Best Type of Axe for Busting Rotten Stump?

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liveaboard
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Re: Best Type of Axe for Busting Rotten Stump?

Post by liveaboard »

the ones I've seen were straight bladed and sharp. in India they were [are] used for dressing quartered coconut palm wood into usable [if not very straight] roof beams.

About 15 years ago, the canals in Amsterdam froze solid, and everyone went out to skate. It was possible to skate around the entire city on the canal rings, but there was a barrier at the Amstel river; boats had kept using it and had broken up the ice, and it had refrozen into a jagged mess.

When I got to it, there was an old guy out there with an adze, swinging away. He cut a track across the river for everyone.
He was in fact a friend of mine, a skilled carpenter named Mathias who lived in a boat there.
Probably had the only adze in the city.
RMinMN
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Re: Best Type of Axe for Busting Rotten Stump?

Post by RMinMN »

SteveHGraham wrote: Thu Aug 16, 2018 3:39 pm Thanks for the suggestion. I think an adze would work if I could find one with a straight blade. Far as I can tell, they're all curved from right to left.

I'm surprised at how hard it is to find good axes and so on. I guess I should have expected it, in the age of Chinese tools. People are selling cruddy old axe heads on Ebay for $75. It looks like people really like Fiskars mauls and splitting axes, so I think I'm going to try one of their mauls.

If you have rusty axe heads in your shed, don't throw them out. You may be sitting on a fortune.
What do I do with the axe heads that I have in my shed that aren't rusty? What about the ones that are still fitted to a good handle?
earlgo
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Re: Best Type of Axe for Busting Rotten Stump?

Post by earlgo »

Hah! I've got George Washington's axe. It has had 5 new handles and 2 new heads since he used it, but it is certifiably authentic!
Any bids?
--earlgo
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
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Dave_C
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Re: Best Type of Axe for Busting Rotten Stump?

Post by Dave_C »

There is a reason those old axes are going for $80.00 and new ones are cheap! The old ones were drop forged steel and would hold an edge while most of the junk we have today is just cast metal of one sort or the other.

Just like our other tools, you get what you pay for. Cheap is rarely quality and quality is rarely cheap!

Dave C.
I learn something new every day! Problem is I forget two.
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ctwo
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Re: Best Type of Axe for Busting Rotten Stump?

Post by ctwo »

Standards are so important that everyone must have their own...
To measure is to know - Lord Kelvin
Disclaimer: I'm just a guy with a few machines...
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Dave_C
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Re: Best Type of Axe for Busting Rotten Stump?

Post by Dave_C »

I watched the video all the way through! Obviously the man never had to cut firewood to keep warm in the winter or he would know how to fix a loose ax handle. His $280.00 ax has a loose handle, put another wedge in it and go back to work. It's wood, it swells in wet weather and shrinks in dry weather. (Same reason a lot of high end rifles use laminated or synthetic stocks, they don't shrink and swell and change the fit)

I'd have a hard time calling the two short versions an "AXE" as they look more like a big hatchet to me! Did you notice the flaw in the cast head of the middle one? The top dollar one does not appear to be a cast head. Smooth and polished!

I suppose axes are like other tools, you have to find one that fits you and works for whatever you intend to do with it. If there was just one perfect size that fit all then I suppose there would be no need to make other types or sizes.

I had to cut firewood as a young man and I would not have been caught dead using any of the three of those for serious work! A good splitting axe was a one hit and done axe. Not 6 or 7! IF it was a bigger job than that, out came the splitting wedges and the sledge.

Dave C.
I learn something new every day! Problem is I forget two.
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Best Type of Axe for Busting Rotten Stump?

Post by SteveHGraham »

I am hesitant to give weight to Wranglerstar videos. He is more about trying to make a living off Youtube than about giving solid advice. He's heavy on clickbait. I don't think he was raised around tools. Seems more like an urban guy who escaped from a cubicle at 40 and pointed his Prius toward the mountains.

I remember he recommended Irwin chisels. I bought one, and it turned out to be softer than Buck Bros. chisels from Home Depot. I could take a Buck Bros. chisel and put scratches in the Irwin! I sent it back. Total junk. Incredibly, my Buck Bros. chisels have turned out to be very good. People don't like to hear that after they've spent $20 each on Ebay vintage chisels.

He nearly killed himself by inserting a bottle jack in a cavity he had cut in a tree. I believe he was trying to make it fall a certain way. Terrifying.

Sometimes the comments to his videos are more informative than the videos. One commenter said he needed to take the paint off his axes because it creates friction between the steel and the wood. Of course, that's true, but it would have taken a long time for me to see it.
Every hard-fried egg began life sunny-side up.
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Dave_C
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Re: Best Type of Axe for Busting Rotten Stump?

Post by Dave_C »

Steve,

You are a wise man my friend and I kind of got the same take away as you.

If you want to learn something about how to "hang and Axe" (most of you have no idea what that means) then watch this video. You don't have to watch long to figure out the "old man" knows what he is doing

https://youtu.be/LIv7RegtxwQ

After you watch it you will know where the phrase came from "Getting the hang of it".

Dave C.
I learn something new every day! Problem is I forget two.
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Best Type of Axe for Busting Rotten Stump?

Post by SteveHGraham »

Great information, Dave. I have a present for you in return.

https://www.pcta.org/wp-content/uploads ... _grind.pdf

That guy recommends ax drifts or swedges. It appears that America is so far gone, these tools don't even appear on Ebay.
Every hard-fried egg began life sunny-side up.
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Best Type of Axe for Busting Rotten Stump?

Post by SteveHGraham »

I picked up a Fiskars maul yesterday, and I just gave the stump a few whacks with it. It will take it apart. The question is whether it will take me apart first. I was outside for about 5 minutes, I swung the maul maybe 10 times, and I was starting to sweat when I wisely chose to come inside.

Very steamy August day here. It rained, and now the sun is evaporating it.

I also tried busting the tops off a couple of rocks in my yard. It will work, but I think digging and using the tractor is the smarter strategy.
Every hard-fried egg began life sunny-side up.
John Hasler
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Re: Best Type of Axe for Busting Rotten Stump?

Post by John Hasler »

The US Forest Service document behind that video: https://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/pdfpubs/ ... 72pt05.pdf
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Best Type of Axe for Busting Rotten Stump?

Post by SteveHGraham »

That is exactly what I linked to.
Every hard-fried egg began life sunny-side up.
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