| The review consists of : |
|
Typical hardware store axe, total weight is 790 grams, length is 14.6", 3.2" cm wide bit, 2.8" cm infront of the handle. Similar in size to the Bruks Wildlife though is 32% heavier. The edg profile is heavy convex, 0.281" wide and ground at 24.2 (5) degrees per side under 0.060" with a shoulder sweep of 11.2 (5) degrees. This is about twice as heavy as necessary for a wood working axe. Note in the picture to the right just how much heavier it is than the Wildlife.
|
Both axes were freshly sharpened and could push cut newsprint and slice paper towel. Slicing 3/8" hemp, the force required was 9 (1) and 22 (2) lbs respectively for the Wildlife and hardware store axe. The much lower angle on the Bruks and the greater curvature significantly enhance the cutting ability. They were also used to point some pine. The performance was not even close. It would take on average 8 (1) slices with the Wildlife to point a small stake and 28 (2) with the hardware store axe. There would be no need to measure anything to know they were not in the same class. The hardware store axe was seeing the effect of fatigue here of course as you can't maintain maximum force through 30 cuts. To the right shows the groups of shavings from one point and then a closeup of two respective shavings. The much larger one is from the Wildlife. Trying to use the hardware store axe to do some light shaping is difficult due to the low cutting ability and greater weight. The Wildlife isn't that great here either, a decent knife is much better, but it is still radically ahead of the hardware store axe. Roughing out a flat spoon with each and it was more than 2:1 in terms of time in favor of the Wildlife. |
|
|
Removing some bark the hardware store axe finally did ok. It still was not in
the same class as the Wildlife which would just
push off the bark in long strips. The hardware store axe needed a higher angle
off the wood to match its edge angle and needed basically a series of little
chop/pushes to get it to cleanly remove the bark. But it was
not outclassed here anyway. Similar for cutting light bark like birch. The only
real issue was the heavier weight in hand. However if the wood was full of small
branch stubs it was much easier to clean with the Wildlife due to the higher cutting ability as
it could much easier clip off the small knots.
Cutting some small rounds, through about 250 chops, the hardware axe was at 61
(3) % of the Wildlife in terms of number of chops
to cut a given piece of wood. These were medium heavy chops, mainly wrist with a
lot of elbow.
The wood was hard as it was seasoned so the penetration was only
about 1/2" or so.
Both axes were similar in fluidity, basically no
binding in the wood. The hardware axe was way too heavy for its handle length,
it really needs a small two handed grip. Taking into account its weight, the
chopping efficiency was 46 (2) % of the Wildlife.
With the force raised to heavy chopping from the shoulder at full force, the
hardware store axe fell further behind because now more of the thick bit was
seeing contact with the wood and the Wildlife's
much deeper primary hollow grind gives much better deeper penetration.
Both were also used for some slighter chopping
on springy alders, a soft
wood, similar to white pine in density
but grows twisted and is far less rigid so needs a
very thin edge and lots of speed to cut well.
The Wildlife could pop off thick alders with a
quick wrist snap snap while
the hardware store axe on the other hand tended to break the alders as
the edge is just far too obtuse and the heavier head is of no use because all
that power will just push the alders around.
Splitting some pine lumber, both axes split it easily, as will even a medium
sized knife,
however the Wildlife was far more able
to split very thin slabs because the edge would sink in with just a light tap
and thus it was easier to get high precision because the swings could be started
very close to the wood. Some work on pine and spruce rounds showed neither are
powerful splitters, but looking at the cracks made by both the Wildlife is again ahead. The hardware store
axe really needs a longer handle to allow the heavier head to get the necessary
power to make use of its weight.
In terms of general handling and comfort these are fairly similar aside from the weight difference. The only standout of the hardware store axe is that it is a more powerful hammer, so it works better on wedges and stakes. A few test shots driving 3.5" nails into a spruce 4x4 did show the hardware store axe to give much better penetration with really heavy swings. The eye is also way thicker and looks like it could take heavy impacts without drifting, something not suitable for the Wildlife. In regards to edge retention, this was an axe sharpened for a friend so no time didn't have time to do an extended comparison. However it did all of the above, and still sliced newsprint.
The edge was easily filed, far easier than the spring tempered spine on the Ratweiler for example. It formed a large, visble and ragged burr. However this cleaned up easily with some waterstones and and finishing with 1200 DMT and on 0.5 micron chromium/aluminum oxide produced a fine shaving edge.
This was a short overview as it was just a sharpening job for a friend so the work wasn't that extensive. This is typical of such axes in that they are way too thick for wood work on all but the softest woods. This one is also too heavy and would benefit from a longer handle. Note if the work was done with the normal hardware store edge it would have been even more lopsided, and some of it would not even be possible. Fatigue would also really make it worse, limb out 50 trees with one and then the other for example and the time would be a lot more than the chop ratio because the hardware store axe is more taxing to swing.
Comments can be sent to cliffstamp[REMOVE]@cutleryscience.com and seen in the following thread :
| Last updated : | Jun 31 : 2006 |
| Originally written : | Jun 31: 2006 |