Carve Like a Viking! Gransfors Bruks Hand Hatchet #413

[bae]

I recently got several great books on Swedish and Norwegian blacksmithing, including one put out by the nice folks at Gransfors Bruks.

And this led me down the bunny trail that I know you *all* have gone down - "Surely, I could make almost anything I needed with just an axe, and that tree there. How hard could it be?"

"Treen" is the name of the madness. Anyways, I'd been happily making spoons, sporks, spatulas, bread peels, and working my way up to bowls and trenchers and furniture, and had been eyeing my wife's nice carving adzes, when I discovered the existence of the Gransfors Hand Hatchet #413, the "Kubben" hatchet.

"Kubben" apparently is Swedish for "bowl carver".

So, this morning what should arrive but this little guy (pictured alongside a small Spyderco Delica pocket knife for scale):

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FFYKt9_OEtM/UDVO3vXLGpI/AAAAAAAAGL0/Voo_wCs5mOc/s640/Awesomized.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kUmACu1FMn0/UDVOxN1Mj8I/AAAAAAAAGLs/JAm-ilC9MXw/s640/Awesomized.jpg

It is the nice large one pound head from their bigger "Wildlife Hatchet", with one of their rough-grip short adze hafts. It is brilliant.

You can Google all sorts of videos and reviews from the bushcrafty set on this, I'm a convert after just an hour of dorking around with it. It's not a general-purpose go-to tool, but boy, it's handy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19ncMNDMl2E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAAMqWIJIRo

At ~$100, you have to ask "why is this frugal?" Well, it will last forever, it comes ready-to-work, it easily replaces several other tools you might think you need, and it is so much easier on the hand, arm, and wrist that you can get a lot more work done without expensive medical assistance, assuming you don't lop off a finger.

[redfox]

Ooo! Purty. And to think that I was all a-twitter 'cause I found my lost pocket knife! My Dad is an edge weapon collector, and I have "inherited" his knife lust...

[Spartana]

Hmmm... I think I saw that as one of the weapons listed to subdue a zombie attack in the "classic" book - "The Zombie Survival Guide" :-)!. I have been having a "Zombie Apocalyse" week - reading and watching zombie-themed things. Although I stopped short of renting the classic childrens movie "Zombies vs. Strippers" as it was probably too sophistocated for simple old me :-)!

[razz]

CAn you post some photos of your carving results please, Bae? The tools are available then should the need arise in the future. Good to know.

[Amaranth]

What a fascinating tool. Looked at the bowl making video and was surprised at how smooth and round he was able to get it with the axe. Are some size bowls easier to make than others with that size axe?

I have always been intrigued with the statements that with a woodland and an axe (and presumably a sharpening tool) you could build a house and all the necessary contents. My additional thought was that if this was in an area with good clay so you could make pottery and bricks, it would be an ideal situation for local DIY. And personally I’d like another 4 or 5 metal things probably as well in my ideal woodland house.

Have heard that one of the demonstration people at Williamsburg built a house and its contents with an axe for either a college or grad school project. Have not been able to find anymore about it or if there are books or videos related to it.

Have also avidly watched or read anything I could find on Ben Law’s woodland house and contents, but have not been able to watch the TV series on it due to lack of access.

Is anyone aware of books or videos or websites or email lists along these lines?

Similarly am intrigued by people replicating the tools from the Mästermyr tool chest and learning how to use them.