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Making and using a small axe. I forge the head, carve the handle and sheath from wood and use the axe on a bushcraft trip. Open the full video description for more information. ---------------------------- Date: May 2024 Day: about 20°C (59°F) Night: about 10°C (50°F) Day: about 15°C (68°F) Night: about 10°C (41°F) Hours of daylight = about 16 Location: Scandinavia, Northwest Denmark - sea, spruce/pine and hardwood forrest. Some of the most remote in Denmark, but limited how remote it can get. A lot of birds and deers etc. No bears, only a few wolves. _________________ Consuming: coffee. _________________ A few questions: 1. What steel did you use? C45 - about 80mm long piece of 40x20mm. 2. What wood did you use? Oak. 3. How did you heat treat the axe head? Annealing in air and hardening in water - hardening only the cutting edge area and using the remaining heat to temper to a light yellow collar. 4. Did you split the wedge kerf? Yes - I prefer to make the kerf/opening for the wedge by splitting the wood open using a chisel instead of using a saw and removing material. 5. What did you use to get the black collar on the axe head? Oil on a rack applied while the steel is hot - about 200 -300°C (392-572°F). The oil burn to the steel surface and makes a rust protective coating. I usually apply the oil using the remaining head after tempering. You can use all kinds of oil - in this case did I use vegetable oil/rapeseed oil. 6. Can you tell me more about the axe design? Yes - The sheath design is dating back to the Viking era - similar was/is used in many parts of the world. Not the most convenient sheath to attach, but it works. The axe head design is modern - started gaining popularity in the early 1900 hundreds in Scandinavia because of ease of mass production due to the very basic shape compared to collared axes and other traditional Scandinavian axe patterns. Gränsfors Bruk is now a days probably the most well known big scale manufactor of this type of axe design. 7. What oil did you use on the handle and sheath? Vegetable oil/rapeseed oil. 8. Did you use something to color the wood? No - oak naturally collar is relative dark. 9. Is the blacksmith setup inside a tent? Yes - a large lavvu/tent. Just made from cheap tarps, spruce poles and nails. Nothing fancy... Made it a few months ago. 10. What are you going to use the axe for? A lightweight option for bushcraft trips and for general crafting. 11. What blower do you use in the blacksmith shop? In my case is it one made in Denmark for the danish military. Bought it local from a private seller here in Denmark a few years ago. Similar is common for blacksmithing - if you want one try to google “Hand crank forge air blower“ or similar. I use the same blower in most of the other blacksmithing videos - I have just made a wooden box for it - keeps it more stable and more quiet. Here is a video showing my blower without the wooden box 12. What type of axe are you using to carve the handle for the new axe? A classic russian axe design. Homemade - C45 steel and ash handle. 13. Where did you get the anvil from? Forklift fork, cut with angle grinder and heat treated like an anvil. 14. Where can I get similar axe - can I buy from you? No. My recommendation is to support a blacksmith/axe maker local to you... Or to make your own - ideally learn by visiting a local blacksmith or pay for a axe making class... But also possible to learn axe making and blacksmithing in general from watching youtube - “Black Bear Forge“ and “Nils Ögren“ have my recommendation. I do sell on off, but only locally here in Denmark and only a very limited amount... So very unlikely you can buy an axe from me. I don't do waiting lists. But I would like to make a few “give aways“ every year.... like an axe made by me and a knife made by me etc... - not sure how or when, but I will let you know. _________________ Some of the gear used in the video: 1. Pants = Klättermusen Gere 02 2. Axe and knife = homemade 3. Boots - Lundhags Forest 4. Backpack = Eberlestock Mainframe F1 5. Kettle = Eagle 6. Sleeping bag = Carinthia Defence 4 _________________ Camera gear: Nikon D7000 Nikon 50mm 1.8 Nikon 20mm 2.8 Nikon 300mm 4.5 Røde videomic NTG iMovie
