Why the fascination with Gransfors?

[Steve Tall]

Indeed I have. Thanks for the back up Steve.

Oh I don't believe that you need any backup regarding axes, with you being employed on a trail crew and all. I was just putting in a good word for resourcefulness and self-reliance. :thumbup:

 

[sideways]

So basically you are saying people should do enough research to be able to tell a good axe from a bad one and spend even more time sorting the good from the bad at garage sales. Plus the effort to restore it. Can you see why that's not a very helpful recommendation?

Gränsfors makes nice sharp oldy worldy axes that work for the kind of bushcrafting play people do in the woods. They come with and hold a good edge. They are well built and sexy. What's not to like? If you want a different blade geometry get a different axe.

People on the cheap will go for fiskars or gerber. People who take their play more seriously might get a tuatahi. The people doing real work will reach for a chainsaw or forestry harvester.

 

[olybears57]

Finding great vintage axes is easy! Stop at a garage sale (or ask friends and family).. Pick up axe... Look for stamp, if there is a legible stamp, look up manufacturer here http://www.yesteryearstools.com/Yesteryears Tools/Home.html and date stamp easily. Or, if you don't have a smartphone (like me) look for telltale signs of a vintage axe: High centerline, hard steel (ask if you can test it with a file..you should always have a file in your vehicle...in case you didn't know ) and good steel harmonics ( tap head with the file, if it rings like a bell..great steel!).
Restoring them is a great joy to many..You should give it a try sometime.. then YOU are a part of the axe, and can take pride in it.
Vintage axes are SO sexy... See here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/940981-Axe-Tomahawk-amp-Hatchet-Photo-Thread

 

[Insipid Moniker]

Finding great vintage axes is easy! Stop at a garage sale (or ask friends and family).. Pick up axe... Look for stamp, if there is a legible stamp, look up manufacturer here http://www.yesteryearstools.com/Yesteryears Tools/Home.html and date stamp easily. Or, if you don't have a smartphone (like me) look for telltale signs of a vintage axe: High centerline, hard steel (ask if you can test it with a file..you should always have a file in your vehicle...in case you didn't know ) and good steel harmonics ( tap head with the file, if it rings like a bell..great steel!).
Restoring them is a great joy to many..You should give it a try sometime.. then YOU are a part of the axe, and can take pride in it.
Vintage axes are SO sexy... See here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/940981-Axe-Tomahawk-amp-Hatchet-Photo-Thread

How much time does it take to restore one?

 

[garry3]

I really got into axes from first having developed a real interest in hatchets. I grew up doing chores like most my age, splitting maul, wedges and an axe. I appreciated none of them. When I was young I made my living pounding nails (rigging axe). So I developed acceptable skills swinging a rigging axe. I also had a keen interest in archery(traditional), which led to making self bows. I met my first GB at a traditional archery expo. I purchased the small forest axe, next year it was the hunting axe. They were spendy then(I thought) but they had not became popular yet.

As far as taking a standing tree to a finished bow they have no equal. It is also the most balanced head I have ever swung. Just a pleasure to use.Hits right where you are looking, easy. The whole head design is almost perfect. The steel I hear is nothing special, but the performance says otherwise.

Now a days I have too many tools to just play with one or two. I have hatchets that will out shine them in everything I use them for, but it takes more than one hatchet to do it.

 

[olybears57]

How much time does it take to restore one?

It depends on how bad off it is. From 20 minutes (quick sharpen and sanding/oiling) to a full restoration (rust removal, cheek reprofiling, sharpening, rehafting), which can take up to a couple hours of work. Some axes are worth the hours of work (to me) and some are not. Also, I tremendously enjoy these restorations, and don't consider it work, if that is what you were getting at. I would much rather do the work myself than work a few extra hours and pay for something new.

 

[calc]

I picked Gransfors' only full sized axe. The SFA is a medium sized axe.

You chose the only one that would prove your point, ignoring the rest of the lineup. Once again, Gransfors makes axes that excel at smaller bushcrafting tasks, and are appropriately designed. This is why there are many medium sized axes in their lineup. So stop with the disingenuous claim that they cost $200. That's like saying Spydercos cost $225 because that's what a Southard costs.

I read what you wrote, and I'm saying you could have a piece of history that works better at "limbing and chopping" than a gransfors

If you have the time and patience to search them out, perhaps. But that's not for everybody. And not everybody has that time on their hands.

I never disagreed that the gransfors wouldn't penetrate deeper. It will. But it will stick like a son-of-a.... in the process... for 120 dollars..

1) Once again, for some applications this is desirable. It's exactly why I got mine.

2) If you can't work around this properly or - better yet and like I said before - have the sense to choose the right tool for the job, then maybe you shouldn't be swinging an axe.

For all your apparent knowledge and experience, you seem to be missing these two points. Look, I don't know why you're so combative about this. Different strokes for different folks. You can't tell me I'm wrong for preferring a certain type of tool, it's an opinion, a preference. And yet you're being dismissive and - in all honesty - a bit rude about it.

In any case, I looked through your posting history, and found that you had at one point been looking into CRK and Hinderer. So let me ask you this: why were you looking into those brands if you don't believe in paying for something that doesn't perform better than something else a fraction of the cost? Those knives cost several times as much as many knives that will match or outdo their performance.

So while you bought a knife that is priced much, much more than other similarly performing knives, you are now looking down on people that do something similar with axes. Why?

I'm very curious to hear your answer.

So basically you are saying people should do enough research to be able to tell a good axe from a bad one and spend even more time sorting the good from the bad at garage sales. Plus the effort to restore it. Can you see why that's not a very helpful recommendation?

Gränsfors makes nice sharp oldy worldy axes that work for the kind of bushcrafting play people do in the woods. They come with and hold a good edge. They are well built and sexy. What's not to like? If you want a different blade geometry get a different axe.

Thank you for putting it much more succinctly than I could.

 

[olybears57]

Their only double bit costs even more, and their hewing axe is astronomically priced. So, your example works well for small bushcraft axes yes.

I do have the sense to choose the right tool for the job, which is why I no longer own a gransfors.

It is true, I have owned a strider, a hinderer, and a CRK... I have since sold all three, and the only folder I currently own is a spyderco manix 2, because they did not perform better. My vintage axes however, do perform better, which is why I sold my gransfors. Your results may vary.

 

[olybears57]

Their only double bit costs even more, and their hewing axe is astronomically priced. So, your example works well for small bushcraft axes yes.

I do have the sense to choose the right tool for the job, which is why I no longer own a gransfors.

It is true, I have owned a strider, a hinderer, and a CRK... I have since sold all three, and the only folder I currently own is a spyderco manix 2, because they did not perform better. My vintage axes however, do perform better, which is why I sold my gransfors. Your results may vary.

 

[stabman]

I might get a Gransfors at some point.
One of their medium sized offerings...or something in that size range from another company.

You see, many of us are looking for something that fits in a pack or rides nicely on a belt; we aren't running out there to be lumberjacks, so a full-sized axe with awesome tree-felling potential isn't the goal.

And if I ever get some land and decide to build a log cabin, I will use the correct tool for the job...a team of illegal immigrants who work for next to nothing.

 

[calc]

Their only double bit costs even more, and their hewing axe is astronomically priced. So, your example works well for small bushcraft axes yes.

I do have the sense to choose the right tool for the job, which is why I no longer own a gransfors.

It is true, I have owned a strider, a hinderer, and a CRK... I have since sold all three, and the only folder I currently own is a spyderco manix 2, because they did not perform better. My vintage axes however, do perform better, which is why I sold my gransfors. Your results may vary.

Gransfors perform very well at certain applications, whether you want to admit that or not. Fine. But you still never said why you bought a Strider, a Hinderer, and a CRK. Preference? Curiosity? An appreciation for quality? All these reasons are valid, and I don't really appreciate you implying they're not when it applies to axes - only to folders, because it validates your actions, not mine.

The title of this thread might as well be, "why do you like Gransfors? Let me tell you why you're wrong". You asked a question about opinion, and now you're telling me I'm wrong about preference (one can't be wrong about a preference), I'm wrong about performance (I am not, since I qualified and specified my statements), and I wasted my money buying something overpriced based on performance (coming from someone who purchased a Strider, a Hinderer, and a CRK).

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

With thin bitted axes it's possible to sink them too deep and that's usually where sticking happens. Take lazy swings with a thin bitted/flat cheeked axe and you'll have more favorable results. There's a reasonable limit to how deep such an axe can go without sticking, so aim to make your blows bite below that level of penetration.

 

[JayGoliath]

I have not own any Gransfors and no future plan to get one (unless any generous party will give one away) i can only say based on the axe designs from countries that produced and used them a lot, GB has a pretty extensive range for almost occasions out there.
Also the Scandinavians axes are part of their rich heritage since the days of Vikings so it made total sense to look into the source, if not one of the sources.

Cegga who works for Hult Bruks is one out there that forged many different axe profiles based on his studies and experiences.

I have handled a SFA and i must say they are pretty compact and very sharp off the sheath.

 

[garry3]

As I am typing this I have beside me an 1918 Emerson and Stevens that for all practical purposes is flat cheecked and narrow to cut deep to boot.

Just saying.

 

[300Six]

Why does everyone love flat cheeked Gransfors? Especially at their price point. Is it the romanticism of a "hand forged" tool? Marketing? Why buy a 200 dollar tool that will not perform as well as a piece of history you can remake and save for yourself for about 20 bucks?

They're exotic Swede, they're retro-looking (design and finish) and they're very expensive. How many fashionista tinhorns are out there with a strong belief that "you get what you pay for" when it comes to recreational or hobby items? And who do you impress on your first outdoor excursion most with a shiny-paint $20 Home Depot chopper VS a $200 already-looks-old G-B?

 

[paperairplane]

I'll take one of these awesome vintage $20 axes. Never seen one in the wild. Kind of like the pawn shop Ruger 10/22 for $150. Just doesn't exist.

 

[olybears57]

Come visit Washigton friend, where we still have trees!

 

[sashae]

Since getting more knowledgeable poking around in this hobby (meaning the searching out and restoring of old axes) I've not spent more than $25 on an axe at a garage sale or flea market. My favorite axe, a Kelly Perfect Jersey cost me $8 and a few hours of my time to rehang on the old handle, clean up and oil the handle, and de-rust and clean up the head. If you know what you're looking for, good stuff is out there -- and frequently the best stuff looks the worst before you clean it.

 

[Insipid Moniker]

It depends on how bad off it is. From 20 minutes (quick sharpen and sanding/oiling) to a full restoration (rust removal, cheek reprofiling, sharpening, rehafting), which can take up to a couple hours of work. Some axes are worth the hours of work (to me) and some are not. Also, I tremendously enjoy these restorations, and don't consider it work, if that is what you were getting at. I would much rather do the work myself than work a few extra hours and pay for something new.

If that's your preference and something you enjoy that's all good. But understand, if you're suggesting that I take on a job that lasts multiple hours in exchange for X savings you're making an assumption either about how I enjoy spending my time or on what my time is worth. Just saying, "My axe cost way less!" is a vast oversimplification if you don't take into account the time spent searching for and working on the axe. Personally, I dislike sifting through garbage for the bits of treasure that might be hiding, so garage sales and such just aren't my thing. The performance aspect you can certainly discuss more objectively, but your claims about the price difference are, frankly, disingenuous.

 

[dejard]

Does anyone have one of these premium, better than GB, restored and refurbished, garage sale gems available for sale at less than $40? I'm hard pressed to find one of these specimens at garage sales in my area. Would you suggest I wait until one shows up and hold off on my axe wielding activities until then, or do you have an acceptable commercial alternative to the GB?