What was your first carving hatchet?

I really liked the disclaimer about a beginner doing this & using fancy tools, that seemed quite right...and gave me a sense of what type of work we were going to see in the video.  Great job.

“Is it because I’m bad at rehanging hatchets? Yes.” That one made me giggle. 😂

The ending was hilarious! 😂

Jó videó lett,néha a kevesebb a több, korlátozott a költségvetésem,két faragó baltám van egy kb.400g és egy 600g az éle át van alakítva mindkettőnek a nagyobbik nyéllel még van mit alakítani,de minden feladatot ezekkel meg tudok oldani mert nincs más és nem is hiányzik.
Az áruk a te költségeidhez képest sokkal kevesebb, nem panaszkodom,de itt Magyarországon az átlag kereset 1000$ ebből elég nehéz fejleszteni,de mégegyszer mondom nem panaszkodom megvan mindenem ehhez a hobbihoz egyedül a szabadidőm kevés 😉.
Minden jót neked.

I started with an old carpenter axe I completely redone, worked to see if I really wanted to carve spoons. I then bought a Gransfor large carving axe, much better, but,,, heavy and less control. I continued using it till I decided a more dedicated axe would be better. I now and have had a Hans Karlsson. So much more control, weight is perfect for spoon's as well as heavier work like bowl's. I strongly recommend buying the tools your budget allows. I used the repurposed hatchet for a couple years before the Gransfor. Nothing at all wrong with the Gransfor, but if you want more control and cut placement, a lighter axe and hollow grind is much better. They are more, way more expensive than others, I saved up and bought the Karlsson.

My first one was the inexpensive one sold by Robin Wood.  I moved on, haven't used that one in years.  I was lucky enough to get one of the first Hoffman Craft Carvers, and it's wonderful.  As is the Julia Kalthoff carving axe. The Hans Karlsson axes were about impossible to obtain when I was looking, don't know how hard they are to get now.   For me, one of the joys of greenwood woodworking  is the opportunity to use and enjoy the beautiful tools.  The most important skill is sharpening, in my view.   A skill that I, for one, will never completely master.  I think one of the best guides for sharpening is the book   "Sharp", by Sean.Hellman.

LOL... Finally!!! I call it my "Beaver Crap." Ugly and awkward. But I keep it and make it work. It is certainly not a hand ax and does not compare well to hand axes in typical hand ax tasks (camping, hunting, etc.,). Once I reprofiled the bit (difficult to do with a file because chunky fat head is in way), it did well enough at carving out hand tool handles from wood I harvested that I do prefer it over carpenter/half-hatchets and hand axes in that kind of carving task. Which is indeed what it was marketed to be, a carving ax.

But I really don't do that much. So it basically stays in a cupbaord.

I wanted to replace the handle but couldn't get anything off the shelf to do it. Didnt want to make one. And I really want to modify the head, which is way blown around the eye, bulky and just... bizarre.

Yet I left it as is except for changing the bit grind and keep it simply as warning to myself, a reminder: Stop impulse-buying stuff! -- Especially buying axes from a company that doesn't specialize in axes. When this came out, it was a one-off from a company that till then worked in the mid-range grade of carving tools.

It was $59 dollars for each I bought when they first came out (one for me; one for my son). Price shot up over the first year they were on the market due to over-excited YouTubers thinking they got a Gransfors Bruk bushcraft-style hand ax killer.

One guy said it was a great throwing ax. I would add, only if you don't intend to go retrieve it (well unless, maybe... if we modify ours to be like yours).

Thanks for posting this vid!

Danke für's Einstellen

First was a used carpentry hatchet that I got for five bucks and modified for carving. Then I got Robin Wood’s carver and have been using it for several years. Very happy with it.

nice to see you back with new content. very nice detailed explanation of your improvement plan and the steps and the results.  would you later relieve the  corners on the cheeks a bit? how was the overall weight compared to the Kalthoff small carver? take care ---Wayne

It’s interesting to hear what an experienced woodcarver thinks about an axe. I think I now know what’s wrong with my axe. I need to adjust the angle of the blades at the first opportunity. After all, the angle of the blades on my axe is exactly the same as that of the axe shown at the beginning.

❤

I took one of Robin’s courses back when the GB “Swedish Carving Axe” (as it was called then), Svante Djarv or a repurposed Kent pattern axe from a car boot sale were pretty much the only games in town. Fell in love with the GB then and still love it picking it up again after a long gap. I also have one of Robin’s Sheffield axes, but it turns out I don’t really get on with such a light axe. Give me the asymmetry and heft of the Gransfors every time.

I like talking to (into) my spoons too. 😅

Great video, loved the detail given on what makes a carving hatchet operate well. Have you tried Beavercraft's AX6 hatchet? With you liking bearded axes, this might be a good budget option for you to review.

Hello Tom,. I have both the ax1 and the adze from Beavercraft. I am grateful for this video as I have not yet "tuned" them up, or used them for that matter. I have a very limited budget for tools and I thought something I can tune up is better than nothing. I do a lot of spoon carving for relaxation and have started making my own knives from files and industrial bandsaw blades. I now have a 2x72 grinder but not a tormek. I believe you said in the ending that perhaps a more obtuse angle would work better. Can I interpret that to be say 20 degrees? I appreciate your comments and advice and have subscribed.  Thank you.

Beaver craft sent me one of these axes to try. It was like all of the design choices they made for it were the opposite of what they should have done. The severe cheeks made it pretty irredeemable. The edge grind and profile, the head shape, and handle would make this such a terrible choice for a beginner.

The way they market it is a bit dodgy. How could you fall in love with axe work if you only had this?

My first axe was the little one from Robin Wood. Perfectly good for a beginner. Used it for over a year. Then I got the GB large carver and never looked back.

Hollow grind is actually the weakest of the 3