Rough-Forged Traveler's Celt Test Piece

They grow the saplings in the curve they want. However, one can also find the same adzes mounted to a block, through which a mortise is cut like an eye and a handle affixed that way. In the absence of a small chisel or proper boring device, one could always use a bow drill and deliberately burn/rub through to form the mortise.

Adze_jap_small_w_handle_1.jpg
 
There is a people north of Mongolia,previously known as Yakut,but who are now called what they have always called themselves-Saha.
Their country,the Saha Republic(currently a part of RF,unfortunately for them),stretches from the Himalayan plateau all the way to the Arctic ocean,the main drainage being the enormous Lena river.
It is theorised that very long ago Saha came out of western China/Mongolia region,and they carried with them many a foreign to Siberian tribes skill-horses and horsemanship,domesticated reindeer herding,and many more,chief among those-the Ferrous metalworking.Complete with the Reduction bloomery process,heat-treating of carbon alloys,varying the level of C in their alloy,forge-welding,et c.,the whole shebang.
In spite of all the trades,and trading that they excelled at,they were primarily the hunters and trappers of the taiga.A such,they used dog teams to get around in winter,or sometimes their wooly little horses,but most often travelled on foot.In either case,their primary tool,the right-hand tool so to speak,was a spear-shaped machete/ice-chisel,in effect,of a very complex form(Stormcrow would dig it:).
Naturally it was a weapon as well(at some point an entire martial art style developed out of using it),but primarily it was for cutting trail,and all manner of camp chores,from carving(deadfalls et c),to chopping,to splitting,every manner of woodworking chore.But also cutting holes in the ice to fish,or to water stock,or for a myriad other reasons.
Sometimes that "spear"(called btw "batyjyah",or a longer,more specialised weaponised one-a "batas")was a socket tool,sometimes not,and had this intricate scarf joint+lashing to the haft.
The lengh of haft could differ from less than a couple feet to 10' or more(ice gets thick there(actually,a village in north of Saha,Oymiacon, is where the coldest temps were recorded anywhere barring the Antarctic),and it sucks bending over when chopping ice...
Where Am i going with this...Maybe to the Idea of this thread,that the universal woodland tool would be a socketed axe/adze,a "celt",as they were indeed so widespread throughout first Asia,then points West...Saha tool was not,exactly,but i still decided to further obfuscate this thread...:)
It was a thick,stout single-bevel blade,with a very deep fuller on only one side,making it's cut semi-circular and Very aggressive.
I often wondered why they chose this,more of a knife-shape,vs a hatchet(they were producing axes and hatchets all through their long history),as a universal wondering-about-the-woods tool....
And conversely,why Were the "celt" type lashed-on axes so widespread,when a machete-like tool is so versatile and efficient...
(it is no accident,btw,that the discussion turned to Japanese adze et c.,that whole neck of the woods(China,from whence the the bronze and ironwork came to Japan),seems to be where the iron,bronze,all the complex tooling seems to've originated...Somewhere West of China,who recieved it in a pretty much ready form about 2500 years ago,and possibly South,Himalaya,North India,all the traces lead there,so far...)
Sorry about this long digression!:)
 
Sometimes that "spear"(called btw "batyjyah",or a longer,more specialised weaponised one-a "batas")was a socket tool,sometimes not,and had this intricate scarf joint+lashing to the haft.
I'd like to see some of those "spears", but Google search was no help. I also did various searches with the term "Yakut". Very interesting, but I couldn't find anything about their tools or methods. Do you have any links or pictures? TIA


Bob
 
I'm familiar with Yakut knives but not with the socketed tools, and couldn't pull anything up.
 
I wonder if more pops up using Russian searches (Jake speaks Russian)
%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BC%D0%B0-%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2.jpg


This video is interesting.
YSIA: Yakut masters have recreated a copy of the Batyah legendary hero.
ЯСИА: якутские мастера воссоздали копию батыйа легендарного героя.


http://videoboxing.ru/watch/Zde8P6Z0PYc

I don't mean to derail your thread and this may not be what Jake was referring to but it looks like you searched ;)
 
Not a derailing to my mind. Looks like that one is tanged rather than socketed?
 
My apologies for not providing any links or other info...Here's one to a forum where there's a massive number of photos...http://rusknife.com/topic/9591-якутская-батыйа/page-4

Yes,it's true that primarily it was a tanged tool...It did turn into the socketed one as the structural requirements demanded it...

Thanks everyone for not resenting Such a long shot type of info...In the end it all Does contribute,but not everyone has the time and patience needed to dig so deeply in such dusty old bins...
 
I wonder if more pops up using Russian searches (Jake speaks Russian)
%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BC%D0%B0-%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2.jpg


This video is interesting.
YSIA: Yakut masters have recreated a copy of the Batyah legendary hero.
ЯСИА: якутские мастера воссоздали копию батыйа легендарного героя.


http://videoboxing.ru/watch/Zde8P6Z0PYc

I don't mean to derail your thread and this may not be what Jake was referring to but it looks like you searched ;)
Whoever hafted that wasn't the same guy that later repaired the raw hide leashing. His father didn't teach him or that boy wasn't paying attention.
 
My apologies for not providing any links or other info...Here's one to a forum where there's a massive number of photos...http://rusknife.com/topic/9591-якутская-батыйа/page-4

Yes,it's true that primarily it was a tanged tool...It did turn into the socketed one as the structural requirements demanded it...

Thanks everyone for not resenting Such a long shot type of info...In the end it all Does contribute,but not everyone has the time and patience needed to dig so deeply in such dusty old bins...
Not at all Jake. Appreciate you taking the time to share that.
 
Whoever hafted that wasn't the same guy that later repaired the raw hide leashing. His father didn't teach him or that boy wasn't paying attention.

Garry,i'm afeared you're looking at a crappy,dysfunctional Russian museum job....All too common,especially post-USSR,but not unknown even back then in the smaller,regional museums...(today,the archaeology in RF,in it's every aspect is gutted,virtually destroyed,museums are left with no funding,collections blatantly being stolen and sold into private hands...:(

Just for the record,that lashing as a system is tricky:The tang is tapered in thickness,and somewhat narrower than the haft in width.
A narrow slot is cut for it in the Belly of haft,and it is inserted through that one side.Then the remaining gap is filled with a very carefully fitted bone filler-piece,making up the forth side,and the whole is treated to a multiple diagonal wrappings of narrow-ish birch-bark,bedded in fish-glue...(your typical laminate bow technique).And only then,thus waterproofed,is it lashed with rawhide....
So the outward sloppiness of wrapping May be decieving at times...
 
I think the whiny guy earlier had the right idea. Maybe just not multi tools. This really well thought out tool might easily be appropriately posted in the Wilderness & Survival sub-forum. I could certainly see it as something you'd throw behind the seat of your pick up for whatever might happen. A good idea blending old multi-ethnic tools. I'd buy one just for the neato factor.--KV
 
I'll repeat myself once again and state that not only is an axe one of its functions, but that the other tools that it can be used as are all within the scope of this subforum, and I've had other threads about earlier prototypes all in this forum without a single eyebrow being raised. It's fine here. If you have any concerns, feel free to contact a moderator.

The ones Celtic WebMerchant has have round sockets and are quite small. Earlier versions of the tool that I had Imacasa of El Salvador produce samples of for me were prone to turn on the handle when used as an axe or adze because of having a round socket, which would have necessitated the use of a set screw or nail. That would greatly impede the ability to quickly swap the head's orientation of the head from axe to adze mode or to swap handles entirely. Hence why nearly all bronze and iron socket axes don't have round sockets.

Some examples of socket axes that served as inspiration:

The Lees Island log boat find, on a perfectly preserved handle:
Hafted_Axe_FB.JPG



Modern African socket axe, provenance unknown:

axe1.jpg


Modern African socket hoe from Burkina Faso:

p111a.jpg
 
Lovers of this celtic AXE will be thrilled to learn that fortytwoblades and I are working on an epic collaboration - we'll be doing limited production run of one thousand urban tactical celt axes, waterjet cut from .5" titanium and hand painted by the best made folks! :cool:

But for real that Lees Island example is my favorite type of old school handle shape - so inspiring. Looking forward to seeing some more pics or video of this tool!
 
This reminds me of a rocketed framing slip.
Very secure and strong handle attachment!
I think it's a good idea and design.
Looking forward to pics of the final version.
 
The term is used to denote a blade intended to be hafted as an axe or adze. Not to be confused with "Celtic". It is not "of the Celts", but, rather, a term that was originally coined in archaeology and derived from the Latin "celtis", which means "chisel".

The CelticWebMerchant one is listed as 10x6x3 centimeters, or roughly only 4"x2.4"x1.2"

You seem to be terribly misunderstanding the purpose of this entire situation.
 
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It's a proper noun only because it's part of the tool name. It is not named for being in any way related to the people.
 
Lovers of this celtic AXE will be thrilled to learn that fortytwoblades and I are working on an epic collaboration - we'll be doing limited production run of one thousand urban tactical celt axes, waterjet cut from .5" titanium and hand painted by the best made folks! :cool:

Please tell me it will have as many built in spanners, saw-edges, measuring scales, hammering surfaces, GPS, laser guidance, and gewgaws, gizmos, and doo-dads as can possibly be crammed in. I'll take a baker's dozen! :D
 
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