Russian (Topor) pattern

Agent_H

Agent_H

Joined
Aug 21, 2013
Messages
3,898
Just finished a Russian hatchet and I didn’t really want to post this many pictures in the “What did you hang today” thread (seemed excessive).

I think the pattern is interesting in comparison to classic American axes. They are kind of general purpose I suppose but they remove wood from stuff pretty well if they are sharp. Something different at least.

Happy with how it turned out.

Russian топор (Topor) from Latvia, 14inches overall.


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A piece of Birch – to burn or not?

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Not.

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Slightly larger one behind it.
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Knot a problem lol
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I guess I like them.
 
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Lovely work! Would love to get my hands on one or three myself one of these days.
 
really cool old axe. Not at all what I expected when you started to hang it.
 
I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we just want to see an excessive amount of axe pictures, and don't care what thread they are in!!
nice job. lots of personality on those
 
Nicely done, I like that the wood choice is something that would have been used traditionally on this style axe. Also a really nice job with the cross wedge!
 
Great job,Agent_H,i think you've interpreted the hang and the general sense of the tool Very correctly.

Made me remember this old film,maybe you guys will enjoy it....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvTiM1DOGfI

It's in part an old village on river Inzhe(a Volga tributary),and in part a folk-architecture museum,a very dated soviet production....But kinda does a good job sketching the times,if you will,and the several types of work done by this,and similar axes.
Their very pronounced heel and toe were used extensively,the heel for depth-gauging/cross-cutting the longitudinal groove on a house-log;the toe for following the radiused curve inside the traditional for the area "round" corner-notch....But many other uses for that thin,straight blade,throughout the entire construction process...
 
P.S. Hope that it's ok-i borrowed one of your photos to ask some more experienced people if they could id this axe more precisely.
Nowadays,one's automatic attribution of the above would be a "sapper" axe,one of the common army tools for both of the World Wars.
I,however,don't go for that,as well as believe that not only thi particular axe,but more importantly it's Type,is quite a bit older.
So far,i can only find an illustration from an old carpentry book(the book itself nobody can identify,alas).Not being able to post photos,here's a link to a forum where it's mentioned:http://rusknife.com/topic/15766-чертежи-схемы-клейма-топоров/page-3, Post# 72.

There,the axes shown are described only as the laerger/heavier,and the lesser/lighter Carpenter axes,the heavier one being said to have a "double"(thickness)-poll.That,i believe,is what you have....
 
Agent great job, the cross wedge looks fantastic and pulls it all together. Also I'm a big fan of knots.
 
I don't think I could define it better than by saying "Beautimus Job"!!! Love the cross Wedge.
 
First, thank you for the kind words on the axe! – appreciate the feedback.

I enjoyed the challenge of figuring out what it was supposed to look like, making it, and essentially learning a bit in the process.

Bigfattyt said:
really cool old axe. Not at all what I expected when you started to hang it.
Click to expand...

Me either Bigfattyt. That was actually the point when I stopped and reminded myself that it shouldn’t look like a “conventional” curved handle. I made that mistake on the last one and had to compromise some to get it to straighten out.

phantomknives said:
now i need one
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They are interesting for sure. I think we all need one as much as I needed one lol.

jake pogg said:
P.S. Hope that it's ok-i borrowed one of your photos to ask some more experienced people if they could id this axe more precisely.
Nowadays,one's automatic attribution of the above would be a "sapper" axe,one of the common army tools for both of the World Wars.
I,however,don't go for that,as well as believe that not only thi particular axe,but more importantly it's Type,is quite a bit older.
So far,i can only find an illustration from an old carpentry book(the book itself nobody can identify,alas).Not being able to post photos,here's a link to a forum where it's mentioned:http://rusknife.com/topic/15766-чертежи-схемы-клейма-топоров/page-3, Post# 72.

There,the axes shown are described only as the laerger/heavier,and the lesser/lighter Carpenter axes,the heavier one being said to have a "double"(thickness)-poll.That,i believe,is what you have....
Click to expand...

Jake, thank you for taking interest and helping us find out more about the pattern. Is the cut-out on the blade a nail-puller of sorts?

*Is this the reference from rusknife you where describing? The poster mentions he thinks is it pre-war.

JbSqoTa.jpg
 
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Thank you,Agent _H,that is the chart.They're all labelled as "carpenter's" axes,and from top to bottom as "heavy',"light",and "small".
It's not easy to call the vintage of the book itself;it's written using the modern alphabet( so after the soviet alphabet reforms of the 20-ies),but could also be a re-print of an older text.
Actually,looking at the drawings now,i'm seeing yours as the bottom,the small axe,judging by the poll-sides of an eye proportion.
I've no idea about that notch/indent....A number of discussions has been held on that subject(not unlike the "spur"...),and no clear consensus ever gets reached...

What i CAN say about yours,as a smith and an avid observer of axes,is that it was forged without cutting corners.A heavier poll like that is not easy to isolate,it really complicates a forging process vs simply bending an evenly-thick stock about a mandrel.
In one of the photos above it looks like a significant width of the steel edge remains,and that it's most probably been "overlaid"(vs an inserted bit).
Overall,it doesn't have the look of the slap-dash soviet products,but looks competently and harmoniously designed and skillfully forged.(So my vote would be that it dates back to the late 1900's).
Possibly,if the dimentions fit closely one of the axes on the chart,the overall length can tell you the amount of wear....But it actually looks hardly worn,if at all.
Axes like this were sometimes used as a single-edged tool,too,it just depended on the owner...But the bevels on yours also speak of little,if any,wear...
 
Well done. Very impressive job of cross wedging, and making all that look pretty too!
 
Agent_H said:
Just finished a Russian hatchet. . .
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing your hatchet. It is very interesting to see axes and hatchets from other parts of the world. These offer a different perspective.

One thing I was curious about was the shape of the eye in a tonop head. It is not explicit in the drawing posted from the rusknife site (in post #15). Straight, Taper (which way), hourglass?

BTW, excellent workmanship on the cross wedge.

Bob

EDIT to add:

Found this drawing on page one post #5 in the rusknife site thread posted:
post-7466-0-24736700-1396182708_thumb.jpg


In the bottom right view the eye looks tapered bottom (larger) to top (smaller). While the top view seems to indicate straight.
 
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