Project by TopamaxSurvivor | posted 06-10-2009 05:20 AM | 2934 views | 0 times favorited | 18 comments | ![]() |
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Here is a block of maple I squared up with a broad hatchet. I’ve always been curious about making timbers with a broad axe. I decided to try it with a round of firewood that was cut about 6 months ago. It is slightly checked on the ends, but nothing too serious. I just started by making a few chops going down the log, turned it over and made a few coming back the other way. I kept it up until I had a flat side. Did the other and had parallel sides. Made a couple square sides and the whole thing is as good as I can get it by eye with a hatchet. I would have to use a square, draw knife and a plane to get it any better.
There have been a few posts about cutting rounds in the band saw and the associated problems. Here is one way out of the dilemma, flatten a side with a broad axe. I suppose you could do pretty well with a regular axe if you don’t have a broad axe, but I haven’t tried it yet.
-- Bob in WW ~ "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence
18 comments so far
degoose
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#1 posted 06-10-2009 05:28 AM
Topam AX Survivor hey.
A lot of jocks start with square and use the lathe to make it round,, you my friend are different,
Larry
-- Don't drink and use power tools @ lasercreationsbylarry.com.au
TopamaxSurvivor
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#2 posted 06-10-2009 05:34 AM
Now that it’s properly squared up, it’s ready for the lathe :-))
-- Bob in WW ~ "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence
Dan'um Style
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#3 posted 06-10-2009 05:43 AM
neat !! original post … fun to read about
-- keeping myself entertained ... Humor and fun lubricate the brain
Christopher
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#4 posted 06-10-2009 05:48 AM
Thats actually a lot of work to do. I do it occasionally with my short hatchet and it is a lesson in labor.
scrappy
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#5 posted 06-10-2009 07:17 AM
Another good lesson from the “Old School”
Great job!
Scrappy
-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!
kiwi1969
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#6 posted 06-10-2009 07:38 AM
Thats going to be the smallest log cabin in the world, is for a hamster? :-)
-- if the hand is not working it is not a pure hand
TopamaxSurvivor
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#7 posted 06-10-2009 08:05 AM
I don’t think I could do enough for a hampster. I can auger out 3 or 4 round holes, dig a bit more out with chisels and have a bird condo :-))
-- Bob in WW ~ "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence
Don K.
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#8 posted 06-10-2009 08:42 AM
Now that it’s properly squared up, it’s ready for the lathe :-))
LOL !!!!
-- Don S.E. OK
stefang
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#9 posted 06-10-2009 11:53 AM
I think you’re on to something there Bob. That looks like an eco-friendly way to to do things, if we don’t take the food into account. Seriously though, it’s a great way to quickly prepare a log for further work. I sometimes cut some logs about 6ft long and split them with wedges before smoothing them with axe and drawknife before I cut them into bowl pieces for the lathe. It’s actually very efficient, and more importantly it’s cheap!
-- Mike, an American living in Norway.
Junji
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#10 posted 06-10-2009 01:31 PM
REally interesting story. I don’t have any axe, but maybe I should get it too!
-- Junji Sugita from Japan, http://tetra.blog12.fc2.com/
moshel
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#11 posted 06-10-2009 01:55 PM
wait a minute! your firewood is MAPLE????
-- The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep...
Don K.
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#12 posted 06-10-2009 05:05 PM
wait a minute! your firewood is MAPLE????
LOL…kind of like lighting your cigars with hundred dollar bills !!!
-- Don S.E. OK
Craftsman on the lake
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#13 posted 06-10-2009 05:41 PM
wait a minute! your firewood is MAPLE????
LOL…kind of like lighting your cigars with hundred dollar bills !!!
Depends of the area of the country. Where I am we burn maple and red oak and we burn a lot of it. And every house lot has hundred foot white pine trees on it. I read here about people who have walnut and cyprus and hickory and such… you’ve got to walk a long ways in the woods where I am to find any such animal. Most of them don’t exist here. And where I am we’re all woods.
-- The smell of wood, coffee in the cup, the wife let's me do my thing, the lake is peaceful.
sharad
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#14 posted 06-10-2009 07:36 PM
You have done the job so well. I have never seen the use of axe for such a useful job. You are great!
Sharad
-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein
TopamaxSurvivor
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18249 posts in 3644 days
#15 posted 06-10-2009 10:24 PM
I’ve burned cords of it in the past. I saw a pickup load of maple firewood last weekend. I wondered what kind of figure it had?? This block is from thinning at the tree farm.
http://s730.photobucket.com/albums/ww302/Dopamax/?action=view¤t=TFMapleThin02.jpg&newest=1
http://s730.photobucket.com/albums/ww302/Dopamax/?action=view¤t=TFaldersthin02.jpg&newest=1
-- Bob in WW ~ "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence
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