On a strictly “user” level, first you need someplace with wood you can practice on. For me, long ago, that happened when I bought a parcel of land covered with jungle.
Prior to that, I had gone firewooding with relatives or friends, but always used borrowed tools of dubious quality, and had dubious skills to match them.
When I stood on the edge of acres of forest that was MINE, ALL MINE, it sure drove home the point that I needed to step up my game, woodsman-wise.
Fortunately, many of my neighbors were descended from pioneer stock. Some of them had homesteaded their own land, or their folks or grand folks had before them. I went around and introduced myself, and made new friends. I pitched in with my youthful strength and helped them make firewood, and in return they shared their knowledge of how to fall trees, buck and split and stack. They loaned me tools and demonstrated their use. Old timers showed me methods their granddads had used, and sometimes sold or traded me tools that I still use today.
Overall, I found these rural people incredibly generous and helpful, once they saw I was going to stick. And now I am one of them, tooled up and skilled enough to help out newcomers myself.
This might not be your path to a nice user axe collection, but it sure worked out well for me. A city kid living in an apartment just doesn’t have the same opportunities.
Parker
