Axes and associated items

[davidwyby]

Lots of good axe and splitting stuff from this guy.

 

[chiselbit]

@chiselbit I think it might make a nice banger with a shorter handle despite or besides being heavier to carry.

Looks like a slugger!

 

[davidwyby]

Like the fire axe. Falci maul doesn’t get stuck significantly less in semi dry Euc I hit today.

 

[calcutta250]

Ok, you evil people. Which Ox head should I buy? I seem to like a longer handle. Also which company do you all prefer to buy from?
My councils and fiskars have done decent but now I’m interested in a better splitting tool.

 

[davidwyby]

Ok, you evil people. Which Ox head should I buy? I seem to like a longer handle. Also which company do you all prefer to buy from?
My councils and fiskars have done decent but now I’m interested in a better splitting tool.

https://www.stihlusa.com/products/forestry-tools/axes/prosplitmaul/

 

[davidwyby]

Lovin the fire axe. Forgot this pic of the monster poll. Was faster to grab the axe than the saw for this limb hanging off the trailer. Green Euc cuts pretty easy. Little awkward to swing (banging wedges) due to the weight, maybe the curved handle too, also awkward position, but the weight means it doesn’t have to be swung as fast.

 

[wap13]

Ok, you evil people. Which Ox head should I buy? I seem to like a longer handle. Also which company do you all prefer to buy from?
My councils and fiskars have done decent but now I’m interested in a better splitting tool.

Havent tried the maul yet, just the splitting axe but very impressed with it.

I have the Stihl one with the metal collar. I dont really care for the collar as I cant slide my hand all the way to up the handle, but maybe it does add a bit of protection. I would like the try one without the collar to see if it was better.

 

[wap13]

Lovin the fire axe. Forgot this pic of the monster poll. Was faster to grab the axe than the saw for this limb hanging off the trailer. Green Euc cuts pretty easy. Little awkward to swing (banging wedges) due to the weight, maybe the curved handle too, also awkward position, but the weight means it doesn’t have to be swung as fast.

View attachment 373040View attachment 373041

I may have missed it, but have you split enough with the fire axe yet to say how it compares to the ox splitting axe?

 

[davidwyby]

I may have missed it, but have you split enough with the fire axe yet to say how it compares to the ox splitting axe?

I haven’t gotten them out together yet. Green Euc is bouncy, less sticky, and I think the fire axe might be better, more penetration. Dry it’s sticky and the ox would be better. I like the longer handle of the fe6. The ox axe is actually 5.5lbs vs. 6 I think.

I have an idea about making the very leading edge of the ox a little sharper for more bite but not so much it sticks. Also longer handle.

 

[davidwyby]

Oh yeah.

 

[Moparmyway]

Oh yeah.

View attachment 373461

Whachoo got there ????

 

[Gullet]

Yeah David...
What da fook dat?

 

[davidwyby]

JDM choppa

3# 36”

I whacked some half dry Euc this morning about 14” with the JDM splitter…it bounced off several times and kinda hurt my right hand at the tail end of the handle too wide of an angle, but that what I wanted. Not a sticky axe.

Next I went to some small springy stringy knotty pine that everything else gets stuck in (x27 got stuck horribly) and it mowed through it! I think the long bit reaches down through and cuts the strings and knots.

 

[Wilhelm]

JDM choppa

3# 36”

I whacked some half dry Euc this morning about 14” with the JDM splitter…it bounced off several times and kinda hurt my right hand at the tail end of the handle too wide of an angle, but that what I wanted. Not a sticky axe.

Next I went to some small springy stringy knotty pine that everything else gets stuck in (x27 got stuck horribly) and it mowed through it! I think the long bit reaches down through and cuts the strings and knots. View attachment 373524View attachment 373525View attachment 373526

Funky design!

 

[KS Plainsman]

JDM choppa

3# 36”

I whacked some half dry Euc this morning about 14” with the JDM splitter…it bounced off several times and kinda hurt my right hand at the tail end of the handle too wide of an angle, but that what I wanted. Not a sticky axe.

Next I went to some small springy stringy knotty pine that everything else gets stuck in (x27 got stuck horribly) and it mowed through it! I think the long bit reaches down through and cuts the strings and knots. View attachment 373524View attachment 373525View attachment 373526

How long front to back is it?

 

[wap13]

Looks like its hung on a 2x4.....

 

[maulhead]

How long front to back is it?

Might be best if he answers that in a PM....

 

[davidwyby]

How long front to back is it?

8". Might add steel to the back like the "buster" (make it balanced) or a RR spike driver...and bang wedges with it.

While the smallness of the head lends itself well to the close quarters of the work, the secret behind the narrow head is one of physics. I was a gandy for 32 years and I have bent a lot of spikes. It is an easy thing to do. As thick as they are, they bend like butter. Sometimes they are bent on purpose, to move the rail laterally a fraction of an inch. Oak ties are the strongest and most common, then comes fir, and aspen for light duty in yards. The ties may be drilled or not. The most common tie on my road was a non-drilled, creosoted, oak tie.

A mass in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. The narrow head means that most of the mass of the hammer is close to the centerline of the head. A wider head means that the mass is spread over a wider area. If the spike is struck and the blow is not centered under the hammer but to one side of it, then the majority of the hammer’s mass is going to force the hammer to rotate in your hand and slip off the spike…also bending the spike or even launching it to some other location. If a spike is struck at all by a spike maul, most of the mass is still going to be directed nearly straight down, and this will be useful energy, driving the spike down into the tie. Sometimes the spike will be bent a little, but it can be straightened and continued driving will send it home.

The non-striking end of the hammer head is even smaller in diameter, insuring that even more of the hammer mass is closer to the centerline of the hammer head, for better efficiency. yes, the narrow end will fit between the rail and the guard rail in a switch frog, but full power spiking here is a fool’s game, likely to cause serious hammer blows to the running surface of the rail. Track punches were made for this work, and was the province of a punch man and his striker. Some people have done this with one spike maul striking the other maul, but this is extremely dangerous, as these hammers have hardened faces. When one hardened face strikes the other, a sharp chip can be struck from one of the faces with a blow that is less than perfect, and the chip will fly off like a bullet, sometime striking a nearby person. One man in my gang is carrying a piece of steel in his leg to this day, as the local doctor could not remove it.

A good spiker could consistently drive a standard spike home in an un-drilled oak tie in 4 or 5 strokes, leaving a contact patch on the spike head, the size of a nickel. We had rules against spiking over the rail, as there were too many cases of broken hammer handles, of damage to the base of the rail. Team spiking was a thing of beauty to watch and hear, but it was also very dangerous if the rhythm was lost for whatever reason and hammers could collide and accidents happened. Team spiking was frowned upon. I was graceful like a warped board, so I did not do much spiking. I was more often one of the guys nipping ties up so the spiker could do his job, or straightening spikes, or shifting ties with a lining bar, or shoveling ballast, or hand-setting spikes for the spiking crews, or pulling a badly bent spike with a clawbar. As my seniority permitted I eventually worked mainly as a track welder…but still had to do spiking as part of welding work. The ideal in spiking is to drive the spike home, but stop when the underside of the spike’s head is not quite in contact with the base of the rail. The rail is medium carbon steel and can be fractured if struck hard enough. Too hard a blow on the spike, to really “seat” it can damage the rail, so this is a case where “good enough” is good enough. Spikes do not really hold the rail down, anyway. The train does that. The spikes hold gauge…keeping the rails from shifting side-to-side.

Track work is highly mechanized, now, but hand tools are still in heavy use and their design has not changed in a century.

Looks like its hung on a 2x4.....

Japanese Splitting Axe

Japanese Splitting Axe for Green Woodworking at Workshop Heaven fine woodworking tools. Friendly service. Next day delivery option. Lifetime guarantee.

www.workshopheaven.com

 

[davidwyby]

I think the additional weight would help carry the blunt bit angle through more too.

 

[Squareground3691]

8". Might add steel to the back like the "buster" (make it balanced) or a RR spike driver...and bang wedges with it.

Japanese Splitting Axe

Japanese Splitting Axe for Green Woodworking at Workshop Heaven fine woodworking tools. Friendly service. Next day delivery option. Lifetime guarantee.

www.workshopheaven.com

Cool video , carrying the Jred