Place holder, gonna weigh in on ^^^^this when I have more time......
.......alright, let see. First, I am not a logger, nor do I pretend to be. However, I use a saw a lot. If I haven’t taken down 500 standing trees so far this year I haven’t taken any. Then there’s all the others that are already on the ground or bucked once in log length. An axe is indispensable for me while cutting when it comes to driving wedges when felling and bucking. Rarely I will have to get it down in the dirt to cut roots, but usually keep a cheap ass Pulaski around for that. In fact, I would say the design of the poll is more important to me than the bit itself, at least for my personal use.
For me, the poll needs to be large and wide as it makes up for occasional lack of accuracy and doesn’t damage the wedge as badly on a miss hit. The bit can be thin as I don’t use an axe to split wood, and want it to cut well should I need to free a saw as Lorien described or clip an occasional limb, maybe strip dirt packed bark before I go through it with the saw. The handle should be wood, in my opinion, on a large striking tool. Fiberglass and steel sucks for this application and is best left to the junk you find in the big box stores. Hickory is king in this department. I like them a little shorter than some as I am often just taking a tree between others that are staying up, so sometimes swinging room is limited. It is also why I do a lot of one handed swinging as well.
I too have settle on OXhead axes. I also find their steel to be durable in use and hard when it comes to honing and filing the edge. Currently I am using an OX 620H. It has a thin Rhineland pattern bit and a good large poll. It weighs around 2 1/2 pounds and is on a 20” piece of hickory. It would be about as close to perfect for my use as I have found so far. That doesn’t mean Nathan can’t make one that will whip it’s ass though!
What would blow my skirt up.....
A 2 1/2 to 3 pound head on a 20 to 24 inch piece of hickory.
Now, if
Nathan the Machinist
wants to have some fun and show off, he could do one or both of the following. Also, he needs to do something different or else why bother, there are a helluva lotta axes out there already.
Everyone gets all aroused whenever he says the word integral. So, how about an integral strike collar on the head to protect the handle?
Since we will never all agree on the weight, how about an interchangeable weight system that could take the same head from let’s say two pounds up to three pounds, or some other range like that?