SHOW ME YOUR AXES

[Gullet]

Upgrade Your Logger's Axe with a Durable Hickory Axe Handle

Get the best out of your Logger's Axe with a durable Hickory Axe Handle. Experience improved performance and grip for efficient logging tasks. Order now for quick delivery.

westcoastsaw.com

 

[davidwyby]

I like the 20" miner's handle's they are good carrying on ATVs or in the woods

20" Miners Straight Single Bit Axe Hickory Replacement Handle ( 6 handles) | eBay

The color of the wood does not affect the strength or quality of the hickory. The U.S Forest Products Lab has found no difference in white or red hickory's strength. Therefore, the best hickory handles may be red, white or a mix.

www.ebay.com

I'm ordering these no idea the maker

Tennessee hickory. I get mine from Madsen’s. I like how they swoop away from the poll. All my straight handles I’ve posted pics of have them, minus the East Coast Lumberjack ones. Great handles for the price can tweak shape to preference. WCS handles are nice but for that $ I’d have ECLJ make me a custom with my own tweaks.

 

[Catbuster]

Tennessee hickory. I get mine from Madsen’s. I like how they swoop away from the poll. All my straight handles I’ve posted pics of have them, minus the East Coast Lumberjack ones. Great handles for the price can tweak shape to preference. WCS handles are nice but for that $ I’d have ECLJ make me a custom with my own tweaks.

I’m totally with you on that. I like a lot of the WCS products, especially in that they provide a solution to problems a lot of people have, but most of them are over the top for my use… And very, very spendy.

I really like the look of their axe handles, they look well made and thought out (especially the big palm swell)-but I want mine longer, 26” is just too short for what I use an axe for.

 

[Gullet]

A 26" is pretty handy around a campfire.

 

[Oddsandends]

hell yeah! I'm loving my new Fiskars axe. My new favorite. I will buy some more Fiskars axes and log tongs this summer.

 

[davidwyby]

Is East Coast Lumberjack a manufacturer of handles? I’ve bought most of mine recently theough Beaver Tooth, but their turnaround time is brutal and my big palms/short fingers don’t like some of their handle profiles. I’m looking at maybe something else.

Anothrt reason those are hung flush is because a lot of guys slide hit the Halligan forks with the top of the axe. You’d destroy the wedge and the handle leaving it proud. Mike Perrone has some good video on that topic. I may make some later tonight if I make it to the firehouse.

When it comes to axes, it’s not a rare thing I’m hiking in a couple of miles and I carry my falling gear, and a small pack with water/lunch/gas/etc, and I carry one axe for everything. Over the last few years I’ve grabbed for a 5 lb Sager head I’ve had a couple of handles through. Right now it’s on a 28” double it bit handle, but it’s going on a 30 or 32 next time it gets hung. We’ll see how I like this one or if it’ll live with that Halligan tool for the rest of its life.

I got a new aluminum axe scabbard (and belt, and wedge holder, and shoulder pads) from Grizzly Peak I want to get some time on this year too. I’m excited. It should be an upgrade from a nail pouch on a rigger’s belt for wedges, and tucking the axe through the belt. The hard hat hasn’t changed though. Still rocking the Skullgard.

ECLJ Is Rod Cumberland. Super cool custom handle maker, tree guy, timbersports background. Somewhere in there he's got vids on my Elwells.

Home - East Coast Lumberjack

The East Coast Lumberjack makes custom Axe handles from Ash and Hickory wood that are handcrafted to your desire. Quality and fairness.

eastcoastlumberjack.com

His handles tend to be race style, wide and flat, but he'll do what you ask as well.

I just got a Fire Hooks Unlimited 6lb axe...the handle is Fat...I like it, though have not swung it yet. I have medium sized hands.

I didn't realize WCS was 26", I was thinking 28" which I think would be my min.

 

[Catbuster]

ECLJ Is Rod Cumberland. Super cool custom handle maker, tree guy, timbersports background. Somewhere in there he's got vids on my Elwells.

Home - East Coast Lumberjack

The East Coast Lumberjack makes custom Axe handles from Ash and Hickory wood that are handcrafted to your desire. Quality and fairness.

eastcoastlumberjack.com

His handles tend to be race style, wide and flat, but he'll do what you ask as well.

I just got a Fire Hooks Unlimited 6lb axe...the handle is Fat...I like it, though have not swung it yet. I have medium sized hands.

I didn't realize WCS was 26", I was thinking 28" which I think would be my min.

Mine isn’t too big, at least compared to the irons we carry on our truck. The head actually gaps a door really well. It’s a good hitting axe, that’s for sure.

 

[davidwyby]

You accidentally helped me. Was wondering about one of those yellow handled ones to re profile like a BBR wood bullet splitter. The FHU one I got is too thin-bitted I think, more of a chopper.

 

[Catbuster]

You accidentally helped me. Was wondering about one of those yellow handled ones to re profile like a BBR wood bullet splitter. The FHU one I got is too thin-bitted I think, more of a chopper.

Glad to be of help!

We carry the eight-pounder. It’s a beast. That FE6 hits better though-especially hitting one-handed and holding the halligan with the other. The tall poll on the FHU has advantages though, and so does the long handle. I think Council Tool and FHU (formerly K-T Tool Company) has a different ideology on what these are supposed to be and how they should work, and Council Tool came up with a better axe (who would have thought?) and Fire Hooks Unlimited makes a better Halligan (again, hard to believe).

 

[davidwyby]

This is my FHU. I think it might actually be council.

That yellow handle is another brand I think.

 

[davidwyby]

Bigger poll. Dunno what a Boston axe is…

Fire Hooks Unlimited Boston Axe - Columbus Supply

Looking for Fire Hooks Unlimited Boston Axe ? Check out Columbus Supply for First Responder, Climbing, and Industrial Equipment & Safety Supplies.

www.columbussupply.com

 

[Gullet]

If you ever run across this old Mann True American stamp... BUY IT!
Mine is a Dayton Pattern I'm guessing.
Rekon that one has banged some wedges? Lol
I've owned it over a year & it is my goto of the 40 vintage axes I own.
Use it exclusively, & only touched up the edge once.
It's on par with the Knot Klippers for much less money (I've owned a bunch of Knot Klippers in the past & still own 2).
Prolly the most well rounded axe I've I've ever used (4lb head).

 

[Oddsandends]

HELL YEAH!

 

[Chainmale]

A wee hultz bruk boy's axe I tidied up for my 7yr old. 2¾lb....

 

[Catbuster]

This is my FHU. I think it might actually be council. View attachment 411757

That yellow handle is another brand I think.

Our Fire Hooks Unlimited rep is pretty adamant they make theirs in-house. They keep their polls really soft.

A Boston axe has a tall poll, as can be seen in the photo I posted before. It just gives a firefighter a better chance of hitting the adze end of a Halligan or Kelly tool driving forks past a jamb in low visibility.

 

[davidwyby]

Our Fire Hooks Unlimited rep is pretty adamant they make theirs in-house. They keep their polls really soft.

A Boston axe has a tall poll, as can be seen in the photo I posted before. It just gives a firefighter a better chance of hitting the adze end of a Halligan or Kelly tool driving forks past a jamb in low visibility.

Craig Roost of Council thinks the FHU is an import since it doesn’t have a maker’s mark.

Wish I’d gotten a Boston, for beating wedges. As if I need another axe

Gonna have to start picking favorites and sailing the rest

 

[OH_Varmntr]

4 months ago I discovered Tassies. Left to right is an unmarked, a Hytest 4-1/2 and a Keesteel KK 4-1/2. I've rehung the unmarked and the Hytest so far. I have a Plumb USA 4-1/2 Tassie on the way as of this morning.

 

[davidwyby]

Never messed with a tassie

What’s the deal?

 

[OH_Varmntr]

Never messed with a tassie

What’s the deal?

Tassie patterns are better suited for splitting hardwoods. Think maul profile with a longer edge but with its weight being carried ahead of the eye. Very thin polls so not suited for wedge banging. That's why you find a lot of them have been welded or have cracked or mis-shapen polls.

I like buying the abused and repaired ones so for example...
Weld repaired poll with crack still visible.


Mis-shapen eye from banging wedges.

 

[Woodslasher]

Dragged out an axe for something other than wedge-beating for the first time in a long time, I used my little Clean Cut axe to bump a few knots on a log I'm milling.