Hand forged axe shopping

[rideon66]

Plenty of great axes available on the market. If you‘re looking for a working axe, I humbly suggest you stop by the local firehouse or wildfire fighting crew station to get their opinion on what works for hard use. They spend hours swinging axes under the the worst conditions without any regard to preserving the axe. If you’re looking for pretty and exclusivity the internet is loaded with options. Happy axe hunting.

I was looking for small light yet able to split for hiking and camping and also the fire pit. Not muck out there that is different in that category. Everything is pretty much a hatchet at that weight and size. I just stumbled upon this one on a forum and started researching. Well known in Finland since 1976, but not outside there since it is a small family owned operation. I have some finnish friends who live up the street. They not only knew of them they owned one of their knives since they were a kid.

 

[rideon66]

I would also like to thank a member on here who stated it very nicely and by chance happen to back up what I was hopping in my purchase. That the Roselli will out perform the Gransfors Burks. I get it everyone since I started looking at axes has tried to steer me to the Gransfors and I like them, just found better lesser known options out there I would rather give a chance on that seem to be better made, work better and at a lesser price. It can also depend on what you are using it for too.

Indeed John, and unfortunately it's one of the negative effects of the internet in my opinion. Good products are often overlooked by those who steer solely toward what other folks say are the best. This isn't exclusive to B&B, or even to wet shaving either. My best fixed blade knives have been Spanish, Chinese and British, and none of them get as much airtime as the more popular (online) brands. Fantastic pieces of kit, that many will overlook, because "Brand X" is the one to get. Folding knives are the same, multitools too. I've tried some of the big brand knives, only to prefer some of the supposedly lesser brands more.

Sadly, group psychology leads a lot of people towards a narrow band of "best" items, and this can leave a lot of perfectly good offerings untried and unappreciated, or worse, written off as inferior products by people who don't even care to try them. My Roselli axe would outperform my Gransfors Bruks, and I'd take my Muela Jabali and Staniforth Warthog over any of the big brand heavy use knives. My camp food prep knives are both Chinese made, and are fantastic knives. As I've said many times before, I went 20 years shaving with a plastic DE razor, and it's still going strong. One of my best ever jackets was a supermarket own brand, and that's well over 10 years old now.

There's always more to see and try, and someone else's best might not be our own. Following the dogma of others just narrows our choices, and hinders us in finding what truly works best for us, whether that's razor, soap, knife, hat, pen, car, tipple, or even coffee mug. That's a large part of my "Aimless Wandering", ignoring the roar of the crowd, and seeing what else is out there instead.

 

[Tricky]

Huh. Looks like I replied to this back in 2019. Since then, I’m gonna have to amend my statement. I use to use my GB Scandinavian forest axe, but I found it really is best at limbing trees. It’s… not a great splitter. I keep a Council Tool’s Boys axe more handy ‘do it all’ in a small package.

 

[rideon66]

Smaller and lighter than I was guessing in my head. Really nicely done. Hope it can split like they say and out perform the GB. As at this weight and size you would not even notice it on a hike on your belt or in a pack. Will be nice at the fire pit if it splits well.

 

[Phoenixkh]

Smaller and lighter than I was guessing in my head. Really nicely done. Hope it can split like they say and out perform the GB. As at this weight and size you would not even notice it on a hike on your belt or in a pack. Will be nice at the fire pit if it splits well.
View attachment 1466889View attachment 1466890View attachment 1466891View attachment 1466892View attachment 1466893

That does look a like a serious piece of equipment... lovely.

 

[rideon66]

1.6lbs Roselli vs 2.2lbs GB SFA. 17.7" long Roselli vs 19.6" GB SFA while the handle design of the Roselli gives the same hand hold to top length for swinging so no lose their and this thing is a serious splitter and chopper even one handed.
So the axe for it's size and weight is mind boggling how well it cuts and splits wood. Takes out big chuncks with each swing and one handed too. Went through a 10" diamater or so tree in no time. Splits like a wedge. I was able to split logs and nice size wood both by chopping straight down and by holding length wish with the blade against the side of the log and bringing both down on the chopper at the same time. After testing wiped clean and the edge is like it was when I got it. Very happy with this. Will be great for the yard or hiking, camping and won't wear me out as much as swinging the bigger axes. Plus I can wear it on my belt. Loop is built into the sheath.
Plus considering the price difference with the GB axe while performing better I made the right choice here. I love this thing.

 

[rideon66]

My house is in the woods with lots of trees and the wife wanted some of them closer to the house gone before they got to large. 30-40'. So I took down and cut up about 7 trees today with ease using the Roselli. Some in tight spaces where I would not have been able to swing a larger axe anyhow. This thing cuts incredibly well. This was a true test today and it passed with flying colors without wearing me out swinging it and stayed as sharp as when I got it.

 

[rideon66]

So I follow Gransfors Burks facebook and seems a good bit of axes with steel failing pretty early on. I don't know if it is the recycled steel source they use or their forging process, but may also have to do with quantity getting too big selling too fast and producing too much leading to quality control issues.

I am really glad I did not go that way now. I was almost bought several times and then decided to research more and look deeper into the steel and decided to go with what seems to have been better quality over all.

 

[David]

Is this something recent? I have two that I’ve used pretty heavily with no issues but they are older axes.

 

[rideon66]

Is this something recent? I have two that I’ve used pretty heavily with no issues but they are older axes.

There were a few over the years, but more recent seeing more and one guy had it on two in a row. Last one was a bouble bit and one whole side of one of the blades cleaved off like a cold shut or poor metal quality.

 

[David]

Wow. That’s no good. Hopefully they are able to get a handle () on this soon. I know you don’t care for the GB’s but I’ve had zero issues with mine and have been very pleased with them over the years.

 

[rideon66]

Wow. That’s no good. Hopefully they are able to get a handle () on this soon. I know you don’t care for the GB’s but I’ve had zero issues with mine and have been very pleased with them over the years.

I actually like them just saw too much stuff like this. I almost bought one several times really. A good one is a nice axe don't get me wrong. There are just others out there too.

 

[Old Hippie]

I've got some older GBs and they're OK for limbing and working in harder woods. A GB hatchet lives by the front door for splitting cookstove wood.

Some of my favourites aside from a Swedish single-bit that actually splits pretty well are a Walters Black Diamond double and a couple of Sager doubles, one of which is a felling axe. I also have a nice True Temper Welland Vale pulaski. Mrs. Hippie loves her Council Boy's Axe.

I like Council for new axes, but I do wish they hadn't made that silly "saddle axe" double. I was hoping for a real double from them (but don't really need it; heh...).

O.H.

 

[Legion]

I found this video today which is pretty cool. I love the footage from when a corncob pipe was all the PPE a man needed.

 

[Legion]

Headed down a rabbit hole....

 

[nemo]

Headed down a rabbit hole....

What do you think of the Tormek T-4 for axes?

 

[Legion]

What do you think of the Tormek T-4 for axes?

I’ve never used one, but I think it would work well if you needed to really get the job done quickly.

Having said that, axes seem pretty soft compared to knife steel, and me, not being in a hurry, have always got the job done with a Norton coarse/fine India stone. Recently I have been finishing axes with a chunk of Turkey stone I had lying about, and now that is my axe hone of choice. Raises a burr, then puts an arm hair shaving edge on an axe in no time.

 

[rideon66]

I found this video today which is pretty cool. I love the footage from when a corncob pipe was all the PPE a man needed.

I found where they weld the high carbon steel to the softer pole interesting in this video. Most videos I have seen where this is done they put an indent on the softer pole steel and wedge the high carbon into it to make the blade. In this video they seem to take a U shaped high carbon bit and wrap it around the front of the pole to create the axe. Wonder if this makes for a stronger or weaker head or if it just gives a larger surface area of the high carbon steel exposed for more years of use and sharpening. Or if it matters at all?

 

[Frag_Out]

I found where they weld the high carbon steel to the softer pole interesting in this video. Most videos I have seen where this is done they put an indent on the softer pole steel and wedge the high carbon into it to make the blade. In this video they seem to take a U shaped high carbon bit and wrap it around the front of the pole to create the axe. Wonder if this makes for a stronger or weaker head or if it just gives a larger surface area of the high carbon steel exposed for more years of use and sharpening. Or if it matters at all?

If the high carbon (HC) is in limited supply or you already have it in a certain shape (square or round) it would be easier to use the first method. If you have sheets of HC that you just have to cut and wrap, that's what you do.

 

[Frag_Out]

Smith here. I typically don't weld in HC. The whole piece would be HC and then be differentially hardened where it needs it. Steel is cheap now so no need to add failure points or extra work where you don't need to.