Looking for a good felling axe

D

Droshi

Joined
Jun 29, 2007
Messages
22
Looking to see what recommendations these days would be for a purpose built felling axe only. I'd like it to be something that just does felling as efficiently as possible, maybe a Dayton pattern?

I know there's the Council Velvicut or Gransfors Bruk options but to be honest I've only used old tools of unknown make and don't really have a frame of reference to work off of.

Tool use: I'm buying 12 acres, and while the home-site will be cleared, I plan to clear an acre or so by hand, over time and season the logs myself. So while I could just get a chainsaw, I'd rather do it all the old fashioned way! Eventually I may clear more, it really depends on what I need and if my orchard needs to expand in the future or not.
 
Council classic Jersey would do well. There are any number of good vintage American axes on ebay if you know what to look for and don't mind sharpening and re-hanging.
 
So felling bucking and splitting and limbing. The only way to get to truly know your felling ax. Since you are seasoning the wood, I'm guessing for heat. So you can eliminate the thick wedged axes. You want a thin cheeked ax with a reasonably high centerline and a thick bit to handle that hardwood and the knots. So a good hardwood ax, or crossover. ( Since you will be spending far more ""ax time" on the hardwoods bucking into splitting and stove length.) While a thick ax may be an advantage in splitting, the majority of your tasks will benefit from a thinner pattern that retains some centerline.
S Square_peg , I own a Council classic Jersey. The handle is phenomenal. The head is not. It sticks. The bevels are flat and Sharpe edged. It stuck quite badly in both splitting and bucking tasks on oak and maple. I would not recommend it.



Let's not forget a good double bit. You will be working for long periods of time. Balance is very important. And three and a half to four pound seems to be the butter zone for weight to let the ax head do the work, instead of trying to muscle your way through the tree. And at 3.5 lbs a good double bit feels like a tea cup;) Having the second beat up, or thicker bit is nice for the nasty stuff as well.
These have all proven to work well on the hardwoods I work with. Mostly oak and maple.

Top to bottom Clear-cut double bit 3.5

My new 3.5 lb favorite ( I set this one up and intended it to be a softwood ax. Green pine. Then immediately went out and bucked and split a large section of oak. Lol. What a joy to work with.)

Kelly perfect Jersey 4lb

Plumb victory Michigan3.5 lbs. (Does not see a lot of use, I have lot of Michigan patterns. They work well if you get a good one from a reputable maker, with a high centerline and people damn near give them away. In my opinion they are a great crossover pattern, good on hard and softwood.)

So vintage.
 
Last edited:
I admire your willingness to learn about and use hand tools. A 3 lb chopping axe will give you a freebie fitness club-type work out day after day and be personally satisfying but a chainsaw will cut down considerably on the amount of time and effort required to reclaim your 12 acres and keep the orchard in shape. A good introduction (financially too) to modern axes based on tried and true patterns will be in the Council Tools made in USA website. There isn't much in the way of Yuppie or hipster stuff out there that is good for much more than recreational work.
 
BARCO kelly perfects, about $90, or council tools, or if you go really cheap and like work, a harbor freight axe. it'll be enough to suffice
 
Thanks for all the responses. Realized I forgot a few things! My budget is somewhere below $500, but probably only willing to spend that if it gets me a 5x better axe in terms of cutting speed due to sharpness over a longer period (say in CPM-3V or something). Otherwise probably looking in the $200 range as I do want something that will be reasonably efficient and will stay sharp for a cutting session. I plan to hone my axe on water stones and not just touch up with a file, so something that really performs would be good.

I don't mind vintage or custom, but since I'm not really sure what I'm looking for, it's hard for me to know. If someone has their best felling axe and they don't use it...that would be ideal, but otherwise I'd probably look to reviews on production axes.

300Six said:
I admire your willingness to learn about and use hand tools. A 3 lb chopping axe will give you a freebie fitness club-type work out day after day and be personally satisfying but a chainsaw will cut down considerably on the amount of time and effort required to reclaim your 12 acres and keep the orchard in shape. A good introduction (financially too) to modern axes based on tried and true patterns will be in the Council Tools made in USA website. There isn't much in the way of Yuppie or hipster stuff out there that is good for much more than recreational work.
Click to expand...

Thanks, you're right, it's mostly for exercise and skill building reasons I'm doing this, if I really wanted the whole 12 acres cut I'd for sure not do it all myself. But I also don't want a lot of machinery in my orchard which I perceive will tear up and compact the good top soil.

Park Swan said:
What kind of wood?
Click to expand...

Pretty much 90% pine. Even the hardwoods I'll likely leave and old cut down softwoods. I can simply plant around most hardwoods or cut them later for high-value timber if I need them for something.

I also only plan to hand-clear about an acre, and even if it took me a year to do it would be fine.
 
Peruse the various threads in this forum to get a feel for what's out there and what to look for. You can chance upon a 'previously enjoyed' Kelly, Plumb or any one of a host of other class acts by attending flea markets and garage sales. Fleabay is fingertip quick but it'll be pricey if the tool has a desirable stamp.
 
Woodcraft said:
So felling bucking and splitting and limbing. The only way to get to truly know your felling ax. Since you are seasoning the wood, I'm guessing for heat. So you can eliminate the thick wedged axes. You want a thin cheeked ax with a reasonably high centerline and a thick bit to handle that hardwood and the knots. So a good hardwood ax, or crossover. ( Since you will be spending far more ""ax time" on the hardwoods bucking into splitting and stove length.) While a thick ax may be an advantage in splitting, the majority of your tasks will benefit from a thinner pattern that retains some centerline.
S Square_peg , I own a Council classic Jersey. The handle is phenomenal. The head is not. It sticks. The bevels are flat and Sharpe edged. It stuck quite badly in both splitting and bucking tasks on oak and maple. I would not recommend it.



Let's not forget a good double bit. You will be working for long periods of time. Balance is very important. And three and a half to four pound seems to be the butter zone for weight to let the ax head do the work, instead of trying to muscle your way through the tree. And at 3.5 lbs a good double bit feels like a tea cup;) Having the second beat up, or thicker bit is nice for the nasty stuff as well.
These have all proven to work well on the hardwoods I work with. Mostly oak and maple.

Top to bottom Clear-cut double bit 3.5

My new 3.5 lb favorite ( I set this one up and intended it to be a softwood ax. Green pine. Then immediately went out and bucked and split a large section of oak. Lol. What a joy to work with.)

Kelly perfect Jersey 4lb

Plumb victory Michigan3.5 lbs. (Does not see a lot of use, I have lot of Michigan patterns. They work well if you get a good one from a reputable maker, with a high centerline and people damn near give them away. In my opinion they are a great crossover pattern, good on hard and softwood.)

So vintage.
Click to expand...
Right! A good vintage double bit, say Kelly Flint Edge, or Perfect would be my choice. They have proven themselves on hard, and softwoods for many years. It's hard to beat the smoothness and balance too.
 
I prefer a single bit to a double. I'm not swamping or doing work where I'm likely to stick my axe in the dirt. And I like to have a poll for if nothing else, driving plastic felling wedges. But if you really plan to do a good bit of felling than a double bit is surely a solid choice. The perfect balance makes felling easier. Stick with 3-1/2 pounds as a newcomer to axes. Heavier axes make good buckers and splitters.

I don't believe that any new axe can be bought today for $500 that will keep up with a vintage True Temper Flint Edge in good condition. Same goes for a vintage Plumb or a Collins Legitimus. Many other smaller brands could be added to that list.
 
If I could only have one I'd go for a double bit, two axes in one with great balance on the swings. I Keep one bit more cheeky and with a more obtuse angle for splitting wood and the other razor sharp for felling and bucking.

The Velvicut is a nice choice too, it's nice to just get something ready to go out of the box rather than hunting and searching for vintage stuff that needs proper finishing as well.

The Gransfor felling axe is also nice but is alot more on the precision side. The edge is sharper and will cut longer without touch ups but can be alot more unforgiving to misuse since the harder steel will be more brittle and also take more effort to sharpen if you let it go dull.

I think on a large working tool like a felling axe it's nice to have the more tempered steel on the Council Tool since file sharpening goes by quick. but I like the harder steel on small axes which I use with more precision and finesse and bring to a higher Polish on the edge.
 
Clearing land is not a task for expensive axe with water stone edge! I'd buy some cheap axes and be done with it. A double bit for felling, a boys axe for limbing, and a straight jersey (or whatever design you like) for everything else (and it can really do it all). A hatchet is handy also. I'd just get the CT railsplitter version of each (cheap), or a better vintage tool (Kelly, True Temper, Plumb...).

I've done essentially what you are talking about, and spending too much on tools doesn't pay. My suggestions above are actually high end compared to what I use most of the time. Currently, I usd a $10 Taiwanese hatchet and a $15 Indian (? Ludell) boys axe. Those are dedicated clearing tools. The edges get nicked and damaged; file them until they're functional and get on with it! If there's bigger stuff, I use a truper jersey, or my TT double bit for felling only.
 
No axe will stay sharp for a season, and you won't find a quality axe mode of anything other than good carbon steel. Grab a Council Tool classic Jersey with the curved handle, file the edge back (use the An Ax to grind gauge) and hone it with a good stone like the Baryonyx puck, and have at it. Keep the puck handy, you'll need to hone the edge fairly often.
 
The Tuatahi work axe or maybe practice axe looks nice, but certainly heavier than expected for a felling axe.

The Velvicut looks like the best contender as I can't find a Gransfor anyway.

Again vintage sounds nice, but I really can't buy several axe heads, have them handled, only to find out it's not what I'm looking for, or needs modifications etc. Since I don't know enough about it, unless someone on the boards wants to sell one they know is perfect for felling and all cleaned up, I would be hesitant.

I don't need the axe to stay sharp all season, just for a session ideally, so 5160 or better steel sounds more ideal. I don't really want to go with a low end axe and have to sharpen or hone it in the field.
 
Droshi said:
I don't need the axe to stay sharp all season, just for a session ideally, so 5160 or better steel sounds more ideal. I don't really want to go with a low end axe and have to sharpen or hone it in the field.
Click to expand...

Whoops, I misread where you said session above and thought you said season. Depending on the session length, you won't need to hone it for a single session even with lower grade steel. It's all about the heat treat, and good makers like Council Tool, Gransfors, etc. all tend to have good heat treat. These aren't low end axes by an means, though the standard hardware store (i.e. modern Collins/Truper/etc) ones usually are. You'll still want to have something with you in the field, though, for those times you glance and hit the ground, or find an old nail in the tree with the bit.

In addition to good steel and heat treat, the Councils and other good brands have MUCH better bit geometry too, and will be much better cutters once touched up.
 
Pine isn't pine isn't pine. If we are talking about eastern white pine then.....cough.....cough.....ummmmm
Let's be honest. Competitively in the wood world green white pine almost falls apart for you. You could, although not recommended, (you want to work smarter, not harder) achieve the end goal with any ax.
Pine like the eastern is spongy. It requires more of a "push" to break free the chip instead of just sinking an ax. So you would benefit from a wedge pattern. There is a reason the Maine pattern looks the way it does. You definitely want to avoid a long thin bit.
What are you looking for for green white pine?
A thicker wedge shape, or gets thicker quicker if you will.
What are you looking for on the cheeks?
Hopefully you can see the convex shape of the cheeks in these picks. These are both Michigan patterns. The Fulton on top is thicker, and makes a better pine ax.
The plumb victory is thinner, but would work, though not as well as the Fulton in white pine.
20170215_144909.jpg 20170215_144917.jpg
 
I'm in NC near Raleigh, here's what my land looks like, pretty representative of most everything:
18358702_10158708570970711_4205620116384292894_o.jpg


They look like what I would have called red pine, not much for white pine I believe, but could be pitch pine or something else.
 
Droshi said:
Looking to see what recommendations these days would be for a purpose built felling axe only. I'd like it to be something that just does felling as efficiently as possible, maybe a Dayton pattern?

I know there's the Council Velvicut or Gransfors Bruk options but to be honest I've only used old tools of unknown make and don't really have a frame of reference to work off of.

Tool use: I'm buying 12 acres, and while the home-site will be cleared, I plan to clear an acre or so by hand, over time and season the logs myself. So while I could just get a chainsaw, I'd rather do it all the old fashioned way! Eventually I may clear more, it really depends on what I need and if my orchard needs to expand in the future or not.
Click to expand...

Hi

I would buy a Council Tool Jersey 3 1/2 lb OR a 3 1/2 lb Dayton Patterns. I've used the Council Tool Axes all my life and they are excellent. Both axe patterns can be purchased with straight or curved handles. The metal hardening and tempering is very good and will hold an edge.

Before buying new, check out your local flea markets. Normally you will find a good number of used axes there of Council, True Temper Kelly, Collins, and Plumb. All of these vintage axes + the Council Tool axes are utterly excellent. Utterly excellent axes for very reasonable prices can be purchased at fled markets.

I just purchased from a flea market vendor a new/old Council Tool Jersey pattern 3 1/2 lb axe for $26.00. Never sharpened. Still new. I saved approx. $30-$35 dollars at this flea market for a NEW axe. Some of the paint had been knocked off the poll and on the bottom of the cheek. There is rust in both places BUT sand paper will remove all of the paint on the axe and totally submerging in apple cider vinegar will remove the rust and put a dark bluing/patina on the entire axe head. Then, thinning the blade by carefully using a belt sander and then filing the cheek and edge to a thin axe will give me a deep cutting axe blade.

This axe's blade can then be expected to stick in the wood/log if the proper cutting technique is not used. Please go to YouTube and see The Axeman. A lot of stuff about guitars and horror movies pops up BUT then there is the image of The Axeman chopping down a tree. Click on this one. The U.S. Forestry Service put this out a long, long time ago. This old video is the most excellent video on axmanship that I have ever watched.

ripshin
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top