My legs felt like a bowl of jello sliding down an old wash board. I crouched in a non-human silhouette stalking in Ultra Slow Motion. A twig beneath my foot snapped and my prey jolted his head toward the sound. I froze and hoped my screaming quadriceps would support my motionless body until he dipped his head to graze again.
What was my prey? A deer realistically mimicked by our instructor, Mark Warren. This was my first of several classes I’ve attended at Medicine Bow in the north Georgia mountains.
I discovered Mark and his primitive school of earthlore from reading his first book, “Two Winters in a Tipi: My Search for the Soul of the Forest.” With every turn of the page, I knew I had unearthed a rare gem in the mountains of Southern Appalachia. That was over three years ago. To date, Mark has published his fourth volume of “Secrets of the Forest” and two books in a historical novel trilogy on “Wyatt Earp: An American Odyssey.” These books reflect Warren’s lifelong pursuits as a naturalist, instructor of Cherokee survival skills, and wild west history.
Over a year ago, I shared my thoughts on the first book in the Secrets of the Forest series, calling it, “The Best Outdoor Education Book I’ve Read.” I should amend my statement to include volumes II and III in my assessment. Knowing Mark’s passion for archery and canoeing, the last volume in the series, which I’ve yet to read, I’ll bet he saved the best for last. For now, I want to highlight Volume III…
Eye to Eye with the Animals in the Wild and At Play in the Wild
The opening of this article was one of many exercises our class took part of in a two-day class at Medicine Bow. Reading this volume brought back my Real World experience as vividly as the day I studied a one-foot square plot of earth for slight changes Mark secretly made. Revisiting my field notes from the Stalking and Tracking class reveled just how much knowledge and experience had been shared that weekend. However, I had one regret – not taking better notes. Not a problem. I now have at my fingertips his many years of experience in a beautifully illustrated, photographed, and written field guide.
Who would benefit from this book?
The obvious benefit is for hunters pursuing game with traditional archery equipment. Hunting an animal with primitive weapons requires that one be as close as possible to the intended prey. In doing so, an ethical hunter shows respect and thanksgiving to the animal for providing nourishment and many sustainable resources.
Observers and photographers of wild animals would do well to practice stalking and tracking. Many phantoms of the forest you’ve only dreamed of capturing in your lens will appear when practicing these techniques. No telephoto lens required.
Anyone wishing to challenge their physical prowess should add stalking to their workout regimen. The level of functional fitness needed to stalk wild animals is different from any sport or recreational activity I’ve ever experienced. Mark told us that martial artists found the most success of anyone attending his stalking class. Even more so than professional athletes.
The main benefit I personally received under Mark’s instruction was the complete immersion in nature. Slowing down to a snail’s pace uncovered small, “invisible” wilderness details unnoticed when trekking full speed with human locomotion.
I approached this otter family to within 15 feet as they fed on crawdads in the creek.
An analogy Mark used was that of a rock tossed into a pond. The impact ripples to every shoreline. A stalker’s task is to minimize the wake in the animal’s living space. One’s goal is to become part of the “wild” world and not merely a visitor.
“Stalking and tracking are symbiotic. Tracking teaches where to stalk. Stalking teaches how to interpret a nuance in a track.” ~ Mark Warren
Mark describing details to a young student during our tracking class.
Educators will find lessons, exercises, and games throughout this volume. In our age of electronics, parents have the challenge of disconnecting kids from devices and coax them into trading virtual screens for forest streams. Mark offers hundreds of ways to make this transition fun, educational, and experiential.
If you are searching to find a unique gift for someone special this Christmas, I would recommend checking the book link at Medicine Bow. I’ve not found a more comprehensive book detailing the lost art of tracking and stalking.
P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking hereor on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there…
The human love affair with fire is intimate and ancient. Over the flames we cook, celebrate, spin tales, dream, and muse in the swirls of wood smoke. Fire is life. Its warming glow draws us like moths to a flame.
It’s not a stretch to believe that a Stone Age chemist recognized the idea of using carbon for future fires. Disturbing the leftover carbon ashes from the night fire, she stares at sparkles of light glowing like the pre-dawn stars above. She carefully nurses a baby “star” back to life to warm her hearth and home.
It ain’t rocket surgery. Even cavemen knew the importance of the sixth most abundant element in the universe.
Carbon and Future Fires
The game of chasing lightning strikes for each fire was no longer required. This unreliable practice was abandoned for twirling sticks together to create enough heat to initiate the combustion of blackish, carbonized dust. Even with a dependable friction fire apparatus, a more elemental plan was stumbled upon for their next fire. Carbon was the caveman catalyst for future fires.
Carbonized dust glowing from friction.
Charcoal speeds up that wonderful exothermic reaction of combustion. Align a convex lens perpendicular to full sun on different non-charred tinder material. Smoke will rise in a minute. Do the same with charred material and a glowing ember is birthed in seconds. Weak flint and steel sparks produce the same glow.
When material containing carbon is heated without enough oxygen, charred material is the result. We teach our students to make char cloth at school. One side of the Fire Triangle is neglected by heating material in a closed chamber (Altoids tin). [I have a class set of Altoids tins stored in an old cassette tape container. Only a few students have ever heard of these “ancient” musical devices.] The lid hinge vents the volatile gases as the material is heated. When baked, the black charred material takes a spark from flint and steel.
Un-Burned Carbon in Ashes
Over the years, David West sparked my interest in the role of wood ash impregnated in tinder through his experiments on his channel. View his entire Ashed Tinder Playlist here. This, my pyro friends, has been a game-changer for me. Rubbing wood ash on any tinder material accelerates the combustion process.
Saving wood ash from previous fires has become an important part of my fire kit. A few years ago at a Georgia Bushcraft Gathering, I had a young kid ask during a Rudiger Roll (fire roll) demonstration why I added ashes to the cotton ball before rolling between the two boards. I had no real scientific explanation. I just did what I saw David West do.
Here’s my theory. Though wood ash looks nothing like charcoal, enough non-burned carbon remains in ash to significantly lower the temperature required to ignite tinder. Saturating any un-charred tinder (inner bark, jute twine, plant fiber, cotton material) with wood ash provides an excellent fire extender. In the video below, David shows a 4 foot strip of ashed denim burning/smoldering for 3 hours in time-lapse.
Following the lead of Stone Age chemists, making plans for future fires was smart. The thumb drill (lighter) was several millennials away from store shelves. Fire was not automatic. I make it a habit of separating burning logs in the fire pit at the end of each class at school. These partially charred sticks of cellulose are the stepping stone for the next morning’s fire lay. No need to start from scratch each day when charcoal is plentiful in the fire pit.
Modern re-enactors and nostalgic woodsmen continue to use flint and steel as fire starters. The method takes less energy and practice than fire by friction. The typical flint and steel kit consist of a high-carbon steel striker, a sharp rock (doesn’t have to be flint – any hard, silica based rock will work), and char cloth in a metal container.
However, cotton cloth does not grow in the woods. For a flint and steel kit to be sustainable long-term, natural materials can be carbonized.
My best experiences using charred natural material include:
Punky wood – Decaying wood which is spongy when squeezed between thumb and finger. My favorite is the sap wood of Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana). I’ve had good luck finding it on the underside of blown down cedars in the right stage of decay.
Punky cedar sap wood has a stringy consistency which makes great char material.
Pithy weed stalks – Crack open the woody stalk of dead Mullein (Verbascum) and remove the spongy pith. Cook it in a container like char cloth for an excellent F&S spark-catcher.
Natural tinder/cordage – Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) twisted cordage has worked but not as well as the previously mentioned materials. Yucca (Asparagaceae) cordage works as well.
The only non-charred natural material I’ve found to consistently take a weak spark from F&S is:
Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) – This fungus grows on birch trees in higher altitudes. It is called True Tinder Fungus as it will catch a spark from F&S. It also will smolder for a long time for a fire extender.
Thin slices of chaga ignited with flint and steel sparks.
I have friends who have achieved F&S embers using other non-charred material. Phillip Liebel, instructor at Flint and Steel Critical Skills Group, discovered that the inner lining of gourds will take a spark from F&S. It’s a very fine, papery material which burns rapidly. Joshua Enyart, founder of Flint and Steel Critical Skills Group, has used the Milkweed (Asclepias) pod to make fire with F&S. I’m sure there are other non-charred natural material out there that will work. Just recently I attempted the following with no success…
Dog hair – Moose, our oldest rescue dog, sheds fine clumps of hair. A few sparks landed and fizzed out without catching. Looked promising.
Cattail duff – White fluffy stuff is always worth trying. Still a no-go for me.
Mullein pith – Did not work. I sliced some to form a fine, triangular edge. Sparks landed on the edge with no glow.
The above works well when carbonized, except dog hair. In my experience, any natural tinder material you’d normally use to build a tinder bundle will take a spark from F&S when charred. The exception to this is fat lighter’d (aka – fatwood). Don’t char fat lighter’d in a tin. You’ll end up with resin coating the bottom of your container.
Non-charred and Un-natural F&S Ignition
Good luck finding the elusive steel wool tree in the wilderness. I keep a pad of 0000 steel wool in my pack for cleaning axes and tools in the field. For stubborn tinder, add a pinch of steel wool and strike it with F&S. Once the spark catches and begins to spread like tiny dynamite fuses, the tinder becomes super-heated from rapid oxidation.
Gun powder will also ignite with F&S sparks. Flintlock rifles utilized this technology to explode powder and launch projectiles down range. A modern woodsman will likely have a cartridge of some kind which contains gun powder. Carefully remove the bullet from the brass cartridge and pour out a small amount of powder charge. Be ready to transfer the heat from the lit powder to your tinder material. It goes up in a flash.
Carbon Ash Experiments Coming
The South African tonteldoos pocket tinderbox I made rides in my F&S kit. It works well as long as the charred surface is charred well. With sporadic use, the dark char turns brownish from knocking around in my kit. In a future post, I plan to experiment with the mop head strands to see if impregnating them with wood ash will aid in ignition on brownish charred ends. This should be interesting.
A student achieving ignition with the Tonteldoos.
We’re also planning a post on making charred material without the typical metal container. Stay tuned.
P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking hereor on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there…
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
This quote, falsely attributed to Abraham Lincoln, is inspirational but scary to anyone new to ax-manship. I get the idea of the quote. But four hours to sharpen an ax?
Okay, if an ax is in really bad shape, you could spend a few hours on the work bench. But once you’ve spent time achieving a keen edge, you’ll understand why Horace Kephart advises to never loan your ax to someone unless they know how to use it. A dull, abused ax a misery to swing and quite a job to bring back to working-sharp.
Scary Sharp Axes
I’ve always kept my working axes Sherpa Sharp, which by definition is a bit honed enough for a day of feeling, limbing, and bucking logs without needing to be touched up in the field. My method changed four years ago when Craig Roost (aka – Rooster) introduced fellow Axe Junkies to his simple Scary Sharp method.
If you’ve never been able to shave arm hair or slice newsprint with your ax, give Rooster’s Scary Sharp method a try.
Below is a list of stuff I use to sharpen my axes in the shop and field.
My Shop Tools
Wet/Dry Sandpaper: Progress from 220, 400, 600, 1,000, and at times 1500 – auto parts stores carry this sandpaper in 9″ x 11″ sheets
Bench Belt Sander: 80 to 120 grit
Drywall Hand Sanders: One for each wet/dry sandpaper grit to speed up the process
Leather Strop: A barber’s strop glued to a board
Green Buffing Compound: Rub into the leather strop
Buffing Wheel: Rarely use this machine on working axes
Files: Bastard file is used for bits needing to be re-profiled or when nicked/chipped
Rigid SuperClamp: This floor vise has revolutionized my shop
Safety Equipment: Leather gloves and eye protection
Files, file card, 220, 400, 600, 1,000 grit sanders, and a leather strop impregnated with green rubbing compound.
Refer to the Ax Anatomy chart below if you’re unfamiliar with any of the terminology in the tutorial.
Shop Maintenance System
You may sharpen your axes differently. This is the system I use to maintain my working axes. The condition of vintage axes I restore varies from light rust removal with a wire wheel to major vinegar bath and material removal with a file. This post is not intended to cover the complete restoration process of old axes. It’s a maintenance step to keep working axes sharp. Even “out of the box” axes likely need to be honed before severing wood fibers.
Belt Sanding
All new-to-me vintage ax bits typically go on the belt sander first. Hold the axhead so that the sanding belt moves from the poll of the ax to the bit. The other way around will end up severing the sanding belt. Work the bit from toe to heel on the part of the belt that gives way to pressure. In this way, the belt conforms to the convex grind angle of the ax bit.
This is my sweet spot on my homemade belt sander.
Make a few passes on one side and repeat on the other side of the bit. I sand both sides maybe three times with 80 grit depending on the need. Swap out to 120 grit and repeat the process.
I don’t use leather gloves. I want to feel the warmth of the ax bit during the sanding process. The axhead is dipped in water several times throughout the process to keep it cool and preserve the temper of the bit.
Hand Sanding
Hand sanding can be done without a vise (see Rooster’s video below). However, my Rigid floor vise makes the process easier and faster. Clamp the handle in the vise with the axhead perpendicular to the floor. Stand to the side and behind the bit you’re going to sharpen. Now would be the time you’ll want to wear leather gloves.
Below is a video demo of me sharpening my broad ax with a 12 inch bit…
Cut a strip of each grit to fit the drywall sanding handle(s). With as much sharpening as I do, multiply handles with each grit attached saves time from having to change out sand paper if using only one handle. Plus, I had these handles in my drywall box from my handyman days. Using them to sharpen axes is way more pleasurable than their intended use.
Begin swiping from heel to toe of the ax bit with the 220 grit sand paper. Move the sander in a semicircular motion. You’ll be reminded of Dustin Hoffman’s character in the movie Rain Man with all the counting you’ll be doing. I stroke one side 30 times. There’s no magic number to this and you don’t have to count – it’s just what I do. I flip single bit axes in the vise and sand the other side 30 times. For my double bit axes, I reposition on the opposite side and stroke the second bit before flipping the ax.
On the second grit, 400, I change from a “heel to toe” direction to a “toe to heel” stroke. This helps me see how well I’m replacing the previous scratches on the bit left by the 220 grit. Continue changing grits and direction until you make it to the highest sanding grit. Most times, I only need to go to 600 grit and a good stropping to get my working axes Sherpa Sharp. I rarely go up to 1,500 grit unless I’m sharpening a new-to-me ax.
Stropping
I glued an old leather barber’s strop to a wooden handle years ago. I rub green compound into the leather and use it in the same way as the sanding handles. I only strop the bit about 10 times on each side to remove any burrs and give the bit a mirror finish.
Rooster even made a strop for a drywall sanding handle. He demonstrates his full method in the updated video below.
Rooster’s method produces remarkable results. The foam pad under the drywall sanding handles allows the sandpaper to conform to the convex shape of the bit. So simple a novice can do it!
Field Maintenance System
There have been times when I lay into a tree and notice the bit not penetrating the wood fibers very well. This is usually because I failed to sharpen my ax in the shop before heading out. You may be tempted to overcompensate with more power in each stroke. Not a wise idea. This will lead to early fatigue, damage to the handle, and possible injury. Stop swinging and touch up the bit.
Puck It
For years I’ve used a Lansky Puck to touch up axes in the field. The course side is 120 grit with the other side being 280 medium grit. The medium grit (280) is all I use to hone in the field. I use water, not oil, on my puck since I always have water available. Sometimes I use it dry. Either way, I rarely use this stone if I’ve “Rooster’d” my axes in the shop beforehand.
Grip the puck so that your fingers and thumb are not hanging over the bottom of the stone for obvious reasons. Make several circular strokes down and back on one side of the ax bit. Flip to the opposite side of the bit and repeat. I like to hold the ax so its bit in my line of sight. I can adjust the angle of the puck to meet the bit edge as needed. For double bit axes, I sink one bit into a stump to hold the ax in place while sharpening.
I strop the edge with the leather ax sheath to remove burrs as a final step. A piece of wood can also be used as a strop.
I apply a coat of DiY Fixin’ Wax to the axhead when I think about it. This helps prevent rust, which isn’t usually a problem until carbon steel sets for a while. Due to the beef tallow content in my Fixin’ Wax, it also helps to remove pine sap from my tools.
Steven Edholm (SkillCult) has a video of how he made a field “puck” from a Japanese water stone. Pretty creative. The stone has 250 and 1,000 grit sides. I have a stone like this but haven’t made the field puck yet.
We’re interested in learning how you keep your working axes sharp. Let us know in the comments, please.
P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking hereor on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there…
A boot full of blood. Tenons and bones severed. A tourniquet to stop arterial bleeding.
After watching the video footage of the ax striking my foot, all of the above should have happened but didn’t. I kept working on the log cabin. In fact, a whole month passed before a coworker noticed and asked how I sliced my boot.
“Huh?”
“Your boot. How’d you cut it?”
Inspection at school.
I really had no idea. I would have remembered almost lopping my foot off. No recollection of me bent down like a toddler filling his diaper, mouth gaping in terror, in search of blood. I racked my memory.
An axman should remember and learn from close calls. I dug into old video footage and found the ax-boot encounter.
In all my years of swinging axes, I’ve never been bit seriously. Blood has dripped from minor nicks while handling an ax or in the sharpening process. But never in full swing.
At the 1:22 mark in the video below, you’ll see how I violated the Frontal Zone Rule by dangling my foot over the log like bait over the rail of a deep-sea fishing boat.
Did Danner Defy Physics?
Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Forces occur in pairs. Each force is of equal strength but in opposite direction. Even though the two forces are equal, this does not mean that they will cancel each other and stop movement.
Nothing defies the physical laws of nature except comic book superheroes. My Explorer boots reached Superman status after stopping a speeding ax.
Dan, a buddy of mine, said I should bronze the boots and place them on my mantle as a family heirloom. He has a good point. Even with the ax gash, I still wear them to school everyday to teach traditional outdoor skills. On weekends building my log cabin, they remain watertight and too comfortable not to wear.
Boots still on the ground in our outdoor classroom.
American Made Craftsmanship
I keep my working axes honed and shaving-sharp. The ax strike separated the inside edge of my boot sole, surgically splitting one stitch, and slicing the leather upper. I really expected the adjacent stitching to begin to fail. Two and a half months of daily wear since the ax-ident and not a stitch has unravelled. These Superman boots are built to last. Thanks to Danner’s superior, Made in America craftsmanship, my foot is not a nub!
Thank you, Danner!
Buy Once, Cry Once
“Price is what you pay and value is what you get.”
~ Warren Buffet
Buying high quality boots is like old-fashioned window shopping. The item catches your eye. You really want it. Then you see the price tag. There’s no way you can pay that price. But you still go out of your way to walk past that window daily to get another look and dream of owning the thing.
Your desire hasn’t changed, you’re just not willing to pay the price.
Price is painful once but value lasts long-term. You see, I wanted a pair of high-quality, American-made boots, that could be resoled after many years of tramping in the woods. Even after the ax sliced my boot, not one tear rolled down my face. My foot is worth more than the price of these fine boots! I’m a lifetime customer now. If Danner can’t re-craft the sliced leather upper, I’ll continue to wear them as a sober reminder while swinging axes.
Fit, Finish, Break-In
Opening the box and holding these brand new boots made me smile. The seams were double-stitched with precision. One feature I like about these Explorers is the minimum amount of seams in the boot. This can only reduce the chances of leakage or snags when tramping through rough terrain and bogs. Even the laces are made of quality material.
The Vibram sole grips wet and dry soil like a mama hugging her son returning from war. The wide rubber sole adds stability and amazing traction. I typically trim pine bark off the top of logs where I’ll place my feet when under bucking with my double bit ax. This step is not needed since I bought the Explorers. The aggressive treads hold my feet in place securely on the bark. The only surface I’ve found they don’t grip is freshly peeled inner pine bark (see above blooper video). A man would need hobnail boots to stand on this slick stuff!
Nature’s slippy slide
I kept an old pair of boots in my truck the first week I wore my Explorers. Never needed to use the spares. No hot spots on my heels or other suspected pressure points I would normally feel from snug fitting leather boots. I played around with the lacing to fine tune the fit over that first week. The full-grain leather upper began mating to my feet like the soft breath of wool socks on a winter day. These rugged boots love my feet and punish rocks and roots – even axes.
If you want a boot that can handle the rigors of building an off-grid log cabin, rugged backwoods adventures, and still look good at the office, pay the price and get yourself a pair of Explorers. If you want lightweight, synthetic, Vegan friendly, foreign-made footwear, look elsewhere. Danner Explorer full-grain leather bootsare handcrafted from top to bottom in Portland, Oregon (Made in USA).
One of my grandsons will receive my Superman boots when I’m gone with the story of how they saved my foot that hot July day in Georgia.
P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking hereor on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there…
I think I now understand why so many pioneer log cabins had packed dirt floors.
Ease of construction may have been the #1 reason. Lacking dimensional lumber, time, and labor, a dirt floor was an easy solution. You weren’t necessarily poor, but the term, “dirt poor”, stuck. Believe it or not, there’s a growing number of wealthy folk returning to earthen floors.
With my self-reliance on trial, I wanted a wooden floor for my little log cabin in the woods… complete with a front porch overlooking the creek. As promised in our last article, here’s what I came up with for my budget floor support system.
Round Log Floor Joists
A big box hardware store is a 10 minute drive from the cabin site. They sell dimensional lumber of all sizes to speed up the build. However, this whole “self-reliance on trial” thing had me going another direction.
The living area with five log joists set in place.
When I first started this project in February, the cabin dimensions were going to be a cozy 8’x10′. The first tree I felled was bucked into 10 foot sections for the 8 foot walls. Since expanding the cabin size to 10’x12′, the 10 footers wouldn’t work for wall logs. Bingo! These would become my floor joists.
Hew One Side Flat
Ax-cut logs need to be sawn flat on both ends to start the hewing process. Secure the log to cribbing with log dogs. Last year I made two from half-inch rebar which work fine. Hammer one point into the log and the other into the cribbing log. Repeat on the other end of the log.
I choose the side with the fewest knots to hew. Pine knots are a curse from the devil for hewers. The chosen side is turned and secured to the cribbing perpendicular to the ground. Dog the log before marking plumb lines.
Measure the center of the log end horizontally and place a mark at the halfway point. Place a level on the mark vertically and draw a plumb line. Do the same operation to draw a level horizontal line through the center mark. You should now have two lines intersecting to form a cross hair on the end of the log. Repeat this step on the other log end.
One more plumb line to draw before we’re done. Determine how much wood you want to remove from the side of the log. Place the level at that point and draw a vertical plumb line. I took off about an inch of wood which created ample flat surface on the joists.
Plumb and level lines drawn
Where this second plumb line meets the top of the round log, use a knife or ax to score a slit through the line. Drive a nail shallow in the cross hair. Hook the string of a chalk line box to the nail. Slip the string into the slit at the top of the log and run the chalk line to the other end of the log. Secure it in the other slit you made. While holding the line in the slit, reach down the line with your other hand and pull the chalk line up vertically, not horizontally. Release and the sting to “snap” or “pop” the chalk line.
The chalkline secured in the ax slit at the top of the line to be hewed.
By the way, all my logs have been debarked. If hewing with bark on the log, strip off a section of bark where the chalk line will be snapped. Read more about hewing with the bark on in this article.
Scoring
Scoring is the process of making relief cuts down the side of the log to remove the bulk of wood before hewing to the line. With so little wood to remove from the floor joist, I thought slash cuts would be best. Slashing is a series of overlapping 45 degree cuts about 4 inches apart down the length of the log. However, the logs had seasoned enough to make it difficult to remove wood after slashing.
Slash scoring with the log turned 30 degrees added too much extra work.
I ended up cutting “V” notches about a 8 inches apart down the log side. The raised wood between the notches are called jogs or joggles. The joggles were removed close to the chalkline with my ax. The log floor joists were all in the 6-8 inch diameter range. Not large enough to stand on to cut notches with my long-handled felling ax. I stood on the opposite side of the log and cut notches using a 26 inch boy’s ax. Make sure that the notches go all the way to the line and are plumb through to the bottom of the log.
Joggling or Juggling
Now is the time to remove the joggles. On these small logs, I used the grub bit of my double bit felling ax mostly. The 36 inch handle allowed me to swing almost upright, saving my back. Removing this excess wood can be the most dangerous part of the whole hewing process. A forceful swing is needed to knock off the protruding joggles. Be aware of where your legs and feet are before swinging.
I hewed several logs with my double bit only.
My most comfortable stance was to straddle the log with my right foot well to the right of the log. A slight bend at the waist and knees adds insurance that the ax will strike the ground and not my boot. The grub bit will strike the ground as it passes through the wood from time to time. Wood chips create a barrier between the bit and ground as the process continues.
A safer way to remove joggles is to rotate the log on the cribbing about 30 degrees (captured two photos above). A lateral swing (out of the frontal zone) is used with the log between you and the moving ax. You’ll need to re-plumb the log before hewing to the line.
Hewing
With a thin layer of wood (1/2 inch or less) proud of the chalkline, hewing begins. I used my broad ax on some, and the double bit felling ax on others. I’ve become fond of using the longer double bit even for hewing. It dealt with lighter’d knot better. I found that once the joists were rough-hewn with the double bit, I could set them in the sill log notches and comfortable hew high spots by swing horizontally with my broad ax. And it could be done while I sat on the adjacent joist.
Hewing to the line with the double bit ax. This log was almost too short to use. Notice the ax-cut end almost makes a nice tenon.
The angle in which the double bit struck the wood had to be adjusted. It’s not a vertical swing like the broad ax. Once the angle is dialed in, the wood begins to slice off. I actually obtained smoother finishes using the double bit over the broad ax. I got closer to the chalkline as well. Keep in mind, this is rough-hewn lumber.
Mortise and Tenon
Before joists could be set, a level line was needed on the inside of the sill logs. Using a water level, I penciled in marks on all four corners. A chalkline was snapped to give me a level line on the two sill logs where the top of the joists would rest.
I marked the sill logs at 2 foot intervals for joist positions along the 12 foot walls. Mortise joints (pockets) were cut into the sill log with a 2 inch chisel and dogwood maul. The mortise pockets measured about 2″x4″. Each joist measurement, from pocket to pocket, was different. Working with round logs of differing diameter is entirely different from building with dimensional lumber.
The faint blue chalkline is still visible. This joist needed to be lowered. I switched to red chalk as it seemed to last longer.
Tenons were cut on the ends of each joist to match the mortise pockets. Joists were set and raised or lowered to meet the level line on the sill logs. A simple wedge of wood underneath or trim of the tenon did the trick.
Mortises chiseled to 2″x4″ dimensions.
Leveling Joists
The four-foot level on top of the aluminum bar extended my reach to four joists at once.
Though each joist tenon met the level line on the sill logs, rough-hewn logs will have high spots… at least from a hewer like me. I used a long piece of rectangular aluminum as a straightedge coupled with a 4′ level to ride atop four of the five joists. I moved the level from sill to sill checking for high spots and dips in the joists.
Close enough!
Taking a comfortable sitting position on an adjacent joist, I planed the high spots down with the broad ax. This was a great change of pace on how I typically swing this heavy hewing ax. Recheck level, plane, recheck, plane… until my OCD subsided. It’s close enough for an off-grid log cabin in the woods!
After shimming and shaving to level joists, I carved and drove wooden wedges into the mortise pockets to take away any wiggle that might be present in the joints. I’m following the same process for the front porch log joists. I’m running 3 long joists perpendicular to the living area joists with a girder underneath at the halfway point. The 6’x12′ front porch will provide hours of relaxing ambiance as creek water tumbles over rocks.
P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking hereor on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there…
As the song says, “I started out with nothing, and I’ve got most of it left.”
Those lyrics summed up my feelings since starting this log cabin project in February. I all I had to show for my effort was a bunch of skinned logs scattered through the woods and fields. That all changed this summer. Here’s the progress as of mid July…
Setting Sill Logs
I had my doubts about dry-stacked stone piers as my foundation. The largest sill log measured 14 inches in diameter by 18 feet long. A handy online log calculator estimated the weight for this one log to be 925 pounds. The stones/boulders were far from flat. I did my best to shim them with smaller stones to keep them steady.
Dry-stacked stone piers have supported log cabins for hundreds of years… but I had my doubts.
I spent way too much time with a water level trying to ensure all the piers were the same height. Round logs are not dimensional lumber. Get the stones close to the same height and lay logs on top.
In all honesty, my plan was to use only hand tools for this trial of self-reliance. Trees were felled and bucked with an ax, debarked with a bark spud and draw knife, and hauled to site by me as the mule pulling my LogRite Junior Arch… until I attempted to move those half-ton sill logs. A real mule was needed for this job.
My best friend Philip had just finished skinning the two sill logs when Allen, the land owner, walked up to visit. He told us he had just acquired a Kawasaki Mule. Perfect!
Philip taking a break after debarking one of the 925 pound sill log with the barking spud in the foreground.
Even with Junior hooked to the back-end of the Mule, the big sill logs were a beast to haul back to the cabin site. But it worked!
Log Lifting Tripod
Lifting close to a half a ton of wood, even a few feet off the ground, would require a lot of mechanical advantage using simple machines. Dead cedars were cut and lashed together to form a tripod. The largest leg/pole was about 6 inches in diameter. Standing this heavy tripod up by myself was like watching the Three Stooges. Wish I had filmed this for some comic relief.
Here’s the video of how I lashed the tripod for those interested…
After positioning the tripod over the heaviest sill log, I attached a four-to-one block and tackle system at the top of the tripod. Upon testing the pulley system, I could only lift the log a couple of inches. Not good. I quickly realized that, even if I was able to lift the log, I could not hold the log in place by myself and control the placement on the piers with precision. I needed a lifting device I could control when working alone. I bought a one-ton chain fall (hoist) for $60 the next day. This one tool revolutionized the job!
The chain fall rigged to the tripod made light work of heavy logs.
Our video below shows how maneuverable the logs are when choked at the balance point.
Sill Logs Notched and Set
I positioned the first sill log on the ground next to the piers to mark for notching. I made relief cuts with my bow saw on each mark about one inch deep. I used a boy’s ax to remove wood chips between the saw cuts. This produced a flat surface for the log to rest on the non-flat stone piers.
Flat notches were cut using a buck saw and ax.
I re-choked the log with the tow strap near the bottom of the log. Lifting by myself with the chain fall, the log slowly turned until the notches faced down. Then the log was lifted to the height needed to be lowered onto the piers. On the way up, the log scraped the side of the piers toppling a few. I re-stacked them and lowered the log cautiously. They held up fine but had a touch of wobble. Small rock shims were inserted to steady the piers.
After months of preparation, the feeling of seeing a huge log off the ground and resting on rocks was pure excitement!
The first log up!
Square Corners
The next day I set the second log to create the first corner. How do you make corners square using different sized logs which are not even? Here’s how I did it…
The corner nail is near the head of the hammer where the two chalk lines intersect. The tape measure forms the hypotenuse of the right triangle.
I’ve used the Pythagorean Theorem many times to square corners using dimensional lumber. You need straight lines for this to work. I popped a chalkline down the center of each log. I tacked a nail at the intersection where the two lines crossed in the corner. From that corner nail, I measured three feet down the chalkline and tacked another nail. On the other log, I measured four feet and drove in a nail. I lifted the second log just enough to allow me swing in or out until the distance from both nails measured five feet. This creates a 3-4-5 right triangle ensuring the logs are perpendicular in the corner. A 6-8-10 triangle would be more accurate, but I was by myself and didn’t want to stretch a tape measure 10 feet from nail to nail.
Tight-Pinned Corners
The Butt and Pass method requires no notches. Metal pins hold the logs together to create a sturdy, solid structure.
The brace and bit used to make pilot holes for the rebar pins.
I cut 1/2 inch rebar in 20 inch lengths at my shop. Back at the build site, I use a brace and bit to bore a 1/2 inch hole almost through the first log. Probably should drill all the way through but almost through seems to work. Now I drive the pin through the pilot hole and into the adjacent log. I started using a 6 pound sledge with a 36 inch handle. My accuracy suffered. The long handle also kissed my ribcage a few times while hammering bent over. We sawed the handle in half and found it to be the ticket.
A twenty inch rebar pin hammered flush.
A note worth mentioning on driving pins. If you miss hit and bend the pin, stop. Straighten the pin as best as possible before pounding more. A bent pin will find its way through the side or top of the adjacent log. Once all four corners were pinned together, the sill logs became unbelievably steady on the piers.
Log Floor Joists
3 of 5 log floor joists set in sill logs. I’ll explain the leveling process on our next article.
I’ve begun hewing log floor joists. Dimensional lumber would speed up the process but I want to use as many raw resources as possible on the cabin. One side of a log gets hewn flat and notched with tenons on both ends. The tenons will mate with mortises notched into the sill logs. I’ll do a more detailed article on what I’ve got planned for the floor system.
Until then, here’s our latest video on the floor system…
P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking hereor on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there…
School is out for summer. Here’s a look in the rear view mirror at our first year of Project Based Learning at RISE Academy.
Our students and staff wish to thank each of you for the encouraging words, moral support, and following our journey of Doing the Stuff of Self-Reliance! Below is a pictorial recap (picture-heavy) of the skills, projects, and links to more in-depth posts for those interested in learning these skills.
Cutting Tool Safety and Use
Carving tent stakes.
Aware of his “blood circle”
How to safely chop kindling.
The draw knife was a hit with the students.
Cutting rounds for “burn and scrape” spoons and bowls.
Early in the school year, we decided to build an outdoor classroom. Nothing too fancy but functional for our needs. Students used math skills to square corners, learned to read a tape measure (fractions), and lashed the bamboo structure together. Their lashings held fast even through Hurricane Irma.
We have a joke around school when I’m asked, “What are we doing today?” My typical response is, “Cutting and burning stuff.” You may not get it, but fire takes center stage in the life of our outdoor classroom. Learning to use fire as a tool is paramount for outdoor living and education.
A simple way to introduce primitive technology to students is to make a Hoko knife. This stone cutting tool was discovered on the Hoko River archeological site in Washington State. A landslide destroyed the native fishing village about 2,700 years ago preserving artifacts of their material culture.
The flint flake compressed in a split stick with natural cordage.
Some were wrapped with modern cordage (tarred mariner’s line).
A simple dart-throwing stick with a handle on one end and spur (male end) or socket (female end) on the other end. The dart, a flexible spear, mates with the spur/socket when thrown. Typically about two feet long, an atlatl employs leverage to extend the arm’s length to propel a dart further and with more velocity than when thrown using only the arm.
I’ve also created a RISE Academy Playlist on our YouTube channel. if you’d like to see our students Doing the Stuff, click on the video link below:
Many Thanks!
The things we have to learn before we do them, we learn by doing them.
~ Aristotle
We cannot thank you enough for all the support and encouragement you’ve given our students whom you’ve never met! The full impact of this journey in experiential education may never be known. It’s difficult to quantify. But you can see it in their eyes and hear it in their voice.
Some of you have asked how you might help in more tangible ways. Stay tuned for updates on becoming a partner/sponsor with RISE Academy. Until then…
P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking hereor on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there…
Photo and Video Credits: Many of the photos were taken by Mr. Chris Andrews (teacher) and various RISE students. Video footage was shot mainly by students and guided by Mr. Michael Chapman (teacher).
Snap! My ax handle was in two pieces. Now what? Would I sink or rise above a tool failure?
The good news is that my truck was a short walk from fixed camp. I crossed the creek, pulled a hill, and grabbed another ax from my truck. The day was saved.
Every outing is different. People have different styles and tastes. Skill sets vary. I’m now knee-deep into building a log cabin in the woods with hand tools. You better believe I carry more than a knife and belt ax to the project. I bring what I need to make the job easier. Here are the most used tools at this stage of felling, bucking, and debarking logs…
Axes
Bark Spud
LogRite Jr. Arch
Cant Hook
Once the walls begin to be laid, my tool box will expand considerably. This cabin project isn’t a camping trip. An ax is the only tool from the above list that goes camping with me. Tools in your kit should be able to multitask but some are trip or mission specific. I have different kits depending on how I want to play in the woods.
The internet is full of proselytizers. One denomination promotes Kit Dogma. Others preach from the Skill Cult pulpit. If you don’t convert to one side or the other, you’ll be damned to hell if you’re ever in that dreaded “survival situation.” Can I get a witness!?
Note: When using the term “Skill Cult,” I’m not referring to Steven Edholm’s excellent YouTube channel and blog. While I can’t speak for Steven personally, I think he’d agree with me on the point I’m about to make. He uses and makes a variety of tools coupled with self-reliant skills for the stuff he’s doing. I highly recommend checking out his content if you haven’t already!
Kit Dogma vs Skill Cult
Believe it or not, grown men get their under britches in a wad over kit and skills. Virtual fist fights break out about the best knife, ax, saw, and get this, which trousers are best. The same is true if you ask which skill is most important to a woodsman. It’s a symphony of swollen egos chanting, “We’re NUMBER 1! We’re NUMBER 1!”
At what?
The internet has done us no favors in this department. New pilgrims see all this and think they have to pick sides. Failing to question the nonsense, they’re lured into the trap of conformity. And lists. And rules. And hero-worship.
The truth, however, will set you free!
Here’s the truth…
You need both kit and skill.
The pesky part of this truth is you must have a deep desire to learn how to use your kit to improve your skills through your experiences. This truth is the hardest for most of us to wrap our heart and hands around.
Kit Dogma
Dogmatic attitudes are displayed in more than just religion and politics. Beware of kit evangelists who aggressively enforce sacred cow gear.
Which kit items are essential? This begs another question… for what? What ya doing in the woods? Car camping, hiking, canoeing, backpacking, hunting, tramping, photography, fishing, primitive camping, foraging, Classic Camping, building shelter, etc., etc., … you get the picture.
Members of the ACORN Patrol at the 2017 Kephart Days. These folks know a thing or two about camp comforts.
Here’s a thought…
Bring what you need to the woods. No shame in packing the gear you need to match your skill level. Camp comfortably, no matter how many sacks of stuff it takes. This ain’t a competition. Play by your rules on your home field. With each trip to the field, you’ll figure out what to leave home or add on your next outing.
Marketers teach us, the consumer, why we should choose one product or service over competitors. I’ve heard some disgruntled woodsmen complain that Madison Avenue has set up shop in the woods. There’s nothing new about this trend. At the height of the Golden Age of Camping (1880-1930), Henry Ford, Abercrombie & Fitch, Duluth Pack, Pendleton, and others made lots of money selling sporting goods to outdoorsmen. Young’uns are shocked when I point out the history behind the expensive “A&F” logo on their apparel.
Let’s be honest, we’re all gear junkies to some extent. It’s easy to miss the point of kit collections. All this stuff is just shiny gadgetry unless we anchor them to the landscape with skills. Our lineage always leads us back to the land.
Through years of camping, my constant companions have been my ax and knife. There aren’t many tools which have enhanced my comfort around the campfire more than these. Of course, my trusty thumb drill (Bic lighter) is always in my pocket. No, I don’t always use primitive friction fire methods. Yes, I have backup fire-makers depending on my intentions. Some hardcore folk may frown upon this dependable open flame, but, again, match your kit with your skill level.
Here’s something else to keep in mind concerning kit selection. A YouTuber unboxes a tool and talks fit and finish. Don’t bristle, it’s just that I’ve never found “shiny object” reviews to provide practical help. Videos of someone actually using the tool in the field is better, but not enough. I need to wrap my hands around it and see how it fits my needs.
Skill Cult
My interests range from Stone Age technology to modern camping. And I have kits to fit this wide spectrum.
I’ll confess that I lean heavily toward skill cult. This doesn’t discount the need for quality gear in my journey. I’m all about buying/making dependable gear that fits me and suits the stuff I’m doing.
My blue-collar overland rig is a roof top tent atop a homemade utility truck body. One of the reasons I love this trailer is that it reminds me of Daddy’s old 1970 model GMC plumbing/welding truck. With calloused hands, he taught me the lessons of his trade, work ethic, and the value of a hard days work.
My working-man upbringing translates well into outdoor living skills. It takes hard work and patience to not only develop these skills, but keep them in proper context.
I’ve found in my experience that when skills grow, kits shrink. Practicing primitive skills may seem silly to modern campers. However, these primal first skills are the common denominator linking us to our past and the land. Making fire by twirling sticks together, for instance, takes careful attention to detail on every step of the fire-making process. That’s the practical part of primitive fire. The priceless piece is the flame lit in my soul.
Mullein on mullein hand drill coal
Which skills are essential for your camp? However you answer, the essence of our discussion here is the context of how these skills (and kits) relate to you and your wilderness.
These are my baseline recommendations. Your camping style may differ…
Shelter – Tents and tarps for modern shelter. You can never have too many tarps when camping. Primitive shelters are good to know how to build but take lots of time and energy. And there’s that context thing. Take what you need for comfort and dress for the weather.
A chuck box passed down to one of our Scouts from his grandfather.
On your journey from tenderfoot to thoroughbred camper, remember, don’t drink the proverbial Kool-Aid. Discover your essential kit items, through actual experience, which will enhance the skills necessary to sleep at night in your wild places.
P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking hereor on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there…
On the heels of my ax-work classes at the Georgia Bushcraft Spring Gathering, I wanted to cover some of the risks of swinging a tree clever. It’s our job to mitigate some of the risk. Even then, accidents happen.
At the Gathering, my buddy, Karl, shared a recent ax injure he incurred when his ax glanced from the wood he was splitting. He graciously, or not so gracious if you have a weak stomach, allowed me to share his injure here for educational purposes.
********* WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS OF BLOOD AND A OPENED FOOT **********
The ax glanced and struck Karl on the top of his left foot severing one bone completely and halfway through the second bone.
The two bones circled took the brunt of the blow.
A nasty ax gash.
Shoes, even leather boots, aren’t much of a deterrent to a sharp ax.
Stitched and cleaned up.
The photos above make it crystal clear how dangerous a moving ax can be. However, not all injuries to wood choppers come from the business end of the ax meeting flesh, or from negligence. Trees don’t always cooperate. They’re known to drop dead limbs on unsuspecting victims below. Trees and axes are not to blame. They do what they do without malice or remorse.
Taking an ax to the woods with the intent of chopping is serious business. 99% of my ax work is done alone in the woods. Even though I try to employ best-practices, the risk of becoming a victim is always in the forefront of my mind. I’m no expert and my ax-related advice should not be trusted but verified through experience.
5 Deadly Sins of Ax-Work
Vernon Law is credited with saying, “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.”
We can never eliminate all the dangers of swinging an ax. We can only lessen the gravity of missing the mark through commonsense risk management. The good news is… true repentance will change your actions, and, hopefully, save you from the pain of these painful mistakes.
1.) Arrogance
“Only the penitent man shall pass.” ~ Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
The toughest woodsman is no match for tonnes of wood crashing to the forest floor. Even a wrist-size limb falling from 50 feet above can crush a shoulder or skull. While toughness is a fine virtue, be humble. The moment an axman approaches his work with superiority and a been-there-done-that attitude is the moment he gets blindsided.
There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance. Confident ax skills inspire. Arrogance will get you hurt or killed. This holds true more so for seasoned axmen than beginners, and, in my experience, men over women.
2.) Entanglements and Hang Ups
Any obstruction in the ax swing arc must be cleared before work begins. Check overhead for nearby limbs and vines which may snag and deflect an ax in mid swing. I’m obsessive about removing the smallest twig when standing on top of logs to buck. I figure if I’m swinging inside my frontal zone (described below) inches from my feet, I can’t afford a stroke to veer.
A screen shot from a recent video of an overhead limb which snagged my ax.
Fell enough trees and you’ll have one hang up mid-fall. My first strategy, if the tree butt didn’t release from the hinge, is to try to free it from the stump. Some times the impact on the ground will jar the hang up loose. If not, I’ve had some success moving the butt of the tree backward using a long lever pole. Place the lever under the butt end and lift repeatedly to slide the tree butt backwards until it releases.
A safer and less strenuous way is to use a come-along attached to an anchor behind the tree stump. Without a modern come-along, a powerful winch can be made from two logs and a rope/cable. Ratchet the tree butt until it releases. You may be tempted to cut the offending tree which caused the hang up. This is a high-risk endeavor. Be sure to have all your medical/life insurance up to date. You and/or your surviving family will likely need it.
One hazard I hope to never encounter again was the yellow jacket sting between my eyes on my downward stroke in the video below. You’re only defense is to run like you stole something!
3.) No Exit Strategy
When felling trees with an ax or saw, preparing two or three escape routes is wise. When the tree begins its decent, get out of Dodge on a pre-determined path. The safest exit is at 30 degree angles from the back notch of the tree. Put your back against the tree and extend your arms like you’re about to give your mama a hug. Your arms are pointing to your best escape paths. Next safest is in a line opposite of the direction of fall. If this path is chosen, or the only option, put great distance between you and the stump to prevent a kickback from nailing your body to the ground.
Escaping perpendicular to the line of fall increases the risk of being struck by falling limbs from adjacent trees. I’ve witnessed trees “jump” and roll several feet to the side of the stump hinge by contacting adjacent tree limbs during the fall. Another overlooked danger is a dead spot halfway up the tree which breaks and falls back toward the woodsman as the bottom half falls in the direction of its lay. Be vigilant, drop your ax, and sprint for your life.
Fortunately this log snapped halfway up and fell sideways from where I was standing.
4.) Violating the Frontal Zone
There are two basic ax swings: lateral and vertical. Certain guidelines should be followed for each swing. Take a look at the diagram below to better understand your frontal zone.
Adapted from The Ax Book
In The Ax Book, which I recommend you devour until the pages are dog-eared, Dudley Cook describes the frontal zone as two parallel lines running along side the outside edges of your feet when chopping. All lateral swings should be outside the parallel lines, always. The inertia of an ax in full, extended-arm swing only stops when acted upon by an external force. The ax head has a stopping point, and that point could be your body if you disregard the frontal zone guidelines.
There are two relatively “safe” strokes one can make within the frontal zone: a.) backed up, and b.) bucking. The backed up stroke is what beginning choppers are most familiar – splitting wood on a chopping block. The solid chopping block offers a backstop for the moving ax. Of course, as in Karl’s case above, there remains inherit dangers. Watch our video below to gain some safety tips for splitting firewood, the most common ax-work of campers and homesteaders.
Bucking is simply separating a log into lengths. The diameter of the log to be bucked determines my technique. Larger diameter logs (12+ inch range) allow me to stand on top to cut two V notches. Swings are always below my feet. If I miss my intended target below my feet, my body is out of harms way.
I stand on the ground to buck smaller diameter logs. The log itself is my back up. Accuracy is essential at the top of the bucked notch when your feet are on the ground. Even though the log is between you and your legs, miss the top of the notch and you now have a non-backed up swing in the frontal zone… and a very bad ending.
Another video of ours demonstrates the importance of accuracy on the top of notch cuts when bucking on the ground…
A third stroke in the frontal zone, which I’ll mention, but do not recommend, is the most dangerous and best performed with a saw. Situations arise where a high limb needs to be removed. My risk management strategy is to choke up on my ax handle with one hand and strike the limb at a 45 degree angle without completely severing the limb. A few lighter followup blows usually separates the limb. My forward hand gives me more breaking power as the ax follows through.
5.) Washed in the Blood
“All bleeding eventually stops. The challenge is stopping blood loss before the supply runs out.”
Injuries related to axes and trees can be deadly. A first aid kit should be in close proximity to your work area. One item which you should consider carrying on your person is a tourniquet. If a catastrophic ax wound occurs where sever bleeding will result in death, this is your only option to see your family again. Practice applying this device on your own body before you actually need it.
A personalized first aid kit will treat the most common injuries such as scrapes, bumps, blisters, and bruises. I carry large sterile bandages, gauze rolls, and Band-Aids. My tourniquet fits in my cargo pocket of my kilt or pants. A few other items I include in my ziplock first aid bag are:
Acetaminophen for pain
Wound dressing
Tweezers and needle – mostly for tick removal, ugh
Aspirin, proven to assist in heart attack treatment
Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) for stinging/biting insects – plantain isn’t always available in the woods and I don’t react well to stings
A sharp hunk of steel flying freely through space is a scary sight… if you happen to spot it. It’s like shooting an arrow straight overhead and wondering where it will stick. Ax heads give an ample warning to observant axmen. A slight gap appears where the ax eye was seated on the handle. Continuing work with this slight slippage is full of hazards. Stop, re-seat the head, and pound a metal step wedge into the top of the handle. My working axes aren’t pretty, but they are tightly fit cutting tools.
Step wedges added in the field on my favorite double bit. Looks gnarly but hold this working ax head on securely.
Don’t lose your head! Take great care to keep your ax sharp and securely attached to the handle.
If you’re even slightly tempted by any of these deadly sins, put your ax down before you meet your Maker.
P.P.S – If you find value in our blog, Dirt Road Girl and I would appreciate your vote on Top Prepper Sites! You can vote daily by clicking hereor on the image below. Check out all the other value-adding sites while you’re there…
Less than a century ago, woodsmen skilled with an ax could chop wood all day and return to do it again, day after day. They were held in high esteem and highly sought after. Power saws and combustion engines sent yesteryear’s axes to hang on old barn walls. Today the usefulness of axes seems to be limited to splitting firewood… or, for the lumber sexual, as boutique wall-hangers.
How you choose to acquire wood is up to you. However, the steps of cutting timber hasn’t changed. A tree must be felled, limbed, bucked, and hauled. Like other aficionados of working axes, I enjoy experimenting with the potential of our most under-appreciated tool in the woods.
It doesn’t take long for the ax handle to transmit to an inexperienced axman’s brain, and his muscular system, that brute force only dulls the functionality of this tool. Fatigue and frustration are the result. And injury is not far behind. There are no secrets to becoming a proficient axman. However, there are a few techniques and strategies I’ve learned over the years which may shorten the learning curve.
Giving unsolicited advice is not my thing. But if you’d like to continue, here’s my take on thick ax handles, brute force, and working axes.
Heavy, Stupid, and Unreasoning
Watching a beginner axman swing is painful. I cringe when I think back on some of my early ax work. But ax-manship can only be improved through swinging sharp steel on the end of a stick. Like any other skill, practice makes permanent; whether good or bad.
When asked to coach someone new to the art of ax work, I try to convey the two types of force used – finesse and brute force. The origin of the word brute comes from the Latin word brutus, meaning “heavy, stupid, unreasoning.” Set the macho aside in ax work and you get a beautiful, rhythmic relationship between the wood and axman.
Muscling through wood is a white-knuckle affair. I broke my favorite double bit handle last year, not by over-strike or mishit, but by stupidly applying my full force throughout initial contact. The handle was thin, flexible, and a joy to use. Brute force ended its usefulness. It is now taped together and serves as a pattern when thinning down fat factory double bit handles.
Bucking eastern red cedar with the tuned handle on my best double bit.
Simply reducing my forward force just before the moment of impact would have allowed the inertia of the axhead to do the work. Giving that extra “push” through the strike does more harm than good. You’ll not only save ax handles, you’ll reduce some shock sent up the handle. A thinner handle flexes to help absorb and reduce the beating on your body. At least that has been my experience. Wielding an ax with brute force is not how the old timers lasted all day, day after day. This type of finesse is seldom mentioned or passed down to inexperienced axmen.
The resurgence of interest in axes is encouraging to see in outdoorsy groups. Axes are chic, sexy, and scary – all reasons we like them. The novice buys a high dollar ax and proceeds to break the fat factory handle, even after adding a bulky leather over-strike collar. Handle manufactures compensate for low Ax I.Q. with fatter handles. And then again, the age of working axes was so long ago that even commercial handle makers have no reference point as to what a handle should look like and feel like in the hands.
Thicker, modern handles are not the cure. Wrapping your hands around these clubs makes the uninitiated think they’ll never break. Stephen Edholm makes a logical argument (from actual experience with working axes) for thinner handles in the video below. Anyone who chopped all day with an ax will echo the same.
No replacement handle I’ve ever bought in recent memory was ready to hang and go to work. To be fair, there may be some turnkey handles out there. I’ve never found them. I either make my own or customize the club-like handles from hardware stores. Then there’s the rare occasion of finding that forgotten ax at an antique store or yard sale grandpa used before the chainsaw came along.
You can see the noticeable difference between the modern and old working ax handle below.
Power vs Finesse
On occasion, I have split toothpicks (Stim-U-Dent – matchstick size toothpicks) with my ax. I don’t say this to brag. It is, however, a lesson in muscle memory, striking where I look, and relaxing at the end of my swing. Knowing I’m not chopping heavy wood, I began to notice that I was unconsciously easing up about halfway into the downward arc of my natural swing. As a result, I’d hit my mark more times than not.
Striking where you look.
The human brain is a beautimus, complicated computer. Since few people actually use axes, baseball may help illustrate the point. A pitcher doesn’t aim the baseball as it leaves his outstretched arm. The ball is thrown, not aimed. There’s a significant difference in the two. The same goes for batting. I coached my players to throw their hands at the ball. This is oversimplified. But the brain tells a player when to grip the bat tightly and when to relax the grip. A death grip at the beginning of the swing tightens the muscles in the arms, shoulders, and upper torso causing the swing to be herky jerky. As a result, accuracy plummets since the “flow” is lost. Through years of drills, coordination, practice, and timing, batters learn that aiming won’t hit the target.
I don’t aim my ax. I look at the exact spot I want my blow to land. I then throw my hands through an imaginary plane from my nose to the small target. My only swing thought is “strike where I look.” My natural, controlled swing gets the job done more efficiently. Once you can strike where you look, power will follow accuracy.
Accuracy and Precision
Wasted ax strikes are frustrating and exhausting. Making every blow count takes a combination of accuracy and precision. At first glance, the two words seem the same. But in my world of teaching math and science, they have different meanings. Let’s apply them to working axes.
Accuracy is how close you come to the desired result. Precision is how consistently you get the same result using the same method. Translated to ax-manship, does my swing hit the target and is it consistent enough to repeatedly hit the target?
When bucking, I try to overlap each cut in a three to four swing pattern (depending on log diameter) down the face of the log. This overlapping pattern opens wood fibers to help prevent the ax bit from get stuck in the wood. Repeat this cutting pattern one double bit length wide from the first line of cuts. If accuracy and precision is dialed in, chips the size of the notch will go flying.
Developing accuracy and precision with working axes is like hauling logs, you gotta really want to do it. There’s not a lot of finesse in log hauling.
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