Zen and the Art of Hafting

Wow that didn't take as long as I would expect.
This looks to be a modern 80's+ Michigan pattern which means it took less than 40 years for this to happen, and the axe head is probably less than 30 years old really.

I don't know how long I would have expected this to take since I never imagined it happening, but for some reason after seeing it I feel like I'd be less surprised if it were a much older head.
 
Trees grow fairly fast here (southern Spain) with the abundance of sun if they are watered, some trees could put out a limb like that in only a few years.
I wonder about the lack of rust in the image though...
It’d definitely be cool, in Japan they grow curved handles to suit their woodworking adzes (can’t remember the name) & here in Spain they have grown wooden Pitch forks for years, very traditional. There is somewhere nearby growing chairs, not kidding, they grow a tree up a frame to form a chair!
 
Ernest DuBois said:
Slackers
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Haha 😆

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France, but the sameasSpain.


Chouna adze

www.wallybois.com

Japanese Chouna (Adze) (釿) - Wallybois Woodworking

In Japan, the Adze is called a Chouna. The Chouna is one of those tools that is used by skilled native Japanese artisans for woodworking but predominantly reducing and shaping the face of wooden sections. Chouna or Japanese Adze is superseded by the Saw The long saw has reduced the need for the...
www.wallybois.com www.wallybois.com

www.robin-wood.co.uk

Japanese axes and adzes - Robin Wood

Whilst building the tea house in Japan we used a many axes and adzes. The axe that got most use was the carpenters ono, a bearded laminated axe that comes in various sizes from small one handed hatchets used for removing the waney edge of boards to large heavy versions used for squaring beams...
www.robin-wood.co.uk
 
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I'mSoSharp said:
Chouna adze

www.wallybois.com

Japanese Chouna (Adze) (釿) - Wallybois Woodworking

In Japan, the Adze is called a Chouna. The Chouna is one of those tools that is used by skilled native Japanese artisans for woodworking but predominantly reducing and shaping the face of wooden sections. Chouna or Japanese Adze is superseded by the Saw The long saw has reduced the need for the...
www.wallybois.com www.wallybois.com
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I still have the bit of mine just not the handle which I stupidly left at a job in Germany and've not seen since. It was in no way linear and was off-balance and yet worked well being pleasurable to use, very springy. The handle form is coaxed out of the tree, persimmon I think, the bark largely intact and minimal fitting since it's wedged so the bit can get taken off to grind and whet.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I don't know how long I would have expected this to take since I never imagined it happening, but for some reason after seeing it I feel like I'd be less surprised if it were a much older head.
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It'd all depend on climate and species of course.

What's that old FS density recommendation, 17 to 21 growth rings per inch? (i imagine this to be second-growth hickory somewhere around S.E. US) .That's +/- 20 years, if you can keep from breaking a handle in 1 generation you should be good to go!

But yes,with a bit of fore-thought Lots of tools and appurtenances around us can be grown...:)

Hunting spear hafts were in a number of indigenous cultures;kinda handy especially if you consider all the possibilities opened by ability to scarify the outside of tree for shape and texture.
 
jake pogg said:
It'd all depend on climate and species of course.

What's that old FS density recommendation, 17 to 21 growth rings per inch? (i imagine this to be second-growth hickory somewhere around S.E. US) .That's +/- 20 years, if you can keep from breaking a handle in 1 generation you should be good to go!

But yes,with a bit of fore-thought Lots of tools and appurtenances around us can be grown...:)

Hunting spear hafts were in a number of indigenous cultures;kinda handy especially if you consider all the possibilities opened by ability to scarify the outside of tree for shape and texture.
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Near future of typical American Orchard:
On the left, peach tree, On the right pear tree.
Further down apple tree and Plumb tree :cool:
 
Crabapple. I recently acquired some stems about 4” in diameter, I think I can get small hafts out of them with careful cutting.

I have handled socket chisels in apple and pear wood before, more for paring than striking. Turned out well.

Parker
 
Dangerous topic, tree manipulation, can lead in all those directions.

And pollarding is very cool, current and common in a place I know and many American soccer fans are now hating, Netherlands. Any old farm house will have its formed and valued,trained and trimmed to grow out only two sides to form a kind of curtain, Linden trees out front. There and in Flemish parts, pollarded willows, many hundreds years old, define the landscape and no one with a respectable garden would be without some.
 
~10years based on the tree in my backyard that has nothing to do with the tree in the pic.

I love this, thanks for sharing!
 
We are missing a point. If you find straight growing branch that barely fits the into the eye, it will take no time at all to tighten up
 
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