Putting my Mortise Axe Skills to the Test 

Perhaps the flat head of chisel suggests that the chisel should be placed and then struck on the flat head, rather than an axe type stroke. Your sharpening techniques are amazing.

Slipping wedges and loosening axe heads/handled tools were the bane of my existence for years. No matter how many notches I put in the wood or steel (or both in combination), no matter how much epoxy I applied, they always loosened. All that stopped when I started making my wedges out of sharpened pipe. I use them for everything, even friction fitted tools.

It would take a perfectly aimed strike of the axe but I always imagined a mortise axe chopping perpendicular to the length of the mortise. Especially in a situation like you had there with holes drilled in the ends of mortise. The chips would just fly if severed perpendicular. Then come back and clean up the walls using the mortise axe more like a chisel and pushing instead of striking.

I really liked the video first time I have seen that tool used

I sort of think the axe is supposed to be used perpendicular to the grain of the wood. This also makes the narrow width of the cutting edge make sense as well. The way you cut in the beginning of the video could really be done with any axe which gave me the idea that the reason it's narrow is to allow it to cut the other way. I could be totally wrong but I think it'd cut much much quicker too.

Your new shop is so big that you sound like you were in a church ! It must take ages to be able to make a clean mortice using this technic! Good job Marcel. This tool looks great

axes were mostly used for fresh and wet wood, then the effort with practice is not so great, less vibration in the hands

Don’t sweat it buddy we all f up on occasion. Still an interesting idea 👍✌️

Hi Marcel,I'm wondering if it would be easier to cut the mortise with an axe that resembles a traditional mortise chisel,with a smaller head to allow easier access in the mortice,just thinking really.👍Maybe two axes could work together,one for chipping out and one for cleaning the sides..

If the tool you describe at the end is rare there is probably a good reason for that...either it doesn't work well or it is optimized for specific and limited circumstances. The tool you really want for this application would be a narrow adze. The curvature of the adze blade is far more efficient at removing large chips of wood than a straight blade would be. Also, you made your mortise ax with a DOUBLE BEVEL. No wonder it gets stuck in long grain. Framing chisels do not use a double bevel, they use only a single bevel. As the edge is driven into the wood, the wedge shape of the blade drives the chisel backward, relieving it from getting stuck.

Sorry ,but would it not be better to drill more hole's and then work with your axe It would go a lot faster. I think there are better technics without use electronic devices.

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