so I don't have to explain.

Got it. I still have been pray for a miracle for you.

Great to hear!

That seems to make some sort of sense logically, but I'll believe it when I can see it happen. If you have any interesting reference material on that, I'd be curious to see it. thanks for commenting.

Yeah, it is easy to see someone experienced swinging an axe miss almost all the reading and moving and compensation that is going on to avoid accidents.

@@SkillCult Yes I would say it is deceptively simple. Will send this video to friends. Thanks.

Thanks Tom, and welcome :)

Do you know what the video is called?

mrpanda39 distant German giggle:)

In Maine, babies drink beer instead of milk

@@simonbedenbender3087 distant Irish giggles

....you can try with a glass if wine...it's fine 😁. My granny used to pour wine on my soda when i was just a kid (8 years old). "It make you made blood" she always says

Give it a shot. Trying at least one axe this way will give a great reference point for cutting well and you can play around from there.

Yeah, I've seen the golf ball, it looks pretty cool in some regards maybe, but never tried it. That is definitely an issue though. Filing axes is also why I don't use the full length of my file as much as I could. It's often clumsy, the poll is in the way and I tend to not file as close to the handle as I'm constantly aware of getting my hand to close to the edge. The guards are a good idea. As to pushing so hard you slip, unless the file is new, you often have to push hard enough so that it doesn't slip. i don't know about you, but to me a file should be pushed on hard enough to get an even, skid free cut if possible and not harder. Unfortunately, as a file wears, that requires more pressure. Files just slip, especially filing something clumsy like an axe. Some might say, get a new file, to which I would say, no. :)

Yep I have the Rinaldi American Boys axe and that's really good for that reason among others.

That might be made by plumb. I think they were one of the companies that made axes for craftsman. The old plumb hatchets and axes are often extremely fat in the bit. A classic and sad example is the boyscout hatchets. My first hatchet was an estwing, which I quickly learned to hate. My second was a plumb boyscout hatchet that was so fat you couldn't do any real work with it except for splitting and I was like WTF? I've seen many of them since and never saw a single one that was ground well, or even close. We probably won't agree on the terminology, which is fine and I'm part of the problem since I avoid getting wrapped up in terminology. We just have to remember that we might not be interpreting things as they are meant and vice versa. The good part is if we take the opportunity, we can spend more time talking about how it all works instead of communicating in more abstract language.

I dont' own any except the King brand, but my sense is that all japanese waterstones wear pretty fast. You're right though, they do go quick. I usually use a brick for the rough flattening, and maybe finish with a diamond plate. I probably should get the pecial flattening stone.

Yeah, that's what I think too.

SkillCult files don’t last forever. Use them and get new ones when needed

Yes. I've had people I work with start to misuse my files - same or more pressure dragging backwards and trying to file very quickly. They don't know how to use a file. It's not about speed, and it's not going to cut backwards, so no point in trying to do that. Dragging it backwards lightly won't cause any damage to the file.

i think it's more about the principle. dummy rules form because dumb people need them. tell a lazy person that sitting causes cancer, and they'd probably spend some more time moving around getting stuff done. tell a stupid person that dragging a file backwards breaks the file, and they'll remember it enough to not try to file hard backwards. on the flip side, tell a dumb person that lightly dragging the backwards wont do any noticeable damage, but cutting backwards will, and they might forget. extremes are memorable eh?

Iv'e had trouble finding any references about back dragging or not, looking in old machining books and stuff. . If you have any, besides the old nicholson handbook, I'd like to look them up.

Ha ha, sorry. You need a TV in the shop :)

Furthermore, when dragging back, the point of the teeth have no metal to support them against the oblique pressure exerted on them (while when push-filing, there’s the whole body of the tooth to support.) If done with enough force, the points would bent or break. Done lightly, the phenomenon occurs on a very small scale-but still a waste of sharpness, however small.

Again, where is any evidence, or even specific personal comparative experience? I just see theory here and anyone can propagate that or dream it up. I've yet to find any test or reference to testing. I'm not saying, you're wrong, just even a scrap of anything besides hearsay and theory and widespread opion might bolster your position a little bit. find this guy if he's still alive and tell him he's doing it wrong. He looks like he doesn't , know what he's doing :) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-P5Kp0WEGawY.html. A file is a consumable item and there is an efficiency issue with picking up the file every time, v.s. maintaining your index. That is largely why I chose to back drag. But I'm unconvinced it really matters. Convince me.

@@SkillCult Sounds like a manly folk knowledge problem. You see manly folk knowledge in any area that's somewhat technical, but not too difficult, like basic auto repair, making beer, amateur woodworking. Amateur gunsmiths are the worst. Manly folk knowledge is basically a form of the old telephone game. Usually based in some real knowledge, it passes through generations until it comes unmoored from real life and sometimes becomes unrecognizable. It often referrs to conditions of long past days, or specifics misapplied to the general. There's usually an element of just-so story, where someone in the chain of transmission had way too much time to think up their own brand of "well that's probably how it works," and added it to the mix. Highschool shop teachers can be a source of particularly mystifying manly folk knowledge. Manly folk knowledge ranges from benign to annoying as fuck, to oddly helpful. Sometimes, the application of much headscratching, pondering and field archeology methods, can extract actual historical real knowledge from the manly folk knowledge, but most often it's a wash. The purveyor of manly folk knowledge is a curious creature, identifiable by a self-satisfied look and usually an embarrassingly bad haircut. When their manly folk knowledge is questioned, they become agitated, and make a sound much like a sealion. It is best not to engage. Anyway, we live in a world of cheap files. It might be different if we had to anneal it, pound it flat and recut them. If you want real old-school file knowledge, look for Paul Hasluck's book Metalworking, from a hundred or so years ago. Reprints are easy to find.

@@SkillCult What I have stated logically flows from my notions of matter and physics; to me, it’s common sense. I have no scientific evidence to offer; I have not run an experiment to convince myself; never felt the need for either. You can have experience convince you, rather than me try to: Take two identical files in identical condition, and file two identically-shaped areas of the same material with equal pressure; lifting one file on the return movement, not the other (although removing the pressure;) and see if there is an appreciable difference in sharpness after x dozen/hundred strokes, and if that difference is compensated by the accuracy allowed by no lifting the file. I’d be interested in the results, although not so much as to run the experiment myself, not having yet encountered a case where lifting the file made it untowardly err from the index, while “common sense” prevents me from drag filing. And thanks for the link to the interesting video.

Sorry I didnt get your channel name right though. I don't own and have never used a 4lb or heavier axe. I actually almost started hanging a 3.5 lb on a 29 inch handle today, but i usually use under 3lb and am just pretty happy with that. But I very rarely chop in large wood either. One thing I really like about light axes is the handling and what you might call the sports car factor. One handed use and just zipping it around fast. It's a trip to watch those old vids of the guys using super heavy axes. It's obvious the amount of cut they are capable of, but also how much they are putting into slinging them around. As for convex grinds, I don't know. I'm still pretty in the dark about what is best where and when. I have not noticed that there seems to be much of any kind of magic to convex axe cheeks vs flat, have you? My edges end up convex and blending back into the cheek after a little sharpening. The reason I really like this is that it gives such an accurate guage of what is going on to reduce the concept literally, physically to two different flat bevel angles. Otherwise, as you proably know, it's easy to end up thicker than you think it is and once a flat cheek is established, you realize how fat it actually is.

Oh, and I think you might be right on the edge durability. I like the way I do it finishing with 1000 and stropping. It doesn't take long, even if you just use a file to set up initally by drawfiling, those waterstones cut super fast and stropping is quick. Stropping probably makes the edge more durable by rolling it over a little more convex shaped at the edge and getting rid of more large teeth that are going to mash up the first time the edge is used. Makes sense to me anyway. How wide are you micro or secondaries usually? I don't like to go too fine for the reasons I stated. I'll do really dumb shit with my axes sometimes, like toss them, or try to throw them and stick then In a round of firewood :/

I work with knives more than with axes, but I think convex edge offers better penetration than flat edge with the same edge angle, especially on deep impact cuts (which are common when using axes).

@@redactedcanceledcensored6890 I'd argue the opposite. Flat grinds are extremely good from a penetration aspect. I would say that a convex has the potential to be more durable and perhaps. That said, it all depends on the severity of the convex. If it's only subtle I very much doubt you would notice much difference.

Excellent, thank you :) Good luck wth the seeds. I find that they usually have a high germ rate if they aren't drowned.

Well, let me become more successful then I can buy a round for 20,000 people :D

Easier said than done sometimes lol.