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257065 | Dwight Beebe <dwb1124@g...> | 2015‑11‑29 | Completed my spoon carving hatchet |
Gracious Galoots, I finished the carving hatchet today. I reground the edge to a radius of about 7" and created an asymmetric set of bevels. The long side, about 1/2" wide, is toward the work. The included angle is about 30 degrees. I used a billet of oak to hack out a handle (drawknife, carving knife, spokeshaves, rasps). I wouldn't do that again, as it was reluctant to change shape. Pictures are here, last few in the album: http://bit.ly/1MW4U7g Needs honing and the included angle may be too acute, but I was chopping oak. Green wood will be friendlier. Regards, Dwight |
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257066 | Chuck Taylor | 2015‑11‑29 | Re: Completed my spoon carving hatchet |
> Pictures are here, last few in the album: > >http://bit.ly/1MW4U7g Dwight, Looking at which side has the longer bevel I have to ask, are you right-handed or left-handed? Chuck Taylor north of Seattle |
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257067 | Dwight Beebe <dwb1124@g...> | 2015‑11‑29 | Re: Completed my spoon carving hatchet |
Chuck, I'm right-handed, so the long bevel is to my left and toward the wood. Dwight |
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257068 | Darrell & Kathy <larchmont@s...> | 2015‑11‑29 | Re: Completed my spoon carving hatchet |
On 28/11/2015 9:34 PM, Dwight Beebe wrote: > I finished the carving hatchet today. I reground the edge to a > radius of about 7" and created an asymmetric set of bevels. The long > side, about 1/2" wide, is toward the work. The included angle is > about 30 degrees. Nice axe Dwight. These are my carving hatchets. http://galootcentral.com/components/cpgalbums/userpics/10074/Hatchets.jpg The smaller one is REALLY small, made by James Smart in Brockville, one of those $2 yard sale acquisitions. It works great for carving spoons, and is small and light enough to take along even when I need to pack light. It does not work for splitting wood at all well, due to the lack of mass. The larger one is a normal camp hatchet size, something I picked up at one of the Tools Of The Trade sales some years back. The handle is way too skinny, and will be replaced some day. This one is nicely undercut so you can get your hand up behind the center of mass when using it for detail work. That, I think, is the key requirement for a carving axe. The bevels are equal on these tools. I may have to try changing that and see how they work with asymmetric bevels. Darrell starting to clean the shop to get ready for the Galoot Xmas BBQ next weekend! -- Darrell LaRue Oakville ON Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User |
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257069 | Thomas Conroy | 2015‑12‑01 | Re: Completed my spoon carving hatchet |
Dwight Beebe wrote: "I'm right-handed, so the long bevel is to my left and toward the wood." It seems to me that this asymmetrical bevel takes you about halfway to a side axe, without having to spend an exorbitant amount of work in flattening the flat side. What would the effect be of an even longer bevel, say an inch and a half or two inches? Would the hatchet work worse or better for carving? Tom Conroy |
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257070 | Dwight Beebe <dwb1124@g...> | 2015‑12‑01 | Re: Completed my spoon carving hatchet |
On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 10:47 PM, Thomas Conroy |
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257071 | scott grandstaff <scottg@s...> | 2015‑12‑01 | Re: Completed my spoon carving hatchet |
> Dwight Beebe wrote: "I'm right-handed, so the long bevel is to my left and toward the wood." This is interesting. I always face the long bevel, when I have one, away from the work. Side ax has the flat against the wood. I am left handed but I swing a hatchet righty. Go figure. But anyway I have tried bevels on both sides and the best for me is the flat against the work, by far. That is swinging right, the flat of the ax on the left side and the bevel on the right, when you are up over top looking down as you work Oh like this http://users.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/images/hometools/carving-ax.jpg I just recently put together a little double bevel carving ax. I could change the bevel if I wanted, but I am not even used to this standard configuration yet. I always wanted one with the elegant deep forged bevels in the blade, but never found one, So I ground this one from a standard hatchet. :) ha http://users.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/images/hometools/carving-ax3.jpg I made this one pretty small and portable. For packing around. yours Scott > > ******************************* > Scott Grandstaff > Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca 96039 > scottg@s... > http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/ > http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html > ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2015.0.6176 / Virus Database: 4477/11095 - Release Date: 11/30/15 |
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257072 | scott grandstaff <scottg@s...> | 2015‑12‑01 | Re: Completed my spoon carving hatchet |
You mostly get asymmetrical bevels after some idiot takes your side hatchet out and grubs rocks, and its all chipped to hell and gone. Or when you have a real dog of a pitted ax and have to grind a lot of steel off the flat side . A side hatchet in decent shape is not the end of the world to work the flat side clean and true again. I have done it many times, and I will again. http://users.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/images/hometools/sideax.jpg yours Scott -- ******************************* Scott Grandstaff Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca 96039 scottg@s... http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/ http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2015.0.6176 / Virus Database: 4477/11095 - Release Date: 11/30/15 |
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257073 | "yorkshireman@y..." <yorkshireman@y...> | 2015‑12‑01 | Re: Completed my spoon carving hatchet |
Tom asks about carving with a hatchet. I frequently refer to our tools as ‘sharp on a stick’ and axes are right up there with sharp and nowt else - so all the control has to come from the user. No mouth, no jig, no adjustment for depth of cut. But The bevel is where all the control comes from when doing delicate work. Consider a chisel plane. The edge is lined up against a bevel formed by the sole of the plane. That’s what gives control, so a long bevel can be used to produce an accurate planing cut, much as you would if using a chisel. If you have a single tool, an axe with a long bevel makes sense. If you also have to use it to do some serious roughing out before you can ‘chisel’ the finer pars of the work, then a short bevel makes sense too, to add some strength to the cutting edge. Scott would say ‘takes ten minutes to re grind your axe’ and I’m sure he’ll also say ‘and the rest of your life to become competent in it use’ (OK - if you’re 14, maybe not the rest of your life) As for me - I ‘discovered’ more axe heads than I expected just this weekend, so this thread is particularly fascinating, seeing a hewn chest coming up fast over the projects horizon. Richard Wilson a Yorkshireman, in a raining Newcastle on Tyne, in Northumbria |
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257074 | paul womack <pwomack@p...> | 2015‑12‑01 | Re: Completed my spoon carving hatchet |
Dwight Beebe wrote: > Gracious Galoots, > iy s > I finished the carving hatchet today. I reground the edge to a radius of > about 7" and created an asymmetric set of bevels. The long side, about > 1/2" wide, is toward the work. The included angle is about 30 degrees. I > used a billet of oak to hack out a handle (drawknife, carving knife, > spokeshaves, rasps). I wouldn't do that again, as it was reluctant to > change shape. Pictures are here, last few in the album: > > http://bit.ly/1MW4U7g A while ago (good $DEITY, it was 2013) we had a thread about a guy making and selling modified axes on eBay. The archive hasn't threaded it nicely, so here's a google search for the title "not a saw painter" https://www.google.co.uk/search?num=20&safe=off&q=site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fs wingleydev.com%2Farchive%2F++%22not+a+saw+painter%22&oq=site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fswin gleydev.com%2Farchive%2F++%22not+a+saw+painter%22&gs_l=serp.3...1626.1626.0.1914 .1.1.0.0.0.0.85.85.1.1.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..1.0.0.UgRX3iPUYMs">https://www.goo gle.co.uk/search?num=20&safe=off&q=site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fswingleydev.com%2Farchive %2F++%22not+a+saw+painter%22&oq=site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fswingleydev.com%2Farchive%2F ++%22not+a+saw+painter%22&gs_l=serp.3...1626.1626.0.1914.1.1.0.0.0.0.85.85.1.1.0 ....0...1c.1.64.serp..1.0.0.UgRX3iPUYMs He's still at it, under the name of "peeledmouse", and his skills have improved. I *think* there are enough old axes that he won't harm the axe-eco-system, but I am in two minds about it. http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/peeledmouse/m.html?_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1 BugBear |
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257076 | Mark Pfeifer <markpfeifer@i...> | 2015‑12‑01 | Re: Completed my spoon carving hatchet |
SNIP: > On Dec 1, 2015, at 3:46 AM, yorkshireman@y... wrote: > > The bevel is where all the control comes from when doing delicate work. Consider a chisel plane. I read “swedish carving techniques” early in my woodworking and was 100% bought into the single bevel idea for hewing. Three years later, I have 4 hatchets, a 6” Plumb broadax on a short handle, and a Pfeil bowl carving adze. One hatchet is very light, and bearded. One is an ugly fiberglass handled True Temper that I bought 20+ years ago before I had any interest in woodcarving; when I took an interest, I ground the vibration reducing “0” off the sides of the head to make it lighter. One is a light “camp axe” with a steel tang and 2 beech handle halves held on with rivets. The metal is good but I hardly use it; the handle is atrocious but original and I can’t persuade myself to re-do it. Obviously the adze and the broadax are single bevel. All but 1 of the hatchets are long beveled Willi Sundqvist style. I’m not speaking for anyone else and I don’t claim to be technically correct in any way shape or form. . . . . The single most effective hatchet I have is a no name “camp hatchet” I got on eBay for about $5. It’s double beveled. The head is the shape of a “Delaware” style felling axe. The bevels are very very small. Less than a quarter inch. It took and continues to hold an edge as fine as anything I can put on a plane iron or a chisel. For balance, I put a long handle on it. I tend to hold it near the poll for most work and the long handle puts the COG right around my ring finger for slicing. For more aggressive chopping I hold it 4-5” in from the end of the handle and don’t have to swing very hard, just let it fall like you’d do with a felling axe, with a slight pull to shear fibers. With that hatchet I can quickly rough dimension a green oak plank to where it only needs a jack plane to get it square. (My scrub plane was getting lonely so lately I let them share the work.) If sharpen pencils with that hatchet; 4 strokes max. I shape pegs with it for draw bores. Some planes are bevel up. Some planes are bevel down. I have grooving and beading planes that are double beveled from years of being badly sharpened, but which are still razor sharp at the edge where it matters. I’m going to need to go find a half decent crook now to see if that $5 eBay non name hatchet is also useful for spoons. Based on experience I bet it kicks the ass of the expensive carving hatchet. I may do a bowl too because I bet it also does better than the Pfeil bowl adze . . . . results when I have them. Mark Pfeifer Weddington NC Contrarily promoting love of cheap no name tools and unloved hatchets |
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