Outdoor Axe & Hatchet
The axe is an ancient and ubiquitous tool that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood harvest timber , as a weapon and a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has many forms and specialized uses but generally consists of a axe head with a handle , or helve. The earliest examples of axes have heads of stone with some form of wooden attached ( hafted ) in a method to suit the available materials and use. Axes made of copper , bronze, iron and steel appeared as these technologies developed. The axe is a example of a simple machine , as it is a type of wedge, or dual inclined plane. This reduces the effort needed by the wood chopper. It splits the wood into 2 parts by the pression. Most modern axes have steel heads and wooden handles ( Typically Hickory ) although plastic or fiberglass handles are not uncommon. Modern axes are specialized by use, size and form. Hafted axes with short handles designed for use in one hand are often called axes but the term axe refers to axes without handles as well. Hatchets tend to be small hefted axes often with a hammer on the back side.
Parts of the axe
The Axe Head is typically bounded by the bit ( or blade ) at one end , and the pole ( or butt ) at the other, though some designs feature two bits opposite sides of each other . The top corner of the bit where the cutting edge begins is called the toe, and the bottom corner is known as the heel. Either side of the head is called the cheek, which is sometimes supplemented by lugs where the head meets the haft, and the hole where the left is mounted is called the eye . The part of the bit the descends below the rest of the axe head is called the beard and a bearded axe is a antiquated axe head with an exaggerated beard that can sometimes extend the cutting edge twice the height of the rest of the head.
The Axe Haft
The Axe Haft is sometimes called the handle. Traditionally it was made of a resilient hard wood like hickory or ash, but modern axes often have hafts made of durable synthetic materials. Antique axes and their modern reproductions , like the tomahawk , often had a simple straight haft with a circular cross-section that wedged onto the axe head with out the aid of wedges or pins Modern hafts are curved for better grip and to aid in the swinging motion , and are mounted securely to the head The shoulder is where the head mounts onto the haft and this either a long oval or rectangular cross-section of the haft that's securely to the axe head with small metal or wooden wedges. The belly of the haft is the longest part, where it bows in gently and the throat is where it curves sharply down into the short grip, just before end of the haftwhich is known as the knob.
