Dutch - Oregon Trail

Ernest DuBois said:
The advantage is a clear sight and good body position in relation to the work on the billet standing on its chopping block
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I can relate to this. Near my stump I keep 2 broad hatchets, one a vintage True Temper with a straight handle and the other a newer Stubai hatchet with an offset handle. I seem to instinctively reach for the Stubai even though there's no danger of barking a knuckle in whatever carving I'm doing at the stump. The Stubai just somehow presents itself to the work easier. I hadn't really thought about it till now.
 
Kevin Houtzager said:
No, not on the poll. The one on the side of the blade? Within the oval. I've seen that logo a couple of times before. That was a cleaned logo from France with to swords (sort of scimitars?) I could probably figure the maker out, as wel as an aproximate period. I believe they where somewhere from around the 1960-1980.
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Kevin, your guess is as good as mine. I'm not sure I can take a better picture that will show more of the stamp than we can see already.
Here is a zoomed, cropped, and filtered shot.

Vienna.cherry by Agent Hierarchy
 
It's familiar, a flower, (tulip) in a U with circle. Wolfgang Jordan may have it recorded but I can never figure out how to use his website. Good photography AH.
 
Ok, and getting back to the more substantial point,
Square_peg said:
seem to instinctively reach for the Stubai even though there's no danger of barking a knuckle in whatever carving I'm doing at the stump. The Stubai just somehow presents itself to the work easier. I hadn't really thought about it till now.
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such a good, unbiased way to get acquainted with a good axe. I find myself in many situations also "automatically" reaching for the one axe over the other, consistently and over time.
 
Back to front. It’s an interesting thing to use – Big yet light. The handle I have for it stayed put without wedges yet long enough to get a feel for where my hands are for most comfortable use at a chopping block. The back is sanded smooth now and a decent angle is set to the edge. It does have a touch of “wave blade” from use but I’m not prepared just yet to take the whole edge back to meet it.


Vienna by Agent Hierarchy


Vienna by Agent Hierarchy


Vienna by Agent Hierarchy
 
A light broadaxe like that would be great for finishing or dressing a timber. Our American style broadaxes are designed to make quick work of roughing out a railroad tie or shaping a ship's timber.
 
It looks like much of the packing is on the outside of the off-set. Was this to get at the angle you were after? It's not a bad way of fine tuning the angle as long as it gives sufficient hold. Still making good use of your supply of cherry I see, looks nice.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
It looks like much of the packing is on the outside of the off-set. Was this to get at the angle you were after? It's not a bad way of fine tuning the angle as long as it gives sufficient hold. Still making good use of your supply of cherry I see, looks nice.
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Thank you for the feedback Ernest, it is much appreciated.

The eye on this is one interesting (or annoying, depending on how you look at it lol) So, I didn’t have enough wood mass to fill the eye in that corner – that is all me of course. The eye itself has some strange features that maybe weren’t actually features at all. The opening is, of course, smaller at the base than it is at the top-that is good. The rear of the eye at the poll seems to open up more than necessary, making it tough to shape and squeeze a handle through it while still filling the top of the eye.

Vienna by Agent Hierarchy

The front of the eye also has an exaggerated widening for about .25”-.33” that there is no way to fill. That space doesn’t drop down the eye to the base – kind of like a shelf right at the top. I like to think that it has a little German/Austrian notice that says “Add oil here”

Vienna by Agent Hierarchy

The extra wedging job was done on the “inside” of the curve if that is what you were commenting on:

Vienna by Agent Hierarchy

42803875254_4d4176dfd2_h.jpg

Vienna by Agent Hierarchy

The wedges were assembled in a way that I was able to drive each one independently as they stood at different heights then cut flush/staggered back and forth until they came together with that sound we all like to hear that tells you that your wedge(s) are seated (and one that says you started a crack lol). Choke cherry handle, hickory shims, and the crosswedges were commercially available Cherry planking that I picked up. It would be hard to pull apart.

I am honoring the “Cherry” but more than anything I own the experience of hanging this type of eye and the wedging.
 
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Probably a "It followed me home" post but in keeping with the Dutch/German/Austrian axe theme, a little German hewing/carpentry/carving hatchet that rode home with me today.

Friedrich Wilhelm Busch (FWB – Sr. or Jr. I can’t say). With the stag, it seems to line up with the holzwerken.de tool site's info on the Brothers Busch, Remscheid. It’s marked with “Germany” so I am unsure as to its age but it seems quite well built and wants to be put back to work.

From the above mentioned site:
hirsch_marke_3.jpg

https://www.holzwerken.de/museum/hersteller/hirsch.phtml


FWB.axt


FWB.axt


FWB.axt


FWB.axt


FWB.axt

The edge needs refining, the handle deserves a paint/lacquer strip, and a solid mounting on the handle. Likely it will be fine at paring smaller work into shape when it's set up.
 
The curve of the bit and shape of the axe remind me of Austrian axe makers Mueller and Stubai. The vertical lines in the grind pattern remind me of Solingen and other Rhine axe makers.
 
Square_peg said:
The curve of the bit and shape of the axe remind me of Austrian axe makers Mueller and Stubai. The vertical lines in the grind pattern remind me of Solingen and other Rhine axe makers.
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S Square_peg It does seem kind of reminiscent of both in build, now that you have mentioned it. I had a chance a while back to mess around with the GB large carving hatchet and liked it but it really wasn't on my list of needs at the price it commands. This axe is more along the lines of what I was thinking. The handle on this one isn't original to it and looks like a house axe/large hatchet handle that was modified to fit it. It seems like it would excel with a shorter handle in general. I just stripped it of paint and lacquer and it now looks like several sitting here ready to go but less sound. Given the pitting on the head and the condition of the handle it looks as though it were set down somewhere moist (ground, woodpile, corner o workshop maybe), handle up/head down for a good stretch - we'll see. I believe that is why it was possibly painted in the first place. The paint is not new but it looks prophylactic more than cosmetic to me. I used a knotted-steel wire-wheel on the back until nothing else would break free but left the speckles of yellow paint on the bottom, top, and front face of the bit.

Kevin Houtzager said:
The word you need to look for is Hirsch = Deer. That leaves a lot of possibilities, but after searching i've find this:
https://www.holzwerken.de/museum/hersteller/hirsch.phtml

So its a Gebrüder Busch axe from Remscheid.
Gebrüder = Brothers
Busch = Bush
The Bush Brothers is kind of cool sounding :cool:
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K Kevin Houtzager , "The Bush Brothers" sounds like a 60'-70's cover brand or maybe a small locally owned plumbing shop. Thank you for hunting information on it Kevin! The internet is universal but each of our languages is not. I very much appreciate it.

Ernest DuBois said:
You have your work all set out in front of you lapping that back-side. Have so much fun:)
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Its backside will be lapped and I've already started in earnest... - why does that seem inappropriate?...

E Ernest DuBois , there is some pitting in the bit that I am going to have to work out. That, in and of itself, is not an issue. Do you have a suggestion regarding lapping before worrying the edge or should I approach it more edge/bevel first and then flattening the back? The cutting "face" is the backside so I am wondering if one (edge or backside) before the other is a more efficient approach?

I've just started removing the rust layer from the edge to expose clean metal on the bevel and started lapping the back at 80grit to try to aggressively take some steel off to its lowest points. I've been working to keep it flat while lapping.

At 80grit, the streaks feel contrary to how I would sharpen an axe or clean a crosscut saw, but I assume as those ruts come out at higher grits and once it is closer to flat, I can make them disappear.

FWB.axt by Agent Hierarchy

I don't plan to plane it down to the deepest divot at the top, closest to the eye, as that portion doesn't contact wood as much as the first couple of inches. I do want it flat though. :thumbsup:
 
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