Shaving Sharp?

Curt Hal

Curt Hal

Joined
Jul 8, 2014
Messages
558
A question for you:

I see a lot of axe refurbishing/sharpening videos out there where the person demonstrates the axe is “shaving sharp” by shaving some hairs off his arm. I like a good sharp axe, but have never been too worried about “shaving sharp” as I am sure it only takes a couple of good swings before that condition is gone.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Is shaving sharp beneficial?
 
I have about 30 axes from 1900-1960 that I've restored. Many Kelly, Keen Kutter and Plumb plus a few from less common makers. They all go out and chop on the weekends. My family owns a large forested area and I just cut up fallen trees.

A good clean shaving edge with no burr, kept out out of dirt and only cutting clean bark will stay very sharp for a while. For fun, look up Abraham Lincoln axe quote. He has an opinion on this situation.

I cut a lot of super hard seasoned wood, like concrete when compared to living trees. Even in that wood, after 30 minutes it will still shave all be it slightly less cleanly. After about an hour it falls off. It comes back fast though with diamond strops as it's very easy steel to sharpen. You can keep it razor with a basic stop for so long you'll just go home before it's an issue.

I see the point and always go for it when sharpening. It's easy to get, easy to keep and makes tough wood easier to cut.

EDIT: Bring a second axe for cutting dirty wood. It doesn't need to be anything near shaving... hardly sharp works for this type axe.
 
I get my axes pretty sharp. My goal isn't necessarily shaving sharp, though they do sometimes get shaving sharp for sure. as long as your angles are right, it's no problem to get it sharp.

Also, I can verify H Honed_Edge 's experience. I've on many occasions chopped old dry oak trees in half with no descernible reduction in sharpness. The first time I spent a day chopping on blowdowns I was surprised at how sharp my axe still was. Now I know and expect my axe to hold it's edge. Every so often I'll just give it a few passes with the fine stone and good to go.
 
I think it’s beneficial in that if it’s shaving it’s apexed so you know you sharpened correctly/fully. Slightly less than shaving would still feel about the same during chopping…

I bring the “sharp side” of my double-bit back to shaving after use, but I don’t try to get the other side that sharp…

And here’s a picture from yesterday because why not?

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I am in support of very sharp edges, and I also like THICK edges. The behind the edge thickness on this Collins is double what the thin it out bros suggest. Look at the size of those old chips! There is no stick. I really don't like thin axes... but a nice thinned out CRK is the bees knees.
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My racing axes, GB hunter, Small forest and HB axes are all shaving sharp. It's a preference and my GB hinting axes (I own 2) I have used to process game so I have a reason. Racing Axes self explanatory. My double bits one side is for dirty wood the other green or clean as stated.
 
These pictures of the kind rjd has kindly posted up I think at first illicit a humorous response like the figures are performing some kind of act of ridiculous exaggeration, as if they were clowns. I don't think so. I think the intent is a serious demonstration of the standard of sharpness that these axe users expected to maintain.
 
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The difference between "working sharp" and "shaving sharp" should take you less than 2 minutes. If it was already that sharp and just lost its bite in clean wood, you should be able to restore it to arm shaving in like 3 or 5 strokes per side. Literally seconds' worth of work. There's no practical reason to not have a nice sharp edge, unless maybe you need more practice at sharpening. I always put a very fine hair popping edge on my hatchets, because they may stand in to do knife like cutting chores. Same goes for anything used on clean hardwoods, or any that are given away to friends.
 
It's been several years since I used my ax on a regular basis. However, when I did, I kept it very sharp. It might not have shaved arm hair, but it was dang sharp. Last summer I grabbed my ax to cut up a fallen tree limb. I had forgotten how easy it was to use a very sharp ax. Man, it felt good!
 
My chopping axes are shaving sharp, only touch wood, and only need a fine honing and strop at the end of the day. My splitting mauls encounter a lot of grit and therefore don't need a razor's edge.
 
I feel the same way about machetes and axes , it should shave . My thinking is if it is pretty sharp you didn't finish and partly dull sounds more accurate. Also it is father to fall from razor sharp to dull than pretty sharp to dull.
 
Well, that quickly turned into a quoting contest. :D
I feel that shaving sharp is most useful for limbing, to somewhat lesser degree for felling, for splitting it is not important.
For a hatchet, I think, it should be a must.
For shaving, I guess the shaving sharp very thin edge is optimal, but an axe is not a dedicated shaving implement anyway.
Overall, I think a shaving sharp axe is safer than a dull one, so why not spend just a little bit more effort to achieve the shaving sharpness?
Happy chopping… I mean shaving. ;)
 
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