High quality felling axe…

Captain Spaulding

Captain Spaulding

Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
1,140
Hey guys,

I am looking for a high quality felling axe. It is going to get used a lot and passed down to my daughter eventually. I am not terribly concerned about price I am am Dooley concerns with function and quality of build. Any thoughts?

I have been looking at Liam Hoffman’s work and Granfors Bruk.
 
tommytman said:
Council is making nice stuff at ok prices.

My favorite axes are 4.0 lbs to 5 lbs vintage axes. Wait to find a nice bit at a good price and put a handle on it. And you will be happy.
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Where does one find nice old axe heads nowadays? Not flea markets or estate sales around here. Can not remember the last time I saw one in the wild. I'd go quality new and never look back.

Check with forty two blades for his recommendations.
 
Boattale said:
Where does one find nice old axe heads nowadays? Not flea markets or estate sales around here. Can not remember the last time I saw one in the wild. I'd go quality new and never look back.

Check with forty two blades for his recommendations.
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Ebay I guess.
 
Boattale said:
Where does one find nice old axe heads nowadays? Not flea markets or estate sales around here. Can not remember the last time I saw one in the wild. I'd go quality new and never look back.

Check with forty two blades for his recommendations.
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Council Velvicut is nice, but softer than I'd want at the price point. Brant & Cochran is top of the line but only has up to a boy's axe size currently. There are a number of good makers out there besides Hoffman that are producing nice semi-custom work these days, but it'll take more digging to find one making what you want. Rinaldi makes good stuff but their axes are Italian stule so very different from an American or American-adjacent style axe. For overall value in American axes I prefer Council's standard Sport Utility line.
 
I run across old American heads all the time. Just about every antique gallery and pawn shop has a rusty/farm section. Mostly Collins and Kelly, usually in the $5-$40 range. eBay can be cheaper if you buy mixed lots or keep an eye out for free shipping. It’s a fun process if you’ve got a place to work. Buying new, I’ve gravitated toward HultsBruk, Hultafors, and Agdor, just because I like their quality/price point.

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Isn't there someone of us who finds great old American made axes in good condition from the usual second hand sources, cleans, sharpens, and rehangs them as users, and sells them at reasonable prices to other members of our little clan who are not talented enough to do the work themselves? I own way more users than I can justify. I'm just not ready to guarantee my work if I were to sell it to someone else. T-A
 
Perhaps Rinaldi Cadore stretto or American?
Or Hachas Jauregi Basque felling axe?
Whilst I do my very occasional axe felling with an old proper Fiskars (not the current fancy stuff) I have racing axes from both Rinaldi and Hachas Jauregi and both are quite good.
 
the-accumulator said:
Isn't there someone of us who finds great old American made axes in good condition from the usual second hand sources, cleans, sharpens, and rehangs them as users, and sells them at reasonable prices to other members of our little clan who are not talented enough to do the work themselves? I own way more users than I can justify. I'm just not ready to guarantee my work if I were to sell it to someone else. T-A
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You could take a vintage axe, rehang, correctly file the cheeks, sharpen it up, make a mask for it and be hard pressed to get the cost of the haft out of it.

It's a prestige thing and a waste of time to try and educate or steer them in a different direction.
 
garry3 said:
You could take a vintage axe, rehang, correctly file the cheeks, sharpen it up, make a mask for it and be hard pressed to get the cost of the haft out of it.

It's a prestige thing and a waste of time to try and educate or steer them in a different direction.
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+1: the work to hang and tune up a vintage axe can’t be recovered easily in a sale. But if you do it for yourself it can be worth it.
 
Eh. Plenty of flat-cheeked vintage axes out there and plenty of high centerline axes available these days. It does mean you have access to styles and specific geometries no longer available new, though most will have at least some degree of wear on them. Nothing wrong with a good vintage axe, but they also aren't magic, and much depends on the specific ones that cross your path by chance.
 
the-accumulator said:
Isn't there someone of us who finds great old American made axes in good condition from the usual second hand sources, cleans, sharpens, and rehangs them as users, and sells them at reasonable prices.......
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'Reasonable prices' won't cover the labor of refurbishing an old axe. And 'good condition' is a relative term. Most used axes have worn out toes. Buy the time you take the rest of the axe back to the toe the bit is likely 1/8" thick in the middle. It's a lot of work to re-profile that.
 
Reasonable pricing was not a factor. I picked up a Granfors Bruk. Gonna keep looking for something cool that is just something I gotta have. I have most of the knives I could ever need. Gonna throw that nerd gene into axes for a minute.
 
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