Forged Bushcraft Axes

There are few things that speak to our ancient selves like the bushcraft axe. My line of hand-forged axes is inspired by history. Just the word axe triggers a response deep within and brings to the surface images of buckskin-clad frontiersmen carving their way through the forested wilderness. The axe was assuredly one of the first tools humans created. First as a stone held in the hand, then hafted with wood and rawhide. Later they would be cast from bronze, and finally forged from iron. With this one tool, a human being could create shelter, harvest wood for the fire, and carve everything from bows for hunting to spoons for eating. To me, the axe is the ultimate symbol of human ingenuity, determination, and freedom.

My forged bushcraft axes are forged in the fire, one at a time. I punch the eye, drift it with a mandrel, and hammer out the “ears”. Then I hammer the blade to shape. After a quick trip to the belt sander to clean it up, the axe is tempered, and hafted with a locally harvested hickory handle. It is then fitted with a vegetable-tanned leather mask.