World's Tiniest Axe

So it's been suggested in the comments that perhaps it would be wise for me to stay away from drone flight and get back to working on the axis and I'd have to agree, so what do we have? What are we going to do today? today we are going to choose a very special Hickory Tennessee Hickory for this little Norlin number five. If you're joining us for the first time, this little ax here has been a restoration project and for those of you who have been following along just cleaning up. It's pretty good, there's still a little more work to do and maybe not having to put in the effort, save it for last, but and this is beautiful, so let's take a look.

I have three Hickory options, let's look at them. together and we select something that's really special for this Lex, well what do we have here, like a couple of different options, so here's something that I, when I was me, I was grabbing my Hickory, this Hickory here, both pieces , this is the first piece that What I bought is eight quarters thick, eight quarters, let's think it's supposed to be eight quarters, it's supposed to be two inches wide overall, you know they're from a lumber yard, you know how gypos are all the time, it's actually short of an inch and 7/8. but for all the tents aside, well, I go intensely and with purpose.

I think I said intensive purpose last time. We shouldn't use words that I can't pronounce for what it's worth. This is the first piece I bought. That's all. that was left was a there is a lot was a 12 foot this is the second again the same from a different tree but again eight flat quarters in Tennessee Hickory man nothing finer, hard, hard, hard, hard wood, what was it? Clint Eastwood said nothing like a good piece of hickory this here this is grandpa one of grandpa's handles this was on what double bed ax and I was all loose and worn and I cut it off there and I did it when I made it a new handle and funny The interesting thing is that he always painted his display with the red that he put red on both ends and the reason he did that was because we used to go hunting elk and deer, that's what we went on all our family vacations for and there.

There were a lot of men up there with a lot of tools, so he painted them this way. This was his pattern to keep track of them. So he did that. You know I've seen, you know, I've painted and I never thought about it, well, I painted mine black on the bottom, but I should probably adopt this double stripe, wouldn't that be cool? Do it like make a red stripe here and a red stripe there, maybe I should do that. I should change my ways, but what I was thinking was how cool it would be to use Grandpa's old ax handle to make a handle for the little marbles.

I think there's enough there, yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, I don't know what I want to do. a I think so, I think it would work, but the more I look at it, come on, let's take a closer look. I had to go get some lights. It's so dark here, so dark. Now I can work with two tripods. so what we have, my only concern in this, well, you know, it's not really worrying, let's take a look at the grain orientation here, you can see, come on, canyon, there let's see how we're performing, you know, ideally, we want to execute this. way, but that to me is totally acceptable, totally acceptable, let's look at this end here, let's see now, running towards that, that's almost a perfect 45.

I wouldn't have any problem with that, like if I bought a large force Brooks ice ax or something. like that and it came with a grain oriented that way, I'd be fine with that, it's nice that it works perfect, though isn't it? I did it every time you look at it, I mean, is that right? I might say that now like, oh you know, I cut a corner there, I don't know if it's a corner, I don't know, maybe we're splitting hairs, but if you have something that's really cute like that, you put a lot of times you want to show it to them. to your friends and family and share it with people.

Do you agree with that? Can you live with that or if someone is going to get a comment about it will it make you angry? Don't know. we have here, I'll get this one, so this one here is a floor in Hickory, you know why they paint that there, they paint like that, well, this is all a piece of super dry kaolin dried wood like this, how long would it take? to dry properly before using it for an you're going to be really want it to be cute you don't want you don't want this to shrink at all because if this shrinks when you put that head there it's going to be loose and all your work the effort you put in will be in vain so what you can do is, once you cut the billet, get the size you want and if you have a small scale, something that's really sensible, you mean something like Mrs.

W has one in the kitchen, you put it there on your weight, it you bring into the house for about a week some places get warm even you know not right next to the forest over the heater because you know something that gets some air and ventilation and then weigh it again in a week and see if you haven't lost nothing. You will know that all the moisture from the water is outside that piece of wood. I mean, you're really getting anal there, but you know if you're good. You're going to do something special, sometimes you don't know because you just don't know if, especially if you have this here, so you bought it and you just spit it out in your store for a couple of years, you don't have to. check all that out, but let's say you just bought a piece of information that may be from a dubious source, maybe they said it was kiln dried, maybe it just maybe it's not, but that's the way you can verify it yourself, so the benefit of using it is that we can.

Pick and choose and choose the exact grain we want, what will be Grandpa's X with the 45 degree grain or the perfect Hickory? Let's go with grandpa's axe. Let's put this aside for the next project and well, do it. let's figure out what the link will be that's where we start so let's take a look at some comparable shafts. Not really, I mean, I don't have anything comparable. This is actually very small what I used. To think it was small this year is the smallest acts I know, the great strength that Brooks makes. I know I'm not pronouncing it right.

My wife speaks Swedish fluently. She did not do it. I'll ask him again. Believe. she says Grant groans grunts no, she says she says it in a way I really can't, I can't, so this is his smallest axe, it's a hand axe, not a hand axe axe, and I used to think that this was very small, but it's a monster compared to this, look at the difference, I mean, they're not, they're not completely different, but it's quite a bit bigger, it weighs twice as much, probably more than twice as much, but I don't see this. Although it is a perfect handle for this and what it is intended for, I don't see it being a good handle for this, so we will rule that one out.

The only other small ax I have here is the one I ever came across one of these, grab it Norlin double ended and one of my favorites in the top three, very special that it has a small handle again. I think this one was small, but look at the two compared to each other. I mean this looks pretty heavy compared to the one with a traditional sink double prong handle, but a double prong handle that really has nothing to do with a single prong attack, but the size is Well. a little small I didn't make that handle right, so we have this is not really an option, but hey, it could be that this is a handle of this is one of my, this is my crosscut saw, a small swage hammer and this It was a handle that is a very old design, it is one that I copied from the original Atkins hammer handle, fortunately I still have it and it is a wonderful shape.

I said, you know, I've talked to Sephora before, but a handle shape that's made for hand work and body work that's comfortable to be in your hand all day. I really love this swollen palm design, but is something like that appropriate for this type of axe? How does it look? It looks like a hammer that we don't want. which we want it to look like an axe so that leaves us down to the last one and although this is not a small axe, this is a Husqvarna, how's that? How is that? What is that Swedish Husqvarna that is the Guevara ax like?

It's what you have and what I was looking at across all my axes. What I like is that it is such a beautiful classic ax design. That shape with a nice, pronounced shoulder we're not going to need much of a shoulder. for this, but even though it is of course too big, can't you imagine? Can you see where I'm going with that? Doesn't that knot lend itself to that shape? It's beautiful it's beautiful very traditional very classic this is What is this? We want to play Kate, whatever the length of her and such. I want it to be a sweep back and a curve into a simple little heart corridor.

What are you doing? Know? The runner at heart that she won't lie on the ground. It doesn't matter if there's a piece of cloth or something soft the size of a stamp she'll try to curl up on it it won't land on the ground and the poor thing here has nothing to throw at us you have to put the wood chips in, okay so with a basic shape in mind, what we need to do before we start, we need to determine if we have enough wood here to make that shape, let's sit here for inspiration, it's important to have inspiration when you do things like this.

I once read a book about the amazing arches and doors for pianos. I think they were made in Germany and the way the artists sculpt them and the way their studio is on them. the art that's hanging there and the way everything is designed, everything is desired, designed to inspire, inspire the human form and the human form, and then hopefully that will translate into your work, so you will be inspired right here on this one, so the question is: is there enough wood this is a very small handle to cut go into the back and cut basically what we need to cut an S out of here it's very close isn't it? it's really big it's going to be very subtle I think we should Come on, let's try it and see that it's a very small handle and if you know, if it's not, it doesn't look like it's working, so we'll switch to the live edge.

Okay, we're almost ready to cut here and we'll put in the spokes. I don't know, we'll see what kind of condition the wood is in, but we have to calculate the length. What I'm thinking, you know, what you're thinking is that it looks something like that length. right there where we have that for me, I like the way that looks like it's about a foot long when we get there 12 inches 12 inches why not, what 12 inches is is a good length, you know and we'll know, well, you know what. it's a little long it could be it could be narrowed down to here it's here there's 10 this is 10 10 looks good maybe 10 let's cut the blade, let's cut the beak at 12 and then we can weaken everything we can always adjust that later, let's cut it let's go in on the wood, let's strip some of the weather and see what we have and then we'll decide.

I think it's very good to be able to use it. I'm glad I saved these, some of Grandpa's old handles and this stuff. It's also nice to be able to have that memory, you know, instead of just throwing them away. Mark that at 12 inches with our official language of our carpenter's pencil, handing over a few thousand of those, we can save this one for another project, yes, there's enough. there, let's take some of this weather off so the attentive observer can notice these varnished handles, thinking I might have to give grandpa a hard time about that when I see him in the kingdom, ask oh, he knew more than that , but we I don't know all the circumstances, we are fine, so this is something I have never used before.

It is a small scraper that has a radius. Oh, look, that varnish flies around like popcorn. It's a good tool. really good so you know this was a gift from me to one of my subscribers and at the mother earth news fair and you know when you know it's just as cute as I was thinking while I was setting it up for this video and putting everything my tools together that more than half of the tools on my bench right now that I'm going to use in this video have been given to me by subscribers and you know, that's really cool, that's special and they're in and they're not, and they weren't just, You know, the ones I'm using here, most of them aren't the ones with something they picked up at a garage sale, but they're long, they're a family member, etc.

That to me is a very special gift and I enjoy using them, especially when I make these videos like that because, you know, I feel like we are like you know, you are kind of a part of a part of this, you know you contribute it and you know it like that and You fight this nice book, Shay, right here. I wouldn't be able to use this or have this if it weren't for those of you who subscribe to the channel and support us, okay, you don't like the flat side and you do like the round side, so the combination of both.

This is a bit of a tool deeper that you want kids to get into woodworking or anyone, not just kids. This is the most fun tool to use and is something that anyone can use safely and even a little deeper. I just want to remove that a little bit, no, it's too far away, a very subtle and pretty piece of wood here, although interesting, I don't know if it works as well as the one or I don't work itas well. Like traditional spoke shave, spoke shave is a good tool for removing varnish from your tools, some of that stuff can be really hard to remove, so this little handle is too fiddly, it's too small for the screw of bench, this is my favorite method for building handles, even the largest ones, up to 3 feet in size, use your clamp, we'll go, this is the best clamp for this because it has a lot of surface area in the jaws and you can orient the wood and You can bring it very safely close and you can turn it at any angle which makes it wonderful for shaping.

No, that's much better. The nice thing about this method of holding your work is that you can use it in any type of vise you have. and this clamp I have a lot of clamps and this one, the jet clamp, 31 inch is perfect or tested unless you are trying to make a 32 inch handle and it wouldn't be very good, but I guess since I have If I had done it, I haven't made a 32 inch animal, but I'm sure it's great for everything else. It's just a habit. I have bent over hundreds of times to undo the clap on the vise and clamp and the plant falls over. on the floor, let's take a look at this, what kind of condition it's in, it's very solid, focus, here we go, it's very solid up here and it's pretty typical with a lot of used handles like this one that are starting to see a little bit. a little wear on the back, however, most of it will go away and we'll probably lose an inch from here, so I think it'll be fine.

My only concern is if it is wide enough. enough to get the shape we want, let's draw it here with our inspiration and see if it looks like it's going to fit, so I'm comfortable with the solidity of the wood, but is there room for that shape there, so this is ax very small little ax a little goes a long way so I have a quarter of an inch or so on each side of that hole. I thought I was just drawing this here, that nice sweep pattern coming back to the extreme side a little bit shorter like that and then bringing it back like this and having a nice little knob.

I like this knob, Dan, it's very reminiscent of the little ax in the woods. There's room for that, with that wide swell there, we could get our top out, get a little out. the top: will that go up here symmetrical like this here, so it will go down a little bit down here, it's there, it's there, it's close, it's very close, let's work here a little bit, let's see, listen, let's see if I can't work on one two-dimensional template here and we don't have to make the decision now, but we can get an idea if we're going to have enough.

I'll tell you what the wool shirt is. it comes off when you start making handles it starts working on that beautiful s-her yeah right I think it looks good guys I think it's old hard wood why now is this really rough or like you're starting to see that shape that we don't have? I don't want it to be too much for you too much, you can get too much, it's very subtle, less is more, we want it to have that organic look but not over the top and everything so over the top shouldn't be subtle and nice. and to make it look like a branch, let's take this out of here, right here, put this down here, you want to take out a knife, this is not the best tool for the job, let's grab a knife, now, how, okay, let's take this down to match, we just have to do it right, there's no life, I like it, that looks really, I don't even like it and how it lights up, you know, man, so now it's a little heavy, but let's put it together a little bit. a little flat there owns it just as well looks like a wave pretty good pretty steep there I don't think we want to go much further than that oh my goodness, well I learned my lesson slowly so I turned it around, this is where I'll go, we're just going to reduce this just a little bit.

We have plenty of material to play there when we play there. Let's take a look at our work. See the shape forming there? Do you see the similarities less pronounced, certainly more subtle? See how it looks in proportion. Now this is going to be a lot of material, it's going to disappear, it's going to be much smaller, much smaller, but the basic shape of the base ship there is nice. Doesn't it feel good in the hand? It's too long, it's too long and that's what I was counting on. I figured it was about an inch too long and we may get rid of some of it due to the weather. -hit, could you let me cover that so we have a little bit of sticking out, but let's cover something like this here, maybe three quarters of an inch, something like that that looks good, looks really good, looks just so you?

They know just one radio, they could have done all that with one radio. very simple, very simple, pity, these are not available. I wish everyone could do a little project like this and because it's good. about having a small hickory its very hard to get unless you have a really good sawmill in your area something like this we could just go buy a used or used or new ax handle something like that was formal something that is thick . I would have a limited supply of Hickory for small handles, but these, well, there aren't many. I like it, I really like it, that's going to be, that's going to be good, that's the right way for this, the weight on me is almost right. there, okay, that's probably enough for today, we'll make the adjustments next time and well, I guess we'll probably start doing this before we make the adjustments, it's addressing this addressing this guy, okay, we'll do it.

See you in the next Heart Racer video, are you ready to go? Hey, are you ready to go? Come on, come on, let's pack up the house. I've sat here for five minutes trying to think of something to talk about on the final card. I'll start talking on Sunday morning, beautiful Sunday morning on the farm in July and well, I'm excited about today and I'm not excited about today. I'm excited about the fact that I'll be picking up the lady. I'm at the airport tonight and Jack hasn't seen her in a week. What I'm not excited about is that I left the house alone for a bit and there is quite a bit of cleaning to do, that's always what I do. but I learned something that a man alone in his house away from his wife can get by on one meal a day, he can make peanut butter and English muffins, they are very useful, so oh, I know what I was going to talk about. so we talked or I asked him what should we do something nice for the lady.

W and I have exactly what we have in mind. In fact, I already filmed the first part of the video and the second part will put the plan into practice, but what I decided, although there were some great ideas from subscribers, a lot of them. where I just didn't have time to do it but I do have time for this mrs. W wanted me to fix her irrigation system for a garden she's been watering by hand and oh wow, I've been putting it off for too long, so we'll fix it today. I have all the supplies and I will get them. connected, connect the RAM pump, so I might do that today.

I can finish the house cleaning and I'll take you guys for that, so stay tuned for the next parts and we'll see if we can. I can't get that head in shape, but the boys are doing great, aren't they? I think it's going to be really cool, well I think that's probably enough, so thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video.