My Velvicut Hudson Bay showed up last week and I gotta say I am pretty impressed with the fit and finish. What I am most thrilled about though is the haft. It feels so good. Council Tool did an excellent job making it thin and narrow like the American axes of old. I can honestly say it feels even better than my Swedish ones. Excellent grain on this one too.
Here it is between my Wetterlings Scandinavian Forest Axe (sadly no longer being produced) and my Gransfors Bruk Wildlife Hatchet. I bought this axe to fill the gap between those two Swedes since the Scandinavian Forest axe is slightly too long and heavy to bring along for backpacking in my opinion, it is 26" and the Hudson Bay is just over 22" -- right about perfect for me.
So anyway, I finally got the chance this weekend to treat the handle. Sanded her down nice and smooth and then took a torch to it ever so slightly just for a tiny bit of the burnt grain look. Next came a boiled linseed oil and stain mix. Some love with 0000 steel wool afer that and she was done. I'm planning a trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains next month for a few nights out in the wild so that should give me a good chance to see how this axe performs.
Here it is between my Wetterlings Scandinavian Forest Axe (sadly no longer being produced) and my Gransfors Bruk Wildlife Hatchet. I bought this axe to fill the gap between those two Swedes since the Scandinavian Forest axe is slightly too long and heavy to bring along for backpacking in my opinion, it is 26" and the Hudson Bay is just over 22" -- right about perfect for me.
So anyway, I finally got the chance this weekend to treat the handle. Sanded her down nice and smooth and then took a torch to it ever so slightly just for a tiny bit of the burnt grain look. Next came a boiled linseed oil and stain mix. Some love with 0000 steel wool afer that and she was done. I'm planning a trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains next month for a few nights out in the wild so that should give me a good chance to see how this axe performs.
