The Gun Counter

Depends on your preference I guess.

Tomahawk

Double Bit Axe

Both are available at Home Despot for $39.99. I succumbed to temptation and got the Double Bit tonight. This thing is hefty. Mine came pre-nicked on one bit. The American employee who made it still dipped it in the protective goop anyway. A little file time will remove most of it, but no big deal in the long run. It's made to whack things with. There's no doubt whatsoever it will wreak havoc on anything "coming right for you..."

I saw one of the Estwing double bit axes once; it seemed too small to really be useful for anything. Not to mention that putting one of the more dangerous (to the user) woods tools in the hands of greater numbers of "average" users, is probably a bad idea. Good job security for Aesop though.

Axes are so paleo, they haven't changed much in millenia, simple small changes over the years to meet some perceived need, or to take advantage of upgraded material, but basically they're a sharp blade on a stick to increase mechanical advantage.

I own several and I've never been a fan of the double-bit axe, simply because I don't need a cutting edge that close to my back. I've seen professionals use them, and I've known some men who were very good with an ax (and an adze, and a froe, but I digress). Be careful with that thing, you'll cut your leg off.

In the absence of saws, the double-bit axe is supposed to be the shiznit for felling trees. Not just because you can go longer without needing to sharpen, but also the balance, and the way it bites into a tree (sectional density?) makes it more efficient to use. But that's pretty much what it is good for, and the power saw has made it obsolete. It's a bad choice for general chores due to lack of a "safe" edge. And the undersized Estwing version is neither fish nor fowl, since it isn't even a felling axe. To paraphrase Cooper, what is it for? To sell, of course.

Yep, cut my teeth on a double bitted axe. Single bit will do but much prefer the swing of a double bit.

Just didn't see single bits in use much at all in our corner of the PNW woods (other than boy scouts and occasionally at firewood piles or campboxes until I was full grown). Thought that shorty from Estwing doesn't look to be too useful other than as a target throwing axe.

I assumed it was a throwing axe. The tomahawk looks pretty neat, and is probably effective...for whatever tomahawks are really used for nowadays.

Good on them for bringing a solid product into an overpriced market. The only others I've seen in that price range have polymer necks/handles.

ETA: And now I don't have to stand in front of the hammers at Home Depot wondering which would make the best weapon in an emergency.

Durham68 wrote:Good on them for bringing a solid product into an overpriced market. The only others I've seen in that price range have polymer necks/handles.

ETA: And now I don't have to stand in front of the hammers at Home Depot wondering which would make the best weapon in an emergency.

Snort, same here. I am always thinking of alternate uses whenever I go to Lowes/Home Depot/Ace.

Another 4" on a roofing hatchet handle makes it pretty interesting for social work -- and maybe still reasonably practical for roofing.

Axes are pretty much 99% a dead art, except for the (very) few people who still move everything via muscle power, and a chain saw needs gasoline.
According to an old article in the Smithsonian magazine the double bitted felling axe was supposed to have two different angles between the planes of the bit.

The old (pre ww2 at least) patent axes are highly collectible and some are said to have two different alloys of steel forge-welded together. A softer steel around the eye and a hard steel at the bit. When people were actually skilled with axes the handles were thinned to the point of being a little whippy. This combination served to cushion the feller's hands. In the hands of an unskilled person like me the handles would break too quickly.

blackeagle603 wrote:Another 4" on a roofing hatchet handle makes it pretty interesting for social work -- and maybe still reasonably practical for roofing.

The 16 oz framing hammers have nice long handles and a straight claw, too. You might find something of similar proportions in 8 or 10 oz., and while carrying a hatchet around is less strange than carrying a full size ax, carrying an ordinary claw hammer might be even less strange. A woman in our neighborhood carried a nine iron.