Rough-Forged Traveler's Celt Test Piece

[FortyTwoBlades]

The project still lives! I received this rough test piece about a week ago from a blacksmith friend of mine. It's not the finalized form of the tool, but was an initial test piece he did to establish how much to charge for finished pieces and sent it along for me to play around with. I'll be getting about a dozen of them done up. The fully finished ones will be a little wider in the bit with the side opposite the single-beveled edge being totally flat and two lashing holes and a set screw hole being present. The socket is square to prevent turning on the handle when hafted. The beveled face of the tool also features phantom bevels.

For those not already familiar with the project, but the tool may be used on its own as an ulu knife, on a straight handle (of varying lengths) as a bark spud, carving spade, chisel, or splitting wedge, and on an appropriately forked branch or two-piece assembled handle as an axe or adze.

 

[Bimjo]

Looks like a versatile tool. Be interesting to see the final cost.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

They should end up pretty reasonable for what they are. But no further pricing info until I have the final ones in hand so I don't over or undershoot the final number.

 

[Old Axeman]

I have never seen a more useless tool, and I have seen a lot of useless tools.

 

[Hacked]

I wish someone would offer a simple stick tang celt. I've seen a few folks make them, but never anyone selling one.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I have never seen a more useless tool, and I have seen a lot of useless tools.

Thanks for the constructive criticism. The intended context of use is well outside of your own, and I agree it'd be less than ideal for anything you'd be likely to be doing in the woods. However, I actually have a bunch of wilderness skills instructors and craftspersons who are enthusiastically lined up for most of the batch of them. I'm not even having this batch made as much for public offering so much as for those individuals who have been following the project for some time and for whom it'd be very well-suited indeed.

I wish someone would offer a simple stick tang celt. I've seen a few folks make them, but never anyone selling one.

The big advantage of the square socket is that you have a usable grip as-is, and can rapidly switch configurations. Most uses of the tool are going to be with a straight handle of different lengths (you can do some pretty cool carving tricks with it on a handle about as long as your forearm, for instance) but you have the option to rig it up in axe or adze configuration without needing to carry an additional tool.

 

[Canadian Mojo]

I have never seen a more useless tool, and I have seen a lot of useless tools.

No, those cheap Chinese hatchet/hammer fold out multi-tools are the most useless tools ever.

This thing is probably actually pretty good at what it is meant for -- which I assume is recreating a primitive multi-tool for bush crafters and survivalists who like to do things the primitive way. The same sort of people who would use a fire bow instead of matches or even a flint and steel.



-you beat me by minutes FortyTwo.

 

[quinton]

I have never seen a more useless tool, and I have seen a lot of useless tools.

Glad to see you back, Bernie. I don't think I need one either.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

No, those cheap Chinese hatchet/hammer fold out multi-tools are the most useless tools ever.

This thing is probably actually pretty good at what it is meant for -- which I assume is recreating a primitive multi-tool for bush crafters and survivalists who like to do things the primitive way. The same sort of people who would use a fire bow instead of matches or even a flint and steel.



-you beat me by minutes FortyTwo.

Yes. The idea was to make something of a primitive living multitool. It splits wood great when used as a wedge, and can handle VERY deep splits for crafting purposes thanks to the ability to insert a long handle for striking. When used with a shorter grip you can brace the butt end against your hip and draw wood into the edge in a very controlled manner for shaping purposes. The flat side is great for paring work while the beveled face is good for breaking from a cut when you need to cut curves. It can be used for light hewing with the flat to the target because you can ride the full face against the workpiece. A longer handle that this would be best if you planned on doing any felling of small trees, but you could also just use it like a big ol' chisel if you had to and baton it into a tree to fell it. You can strip bark easily with the beveled face against a log, and adze use works nicely with the bevel to the outside of the tool since it allows you to break from the cut well. And so on and so forth.

This is not a tool made for the conventional "woodsman" but rather for a primitive living skills/survival/crafting context.

 

[phantomknives]

i'm not exactly sure how to feel about it

 

[Lieblad]

I like it.
Back when Smithing paid a fair portion of the bills, we made similar but were sticktang & dual bevels.
Hafting is typically by boring then burn into a rootball of a hardwood sapling.
Those things were replicas of axes commonly made by Africans. A design whats still widely used in primitive areas.
Loads of guys play primitive skill & survival games.
We sold many, many dozen of them. By far, most without haft, a buyer choosing to do themself.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I like it.
Back when Smithing paid a fair portion of the bills, we made similar but were sticktang & dual bevels.
Hafting was by boring then burn into a rootball of a hardwood sapling.
Those things were replicas of an axe commonly made by Africans. A design whats still used in primitive areas.
We sold many dozen of them. By far, more without haft.

Socket axes, adzes, and hoes are also used in many places in Africa and were one of the various inspirations for the tool.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I have never seen a more useless tool, and I have seen a lot of useless tools.

I think one could just get creative with a good small hatchet and not need this
It's certainly something different and a bit unique in today's world, but so are all of the gimmicky tools Sears releases each year around Christmas.

 

[Square_peg]

It's interesting and it looks like it would be fun to play with and experiment with.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I think one could just get creative with a good small hatchet and not need this
It's certainly something different and a bit unique in today's world, but so are all of the gimmicky tools Sears releases each year around Christmas.

Most of the functions it'd be routinely used for would be on straight handles of varying lengths, not in axe or adze configuration. Some of those functions you absolutely can't use an axe/hatchet for in the same way. You can get creative with lots of tools when you have to get by without others. The point of this tool is to expand on the range of functions you can perform with the single head while focusing on applications for which conventional eyed axes are much less appropriate. If your primary need is for a field-expedient axe you'd do better with a small head with a slip-fit eye and just leave it at that, but that's not what the Traveler's Celt is for.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Deep splits? Not a problem.

Braced against the hip for drawing material into the edge. You can very rapidly and accurately shave off material in this way.

 

[300Six]

I have never seen a more useless tool, and I have seen a lot of useless tools.

As a group we're fortunate that Axeman is seasoned and experienced enough to be able to 'call a spade a spade'. I have to lean in his direction about this thing; seems to be more a novelty begging folks to conjure up uses for then anything else.
You are a good salesman and promoter though 42 and I wish you all the best with this exercise.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Certainly no novelty. It's designed for serious work. However, it's all about options and it's made for a specific context of use. You and Old Axeman are 110% not in that intended demographic, so your opinion is in no way surprising.

 

[Storm Crow]

Very interesting. In your first pics, I thought, "That looks like it would do dandily as a slick." And then you did that. Looks like maybe you added more curvature to the blade than previous prototypes?

I'd love to see some video with this being used in its various configurations. You're right that it is a niche tool, but looks quite handy within that niche.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Previous iterations had been formed like a digging bar, and had been done that way to make use of tooling that Imacasa already had, rather than making the tool in its purest form. That's where my blacksmithing pal came in. This one was, again, a rough piece just for him to flesh out what the process was gonna' be like before making a handful of them for me, so it has some minor issues beyond the bit not being as broad as intended or the lack of lashing and set screw holes, but it was good enough for initial testing purposes.

Finished ones will be dead flat on one face, the bevel on the other, with phantom bevels in the cheeks on that side. However, the edge is centered with the socket so you have minimized bias in use as an axe or wedge. The total edge angle is about 30°, but while the chisel edge essentially skews that angle to one side, the centered socket sort of skews it back during such uses so you end up with a much smaller difference in angle between the sides when hafted up square.