Hey Folks! 

It's been quite some time since I've posted. Just thought I'd share a few goodies from recent orders. 

The snowy camp axe is mild with 5160 bit, the last of my axes with 5160. It is also a hand-carved ash handle.

The camp axe i'm holding is with a 1084 bit, and the long scandi axe, it's smaller hudson bay-ish partner are 4140. The 4140 axes are punched and drifted... I'm not a fan of doing this solo so we're building a 25t C frame press from Batson's book. Pretty excited to have it finished and start punching, drifting, and forging axes! 

The hawks are mild and 1084. I love 1084... it sticks SO nicely to A36. 

Cheers!

Very nice! What made you decide to move away from 5160?

Im from Sweden and I would proudly own one of em, look great and should be a loyal companion for a lifetime good work man keep it up, we need more good quality axes, got nothing against mass produced stuff we got a few good axe companies here in Sweden still that make pretty good commercial axes but personally they don't meet the quality like this these days, they did once upon a time when they forged less but the mass production that has come to fill everyone need around the world for axes has made the quality go down where some are good and some axes are poorly made(due to many different people making em). but still they make some of the best commercial axes in the world that are mass produced so for the price it is good.

Went a bit of topic there, but my point is im happy to see people like you who bring in the hand crafted stuff back, the quality is going to be so much better so keep it up man. I hope you charge the right fee for one of these cause you deserve it, people who know a good axe knows when to pay for it.

 

Cheers!

You have come such a long ways..  I can see your dedication to making axes is paying off..   

I love a good ax or hatchet.. 

Great work!

Dave

Ditto Jennifer. You've come a long way in a relatively short time Benton. Well done! I'd be very pleased to carry one of your hatchets in the woods.

Frosty The Lucky.

Great job on the handles also..  Are you splitting them out of logs? 

That is some excellent work. I hope to make some small axes some day.  I have a Wetterlings that I'm quite fond of which I hope to use as inspiration.  Great work.  

 

Thank you everyone for your kind words! I sincerely appreciate every single one. It has been quite the journey but it's only begun. 

I've decided to move to 1084 from 5160 because of how nicely it heat treats, forge welds, and has a great edge retention for hawks and small camp hatchets. 

The handles, I'm sourcing my ash from a local joint here in SW Indiana. Longer handles indont carve, but anything under about 20 inches i typically do. I can score 5/4 straight grain ash lumber for pretty cheap. Otherwise, a handle any bigger takes me longer to carve than it does to forge and finish the axe. I really, really like elm. It's my favorite to carve and hang axes on. Not as tough as ash or hickory but it performs well.  

Should be ordering my motor and pump next week for our 25t press, and then the real fun begins. I've done some heat treat testing of 4140 from tool steel service of California, excellent stuff. I'm really impressed with how it has performed as an axe. Super tough, stays sharp. Having the hard poll is nice, too. Punching eyes, for my personal preference, makes a bit cleaner lines than I can do by folding or doing the asymmetrical weld style. And it also makes a monster axe.