Homemade kitchen ax from a circular saw blade. What can you make from old circular saw blades? That's right - a knife. Gluing and riveting

As has been mentioned many times, life does not stand still.

So to some extent it has lost its relevance. The old saws have retired, and the new ones are still waiting to show what they are good for.

And again, on his only day off, having solved problems at home, I went out into the distant forest for a couple of hours, having in my backpack new set experimental instruments.

Initially it was planned to participate in the competition four saws:

1. Bahco Laplander folding hacksaw. Weight 191g, length 40cm (folded - 23cm). The handle is plastic with a slight “rubber-coated” effect. It is very compact and convenient to wear on a belt or in a jacket pocket. Convenient for one-handed operation. It folds like a knife, that is, by turning the blade into the slot of the handle. It cuts well and aggressively. There is only one drawback and it follows from its compactness: short.

2. Fiskars SW75 folding hacksaw. Weight 249g, length 55.5cm (folded - 30.5cm). The handle is hard plastic. Folds by sliding into the handle. Cuts perfectly if followed simple rule: one hand presses the hacksaw from above, the other pulls it towards itself. When moving back forward, the hacksaw only moves, it cannot be cut. I didn’t see any shortcomings at all before this test.

3. Wood saw Matrix BLACK SERIES PROFESSIONAL 23578. Weight 587g, total length 55cm. The length of the working part is 45cm, but in fact, when cutting a log, only the section from the end of the hacksaw to the handle can be used - 40cm. The handle is interestingly made: plywood, and on it there is a plastic “half-case”. Why this is so is a mystery to me. The hacksaw was purchased as a standard one for the car.

4. Bow saw Fiskars 124810. Weight 662g, total length 70cm, working part length 53cm. The handle is plastic, and on top there is a steel clamp that fixes the tension of the saw blade. In progress important It also had a distance from the saw blade to the frame - from 12 cm at the end of the saw to 18 cm at the handle.

In addition to four saws, a freshly sharpened ax was taken into the forest, which also regularly travels in the trunk of the car. With a total weight of 1905g and a length of 53cm, Soviet-era, honored village veteran with a homemade crack in the eyelet.

As the name suggests, the preparation of logs for a full-fledged node is simulated. The tree was chosen accordingly: a relatively recently felled (not by me) pine tree, stuck between the trees and not touching the ground. Dry and durable wood with a diameter of 26 cm at the place of the first cut (one and a half spans - just right for a node, which, according to experience, will burn for at least seven hours). The following cuts are made offset towards the butt, so that the thickness increases slightly.

The air temperature is about zero.

The time spent sawing a piece of wood to the end is counted.

Here are the competition participants on the experimental beam.

So. To begin with, the first cut was made on the log to separate the “non-working” part to the top. I must say that until now I simply had no experience working with a bow saw - somehow I didn’t have the chance. Accordingly, having heard about the high capabilities of this tool, I made the first cut with it.

Immediately revealed two features, and not to say that they are positive.

Firstly, due to the thin blade, the cut moves away from the line perpendicular to the trunk, and quite noticeably.
Secondly, the thickness of the log (and, accordingly, the lack of space between the blade and the saw frame) forces the tree to be cut from both sides. This increases operating time. It is also impossible to cut thick wood at the same angle that is most convenient for working - in order to maximize the cut, you have to work with the saw from awkward positions.
In addition, when working on the other side, the curved cut begins to bite the saw, and quite noticeably.

The total time was 10 minutes 52 seconds. Honestly, I expected better.

The next number was the Matrix hacksaw. To be honest, I didn’t expect any special results from it (based on the test results, it was planned to just replace the portable hacksaw with a bow saw).

The hacksaw went briskly into the wood, not at all like the fine-toothed Bakhko hacksaw in the previous test.

The length of the hacksaw made it possible to constantly cut at the most convenient angle for me, and the handle made it quite comfortable to hold it with both hands. The wide blade did not allow deviating from the optimal cutting line.
As a result, the trunk was sawed quickly and evenly.

Total time - 5min 25sec. Two times less than onion!

Soooo. The result was not just unexpected, but completely opposite to what was expected.

It must be said that after the first cut, the experimental tree, wedged between the birches, lay significantly lower. Plus, of course, the conditions for the second cut were more convenient, since the apical part of the trunk had already been separated. Accordingly, it was decided to repeat the cut bow saw and see if the result is better.

No, the start of work was quite vigorous (in general, she saws well).

But, to begin with, the cut took away again, and even stronger. During the inevitable work on the other side, the saw jammed badly.

And when the frame again rested against the trunk on both sides, it turned out that it was generally impossible to completely cut a low-lying tree with this saw. You can’t crawl up from below, and working from the right and left doesn’t make it possible to cut through the tree all the way.

In order not to waste time (and twilight was already at the threshold), I used alternative method: quickly cut a wedge from a branch of the same tree and hammered it into the unfinished cut with an ax.

As a result, the tree was defeated, although not completely by the saw. Morality: there must be an ax in the forest.

But the healthy piece remained uncut - I thought it was smaller.

The total time with all these worries is 15 minutes 22 seconds. Intermediate conclusion: nafig.

It must be said that the insufficient length of the working part of the hacksaw was also very noticeable here. But there was virtually no deviation of the cutting line due to the sufficient width of the hacksaw blade, so it was possible to complete the job even with a low barrel position. The last centimeters had to be sawed, however, in an awkward position - holding the hacksaw parallel to the ground and very close to it.

But what a neat cut it turned out to be.)

Total time - 9 min 27 sec. Better than onion.

And now - why is the title not “four saws”, but “three and a half”. Initially, as I already said, I had the idea to try as a log procurer for Nodi and folding hacksaw Bahko Laplander. But after the experience with the much longer Fiskars, I realized: it’s not necessary.)

Accordingly, Laplander did not take part in this test.

conclusions

1. Size matters.

Matrix Black 450- turned out to be, if not ideal, then close to it. I'm even a little sorry for this a convenient thing store exclusively for the car. Maybe I'll buy a second one for home.

Fiskars folding- in general, it confirmed its status as a reliable and useful companion. Although, of course, it’s a bit short for such a task. And this, I note, is the SW75 model. From my point of view, there is nothing to even talk about the much shorter SW73.

Laplander- just small. You can't make a node with it.

2. Looking at the size, do not forget about the design of the saw. The frame of the bow saw sticking out from above, at least for me, is frankly inconvenient.

If you try the saw on the end of a tree, you can clearly see how the frame limits the depth of the cut

A thin blade is honestly even more inconvenient, since a crooked cut creates a bunch of additional problems.

I understand that you can adapt to this. Maybe, homemade frame made from forest materials will be more suitable for work (although there are doubts). But in any case, I definitely won’t replace the saw in the car with a bow saw, and I won’t take this saw with me into the forest until I develop the skills and have a normal, comfortable frame design, despite its low weight and small volume.

An additional number to the test program was the testing of an old, well-deserved ax that had received a fresh sharpening. For this purpose, the apical part of the same trunk with a diameter of 20 cm was taken.

I must say that the old ax chops quite quickly, although, from my point of view, the ax handle is clearly a little short. When I have time, I’ll install a new one, it’s not in vain that the elm trunk in the hallway is drying

The total time for cutting a 20cm log is a little more than 9 minutes. In general, it’s like cutting 25cm with a bow saw. And with Matrix, during this time, you can do two-thirds of the work of preparing the logs for a full-fledged node for the whole night.

By the way, a quick question for ax connoisseurs. There is an interesting mark on it - a circle and an inscription around the circle, it seems, “MADE IN THE USSR.” Neither the emblem in the circle nor the stamp were visible. I looked similar on the Internet but couldn’t find it. And the steel is ringing, even despite the rough weld.

It's getting dark. The sodden snow melted noticeably, and the snow that fell was a cat's tears. And there are only two weeks until the New Year - again winter is late.

It's time to go home.

Hot drinks and good weather to everyone!

Opinions about tools and their capabilities are my own and are not necessarily correct.

Hi all! This summer I went on a 5-week trek in the Alps with some friends. The time spent left a lot of positive impressions. But during this trip I discovered that I had forgotten one very important tool- axe. After a long day in the mountains, it's nice to sit by the fire and drink beer. But in order to start a fire without an ax, we had to spend a lot of time looking for small branches that could be broken by hand.

Therefore, as soon as I arrived home, I had the idea to make a tourist hatchet, in which, like a knife, a saw is hidden and there is a beer opener.

In this master class I will tell you how you can make such an ax yourself.

Ax design

The design of this ax consists of three parts.

Ax blade

The shape of the blade was borrowed from the tomahawk, an ax used by Native Americans and European colonists. But you can change its shape by adding some spikes or a hammer on the butt. The ax blade will be glued to the handle and secured with rivets.

opener

First, as an opener, I wanted to make a suitable hole in the blade. As a result of test drilling, it was found that a regular drill It's impossible to make a hole, so I changed the type of opener. Both options can be seen in the image. New type will be made in the form of a specially shaped hook.

Saw

I wanted the ax to come with a saw and thought it would be nice if it could be hidden like a jackknife. From the handle and it can be unfolded using the finger groove. The saw will be hidden between two pads. The shape of the metal part of the handle will allow the saw to be locked in both open and folded positions.

Once the design was chosen, I tried it on a circular saw blade to get the dimensions to fit.

Materials and tools

This ax is made from a used circular saw and hardwood that I had. I only had to purchase a folding saw blade. It was already hardened, so it did not need heat treatment.

Materials:

• Old circular saw blade.
• Hardwood timber (approximately 50 x 40 x 300 mm).
• Epoxy resin.
• Large nails for use as rivets.
• Folding saw blade (I used 200mm).
• Bolt, nut and washer.

Tools:

• Angle grinder (don't forget about safety equipment!).
• Rasp.
• File.
• Sandpaper.
• Drill.

Let's make sparks!

I transferred the outline of the ax and the metal part of the handle onto circular saw and cut them out using an angle grinder with a thin cutting wheel. Then using grinding wheel, corner grinding machine and files I completed the formation of the elements. The final shape of the metal part of the handle can be given later.

Making the handle

You can glue the template to a piece of wood and cut out two overlays. I took advantage of mine milling machine with CNC.

Drilling hardened steel

I didn't have a carbide drill bit, so I wasn't sure how the process will begin working with a hardened axe. I came across a video where it was said that you can use a sharpened concrete drill bit to drill hardened metal. That's what I did, and everything worked out pretty well.

Adding an opener

This is probably the most irreplaceable part of the ax! Whenever I go camping, my friends and I usually have a couple of beers around the campfire in the evening. Opening them with stones and tree branches is very inconvenient. So I thought this detail would come in handy. I transferred the outline of a regular bottle opener onto the ax blade and cut a recess into it. Works great :)

Drilling the handle

Next, I drilled holes in the handle and checked that everything fit. The metal part of the handle should act as a spring that will fix the saw blade. If it is too elastic, it can be made thinner. First I used the metal part of the handle as a template to make the holes. Then I fastened the two pads together with clamps and then drilled a through hole. This way all the corresponding holes were in one line.

To connect the parts of the ax without gluing, I used bolts. This way you can check whether all the parts of the ax fit and whether the saw folds correctly.

Blade sharpening

Once the blade's bevel outline was traced, I used an angle grinder with a sanding disc for a rough finish. Then, for finer work, a file and grinding machine(use water to cool the blade). The final sharpening was done using grinding wheel sharpening machine.

I'm not an expert at sharpening an ax blade, so you can do this another way.

The ax will primarily be used to split wood into smaller pieces, so I did a little testing of its functionality.

Gluing and riveting

By making a knife from a saw with your own hands, you can get at your disposal a cutting device that performance characteristics much better than factory counterparts. When making a knife with your own hands, it is given exactly the shape that suits the master most. Factory-made knives are beautiful, but not always reliable. There is no guarantee that they will not fail at the most crucial moment.

A homemade knife made from a disk, a hacksaw for wood, or a saw for metal will last for many years, regardless of the conditions of storage and use. Let's look at how to make a knife from metal parts factory production, what is needed for this and what special attention should be paid to.

Raw materials for production homemade knife Can be any new or old hardened steel cutting part. It is better to use metal cutting discs, hand and pendulum saw blades as a workpiece. An old chainsaw is a good option. From its chain you can forge and sharpen a blade, according to its quality and appearance not inferior to the famous Damascus steel.

In order to make a knife with your own hands, you will need the following equipment and materials:

• Bulgarian;
• grinder;
• electric drill;
• ruler;
• hammer;
• sandpaper;
• whetstones for sharpening;
• files;
• core;
• epoxy adhesive;
• copper wire;
• marker;
• bucket with water.

Separately, you need to think about the issue with the handle. The finished product should fit comfortably in your hand.

To make a handle it is better to use:

• non-ferrous metal (copper, bronze, brass, silver);
• wood (oak, alder, birch);
• organic glass (plexiglass, polycarbonate).

The raw materials for the handle must be intact, without traces of cracks, rot or other defects.

Rules for working with metal

In order for the blade to be strong and elastic, during its manufacture it is necessary to follow the rules of working with metal. They are as follows:

1. The workpieces must not have visible or hidden damage. Before making a knife, the workpieces must be inspected and tapped. A solid part sounds loud, but a defective part sounds dull.
2. When designing the shape of the blade, angles must be avoided. In such places the steel can break. All transitions must be smooth, without kinks. The cuts of the butt, handle and fuse must be ground at right angles.
3. When sawing and sharpening, do not overheat the steel. This leads to a decrease in its strength. An overheated blade becomes brittle or soft. During processing, the workpiece must be constantly cooled by completely immersing it in a bucket of cold water.
4. When making a knife from a saw blade, you need to remember that this product has already gone through a hardening cycle. Factory saws are designed to work with the hardest alloys. If you do not overheat the canvas during the turning and finishing process, then you will not have to harden it.

The blade shank should not be made too thin. It is this part of the product that will bear the heaviest load.

Making a knife from canvas

If the blade is large and does not have much wear, then several blades for different purposes can be made from it. The effort and time spent are worth it.

A knife is made from a circular saw with your own hands in the following sequence:

1. A pattern is applied to the canvas, and the contours of the blade are outlined. Scratches or dotted lines. This way the design will not be erased when cutting out the workpiece and adjusting it to fit the required form.
2. Workpieces are cut from a circular saw blade. To do this, it is better to use a grinder with a metal disc. You should leave a margin of 2 mm from the contour. This is necessary in order to remove the material burned by the grinder. If you don’t have a grinder at hand, you can sharpen the workpiece using a vice, a hammer and a chisel or a hacksaw.
3. On sharpening machine everything that is unnecessary is sanded off. You will have to spend a lot of time on this process so as not to overheat the steel. To prevent this, the workpiece must be regularly immersed in water until it cools completely.
4. The blade is outlined. Here you need to be careful to maintain the contour of the knife, not burn it and maintain an angle of 20º.
5. All straight sections are leveled. This is conveniently done by placing the workpiece on the side of the grinding wheel. The transitions are given a rounded shape.
6. The part is cleared of burrs. The blade is ground and polished. To do this, several interchangeable wheels are used on a grinding machine.

Separately, we should dwell on how the handle is made. If wood is used, then a monolithic fragment is taken, in which a longitudinal cut is made and through holes. After this, the blank is placed on the blade, and holes for fastening are marked in it. The handle is fixed to the blade using rivets or bolts with nuts. In case of bolted connection The heads of the hardware are recessed into the wood and filled with epoxy glue.

When the handle is assembled from plastic, 2 overlays are used, which must be symmetrical. To give the knife originality plastic linings painted with inside. You can make cavities in the overlays that can be filled with jewelry, items made of non-ferrous and precious metals, small compasses and photographs.

After fastening to the blade, the handles are ground until they acquire the required form and smoothness.

Knife from a chainsaw chain

Saw chains are made of high-quality alloy, which perfectly withstands long-term friction and high temperature. The blade manufacturing process is long and labor-intensive, but the result is a beautiful, unique and very durable knife. To work you will need a heavy anvil, a barbecue and charcoal. To make it easier to handle a hot workpiece, you need to purchase blacksmith tongs.

Making a blade from a chainsaw chain should be carried out in the following sequence:

1. Prepare clothes and gloves made of thick fabric and a protective mask. Pour charcoal into the fireplace and light it with a special liquid.
2. Fold the workpiece from a single piece of chain. In the place where the handle will be, you can add several pieces of chain. It should be remembered that the result of the work should be a single monolithic product. The handle for the knife is not made separately.
3. Place the workpiece on the coals. Provide air flow to raise temperature. Wait until the steel turns dark red. In this state, it becomes forgeable without losing its quality characteristics.
4. Remove the hot chain from the fire and place it on the anvil. Flatten it with several strong blows so that the links melt together, turning into a single monolithic part.
5. Step by step, by heating the workpiece in the oven and giving it the desired shape with a hammer, forge a knife with a designated handle and blade. After the workpiece has cooled, sharpen and polish it.
6. Harden the product. To do this, you need to heat it red-hot again and lower it into cold water. After this, you can finish the knife. For this purpose, acid and an engraving machine are used. The finished blade is polished again and washed in a warm soapy solution.

At self-production the blade must be adhered to certain parameters so that the finished product does not fall under the category of edged weapons.

The taiga has two main tools: saw and ax, and the ax is, perhaps, more important. Dimensions, weight and shape of the ax (“pieces of iron” and axes) should be such that handling these most important hunting tools is not a burden. It seems to be a truism, however, it is not always followed. Although I am a fan of original Russian things, I cannot help but note that the so-called Canadian lumberjack ax Perfectly suited for working in the taiga. Its wedge-shaped shape makes it possible, with equal success, to fell a good sushi, chop firewood, or hew out some kind of plank. The ax has a peculiar bend and when struck it does not give into the hand. Until recently, there were no such axes in our stores, but now they are available almost everywhere and in the most different sizes. Now you have the opportunity to choose according to your hand and your build. What should you pay attention to when choosing an ax?

Firstly - weight. You can’t swing a heavy ax for long, and carrying it on foot is tiring. A hunting ax, in my opinion, should weigh no more than one kilo including the ax handle. Secondly - shape of the ax and sharpening. Of course, you can do it in medium carpenter's ax get by, but a thin wedge-shaped shape, as I already said, is preferable.

I need an ax sharpen correctly, it is better to use a wide medium-grained block, and do the final aiming with a fine one. It is very convenient to sharpen an ax with a whetstone rectangular shape, but a special round one. But the most good sharpening, in my opinion, the ax is made on a large circle of fine sandstone, the bottom side of which is in a wooden trough with water, and it is rotated by hand. Such sharpening devices can still be found here and there in villages. When sharpening, it is recommended to hold the ax blade against the direction of rotation of the stone. However, due to inexperience, you can dull the blade and damage the stone itself. So, in my opinion, it is more correct to hold the ax with the blade in the direction of rotation. Small burrs that inevitably form in this case can be removed with a small whetstone. On an electric sharpener, of course, you can sharpen an ax in five minutes. However, an inept person will immediately ruin it. As a rule, the toe and heel are instantly annealed. After this, you either need to remove the ax from the ax handle and harden it again, which, of course, no one ever does, or grind off the annealed area. As a result, the blade takes on a rounded shape. Actually a blade hunting ax and should be slightly rounded, but, of course, not close to a semicircle.

Finally, you need to pay attention to the form axes and the material from which it is made. Some of those Canadian axes that are sold in our stores have a regular ax handle, but are often finished with either rubber or some kind of plastic. I think that this is not only superfluous, but also a completely unnecessary innovation. Indeed, your palms will not slide on the ax handle, but they will begin to sweat in the summer and freeze in the winter. And it’s much easier to get calluses on rubber than on smooth wood.

It is believed that elm, rowan, and birch (the butt part of the trunk) are best suited for making an ax handle. That's for sure. However, the most durable ax handle will be one made from the so-called “scar”, a long bead at the edge of an old, usually frost-damaged crack in the birch trunk. The structure of its wood is so dense and grainy that it is absolutely impossible to split it. True, it is quite difficult to find a “scar” of suitable sizes. The “tripe” taken in late autumn must be dried for at least a year in free air, like any other wooden blank. The length of the future ax is determined by taking it at one end. In this case, the other one, on which the ax will be mounted, should touch the ankle. When hewing, planing and bringing the workpiece into shape, leave a space behind the ax that is slightly thicker and twice as long as the garden of the ax. If the ax handle suddenly breaks, you won’t have to throw it away. Trim this area and re-attach the ax. It’s okay if the ax handle becomes a few centimeters shorter. But the good workpiece will remain. Of course, if the ax handle is made of tripe, this is unlikely to happen.

In one of the hunting publications I read advice on strengthening an ax on an ax handle. The idea is to make the metal and wood a monolith by filling all the cracks between the ax and the ax handle with epoxy glue. Of course, it will be a monolith, and the ax will never jump off the ax handle or even become loose. However, any thing will eventually wear out. If the handle of such an epoxy-treated ax breaks, the tool can be thrown into the trash or it will take a long time to drill out the remains of the ax handle from the garden. Well, it depends on who. To prevent the ax from becoming loose on the ax handle, its end must be wedged. Before driving the wedge, they make a cut, but not vertically, but obliquely. This can be seen in the figure. Then the wedge will hold well and will not fly out for a long time. It is better to make it from the same wood as the ax handle. Here the wedge can be placed on glue. I do not recommend using metal wedges. They pop out quite quickly and, moreover, when they rust, they damage the wood. You can temporarily remove the stalemate by soaking the ax in water.

Igor Shipulin, a wonderful artist, hunter and jack of all trades, published a short article in the magazine “Hunting and Hunting Management” (No. 10, 1982) about axes, which, due to the lack of suitable axes in the stores of that time, he made on his own and very Not bad. I offer the text of this article and drawings made by the author.

“A hunter in the taiga cannot do without a reliable axe, which should be as universal as possible. There are many axes on sale: from large and medium-sized construction and carpentry axes to small hatchets suitable for various household needs. But taiga ax must have special properties that can be given to an ordinary ax by remaking it.An ax with “dry” steel should be preferred to an ax with soft and weakly hardened steel. When the blade chips, this defect can be easily eliminated by sharpening it sharper. The sharpening shape should be parabolic, but not razor-like or straight (Fig. 1). An ax with this sharpening does not jam in the wood, splits wood well, and is less dull. If sharp enough, such a blade is quite suitable for carpentry work.

Much in understanding rationality is given by the shapes of old Russian axes, as well as the axes of lumberjacks of the Carpathians and North America, in which the upper edge of the blade never forms an angle of more than 90° with the axis of the ax handle. All commercially available axes have a wide blade and a protruding top edge (Fig. 2). The shaded part sharply reduces the efficiency of the axe, since at the moment of impact this part tends to straighten the ax handle, creating unnecessary vibration in it, and thereby dampens the force of the blow. To eliminate this shortcoming, the shaded part is removed. The easiest way to do this is to drill a series of touching holes along the cut line, and remove the hardened part with an abrasive.

The straight blade of the ax must be changed to a convex one (Fig. 3), if the hardening width of the blade allows. A straight edge is designed only for carpentry work, and when such a blade cuts, it simultaneously touches the entire edge and hits the wood at a right angle, and has poor penetrating power. Each point of the convex edge enters the wood at an acute angle (Fig. 3), a cutting effect occurs, as a result of which the penetrating ability of such a blade increases sharply. Despite the fact that the weight of the ax will decrease after processing, its efficiency will increase. The author offers two options for axes (see Fig. 4 and photo). One of them is lightweight, designed for walking hunts, short trips, as well as for commercial hunting with a saw. The total weight of such an ax is 800-1000 g, the length of the ax is 40-60 cm. The other is heavy, for commercial hunting and long trips, during which significant work has to be done. Its weight is 1000-1400 g, the length of the ax is 55-65 cm. The choice of the length of the ax is determined by the quality of the wood, the height and strength of the hunter.

Having prepared the ax, you can begin making the ax handle. It should be thin. The smaller its weight relative to the weight of the ax, the stronger the blow. The ax handle should be flexible: a rigid ax handle “dries out” your hand. In cross-section, it has an ovoid but flattened shape with a sharper front and rounded rear edges.It is best to make an ax handle from the butt part of ash, maple, or elm. You can also use thin-grained birch. The most suitable thickness of the butt for preparing ax handles is 35-40 cm. The raw butt must be split, then dried with the ends sealed. An ax handle with longitudinal layers (Fig. 5) is stronger. Before attaching the ax to the ax handle, find the center of gravity (Fig. 6). Typically this point (C) is located at the base of the eyelet. Then determine the center line of the ax AB, passing through the middle of the butt and the top of the edge of the blade. This line is the tangent along which the ax will move upon impact. If you place the blade at point B perpendicular to the midline AB on a plane, then the end of the ax will have to touch the same plane at point C. This is done middle line ax handle (PR), point P is located on this line and is 3.5-4 cm away from the NE plane. The cutting of the ax handle is clear from Fig. 5, where the shaded parts of the workpiece must be cut off. The distance from the lower edge of the eye (point K) to the point of maximum bending of the ax handle (point O) is 10-11 cm. At point O, the hand holds the ax during carpentry work. In this place, the circumference of the ax is 12-13 cm, and the thinnest place at the end of the ax is 9-10 cm. The final thickness is adjusted according to the hand.

The ax handle ends in a “fungus-shaped” thickening that fixes the hand (clearly visible in the photo). This ax handle is indispensable in the cold and rain, when you have gloves or mittens on your hands. The “fungus” allows you to relax your hands while working. The strength and accuracy of the blows of a “relaxed” ax cannot be compared with the blows of an ax that you have to hold tightly, for fear of letting go of it. On the workpiece for the “fungus”, thickening is provided in advance; it is processed last to prevent chipping when attaching the ax. When starting the nozzle, you need to mark the workpiece. When adjusting the ax handle, you should constantly check the landing angle by applying the ax to the plane (in Fig. 6 this is line NE). In the ax handle, adjusted to two-thirds of the depth of the eye, a cut is made to the same depth under the wedge (Fig. 6), after which the seat is finally adjusted. Before driving the wedge, it is useful to dry the ax handle with the mounted ax for two to three days.Immediately after fitting (or after drying), the ax is removed from the ax handle, the fitted parts are generously greased with BF-2 glue (epoxy will probably work better, although, I repeat, I am not a supporter of this - D.J.) and the ax is finally mounted. On a pre-prepared wedge made of hard wood (ash, maple, elm,

apple, pear) glue is also applied and the wedge is driven in. To prevent the wedge from breaking when driving, it is made short. For the glue to dry completely, the ax needs to be dried for 24 hours on a radiator or near a stove. Finally, the ax handle is processed by hand, sanded and impregnated with drying oil or linseed oil.The finished ax remains to be sharpened. An ax will save a lot of effort and time if its blade is always sharpened. For this purpose, it is useful to have with you plywood cut to the size of your chest pocket, pasted on both sides with waterproof sandpaper - coarse and micron. This kind of plywood is enough for a whole season, unless the ax requires serious sharpening.”

In the almanac "Hunting Spaces" (No. 1 for 1995) a large article by A.M. was published. Radula "What a marching ax should be." The article contains quite a lot of theory, which is unlikely to be needed in practice. However, there is a lot in this article useful tips on making axes and handling them. I decided to post scanned pages of this article on the website - maybe it will be useful to someone. You can go to the end of this page.

When starting to work with an ax, you should learn from the very beginning two rules that at first glance contradict each other. First, the ax must be sharpened to a good sharpness hunting knife, because working with a dull ax is like shaving with an old blade. Secondly, always remember that a truly sharp ax is, figuratively speaking, the same thing as a loaded gun with the hammers cocked and the safety off. Under no circumstances should you give an ax to children, although, paradoxical as it may sound, it is best to accustom them to such things from childhood. You just have to do it skillfully. After work, put a cover on the ax blade. Your imagination and skill will help you make it - thick leather, birch bark, and even a simple piece of wood will do the trick.

Observe personal safety rules:

First of all, check whether the ax is firmly seated on the ax handle;

When working near a fallen tree, stand next to it so that the trunk is never between your legs;

When cutting branches, go from the butt to the top and cut the branches in the same direction;

Before you swing, make sure that nothing is interfering with your swing, otherwise a springing branch, for example, on which the ax is caught, can throw it completely in the wrong direction;

Cut even thin branches not across, but slightly obliquely - this way there is less chance of getting a flying piece in the eye;

When chopping wood, spread your legs wider, strengthening the log more reliably;

In order not to spoil the blades and often sharpen the ax, chop branches and split firewood not directly on the ground, but on some kind of block or log;

At a rest stop, never stick an ax into the trunk standing tree and especially don’t turn the ax handle into a hanger. You will injure both the tree and, God forbid, yourself or your comrade if the ax falls out. Stick it into a stump or dead wood, if necessary.

Saw necessary, of course, only for long-distance and multi-day trips into the taiga. The best option- a small and narrow long cross-cut saw. It must have a slight “belly” towards the teeth - this is easier to saw than a straight one. The handles must be made of wood and are quite high. By tying a stick to them, you can saw with such a saw alone, without a partner. It is advised to shorten the saw to 80 cm and narrow it to 8. You just need to preserve the “belly”.

Far Eastern tiger scientists P.G. Oshmarin and D.G. Pikunov in their book “Traces in Nature” (Moscow, “Nauka”, 1990) recommend a cleaver saw for taiga hikes, which can be made from an ordinary cross-cut saw. “The saw should be lightened by removing the top, non-serrated edge... The edge of the saw opposite the serrated edge is sharpened like a saber. Two handles are attached to the saw, one of which, forming a right angle with the pointed edge of the saw, serves as a saw when working with this tool, and the other, attached along the length of the saw, serves when used as a cleaver when you need to clear a parking area, a path, and so on. The saw does not replace the axe, but only complements it when hiking together.”

A little about fireware. We cook, fry and boil tea over a fire. Each action must have its own tool. Boiling water for tea in a pot after soup is a real crime. I would recommend having one more tool even on short trips into the forest. This is a string saw. It weighs practically nothing, folded into a ring fits in the breast pocket, and is sawed into in capable hands log 10-12 cm thick. It is better to use such a saw alone. It requires constant tension, otherwise, if it overlaps, it may break. It is not difficult to cut down a branch on a standing tree with this saw, but anything lying on the ground is more difficult, because sometimes the string gets pinched. In this case, you need to act like this. Place one end of the log that you are going to saw on a raised platform so that a gap is formed under it, pass a string saw into it and, pressing the log with your foot, saw as if from the bottom up. This way the saw will never jam in the cut.

I was convinced that it is best to cook soup, fish soup in bowler hat, the bottom of which is not flat, but rounded, like a cauldron - and boils faster and is easier to clean. At Pechora we made special rectangular dishes for frying fish. frying pans made of two-millimeter steel. We bent the sides in a vice, welded the corners, drilled holes in the corners for wire handles, and we got a wonderful camping frying pan. The length and width are arbitrary, but such that a good grayling will lie down entirely. You can fry on a sling or directly on coals without fear of burning your hands. By the way, to prevent this from happening, make an auxiliary device - drive an additional flyer into the ground next to the fire. By moving the crossbar to the side and placing it on this flyer, you can calmly remove the pot or stir the brew in it. It is best to boil tea, of course, in a kettle. For some reason, the pot, even a closed one, gets filled with all kinds of garbage, coals and ashes. And it’s more convenient to pour tea into mugs from a teapot.

Returning to overnight taiga affairs, I want to say one more thing: frost is different from frost. For example, the same temperature of minus thirty is perceived differently by a person depending on the place, the geographical area where he lives. If it’s so cold for a resident middle zone In the European part of Russia this is already a very severe frost, but in Irkutsk no one will pay attention to it. The whole point here is not even a matter of habit. Air humidity is the factor that changes our attitude towards frost. The higher the humidity, the more difficult it is to tolerate frost. And one more thing - the wind. This is a really dangerous thing in cold weather. I once had to get caught in a strong Altai steppe snowstorm. The frost was not very strong, I think 12-15 degrees. However, during the five hours of travel (that’s how long it took me to cover the eight-kilometer distance between two villages), I froze the entire right half of my body, because the wind was blowing from this side and slightly in front. How I didn’t freeze then, only God knows. Even if the wind blows with little force, in reality the frost is much greater than what the thermometer shows. This is especially felt when riding a snowmobile. If he goes 35-40 km per hour (10-12 m/sec), then the speed of the headwind will be correspondingly the same. This is in complete calm. So draw your conclusion. I downloaded the sign from the Internet. I’m not sure how correct it is, but I think that approximately all the numbers in it correspond to reality.

When spending the night in the forest, even a slight frosty breeze will not let you sleep. Therefore, the most serious attention must be paid to choosing a place to spend the night and arranging a shelter. When spending the night by the fire, it is best to take off your jacket, covering yourself with it like a blanket, and the sleeves of the jacket should be turned inward so that the frosty breeze does not blow through them. You can even take off your shoes and sleep in wool socks. A shod foot feels the cooling worse. Wherever you burn a fire, if it is not in winter, when leaving this place, carefully fill the fire, make sure that there is not a single spark left there. Keep a close eye on the fire while it is burning. A gust of wind can suddenly spread a flame to dry grass or dead wood, and then it’s not far from a forest fire. Special mention should be made of fires on peat bogs. It is generally prohibited to make fires in such places. It's too dangerous. Even in winter, when it would seem that there can be no fire, peat dried from a fire catches fire completely unnoticed. And one last thing. Every time you make a fire in the forest, collect firewood, cut down poles for a tent and a taganka, try to cause minimal damage to the forest. Only dried out trees are used for firewood. Taganka stakes are only the kind that will dry out sooner or later anyway. Yes, and it is advisable to make a fire in an old fire pit. You shouldn’t leave a new burnt spot in the forest, especially one dug in with a fire ditch, when you can use the old one.

In the almanac "Hunting Spaces" (No. 1 for 1995) a large article by A.M. was published. Radula "What a marching ax should be." The article contains quite a lot of theory, which is unlikely to be needed in practice. However, this article has a lot of useful tips on making and handling axes. I decided to post scanned pages of this article on the website - maybe it will be useful to someone.

It is believed that in terms of its parameters, any multifunctional tool is worse than a tool designed to perform a single job. Despite this statement, US inventor Glenn Klecker decided to improve the well-known ax and turn it into a multitool. Moreover, all the new functions of the ax should not go against the main purpose of this tool - cutting wood.

According to Glenn, being an avid traveler, he was more than once faced with a situation when the need arose to chop branches for a fire, unscrew or tighten a nut, or open a bottle with a metal cap. Carrying around a whole arsenal of tools for this is not an option: it’s difficult, inconvenient, and there’s no extra space in your backpack.

After some thought, Glenn decided that the ax, with some modifications, could be turned into a multifunctional tool. The inventor decided to start by getting rid of... the ax handle.

Glenn thought: “Why carry around extra wood when any stick of suitable thickness will do for an axe?” As a result, after drawing several sketches, the inventor developed a design for a universal metal blade for an ax.

The canvas can be mounted on the ax handle in a couple of minutes.

For this purpose, the blade is equipped with a special screw clamp and rotating “legs”. All the traveler needs is to find a stick of suitable length, wedge one of its ends, hammer it in and then secure the blade with a screw.

Due to the wedging effect and the legs that grip the ax handle, the blade is securely fixed and does not fly off during operation. Those who do not want to search for a suitable stick are encouraged to purchase a particularly durable wooden ax handle with a ready-made slot at the end.

The versatility of the tool is achieved through special shaped cutouts in the blade. An ax can be used to open bottles, tighten hex nuts and bolts, twist screws, plan wood, and hammer nails. Also in the ax blade there is a mounting hole for a bit holder, and on the butt there is a notch with numbers, which can be used as a ruler.

In total, the inventor developed four types of canvas. They differ from each other in functionality and in the way the blade is fixed to the ax handle. In the cheapest model, the blade, which does not have a special screw fastening, is wound to the ax handle with a thin nylon rope - paracord. The most expensive model has an ax blade that is laser sharpened and made of titanium. To carry the ax, there is a hole for a lanyard in the canvas.

Another universal tool is the multitool, which combines three tools at once: an axe, a hammer and a saw.

In essence, the tool is an ordinary ax with a pencil case in the ax handle for storing a saw blade about 40 cm long.

If you need to cut wood, a protective plastic cover is put on the ax blade, which has a screw for fastening the saw blade. Thanks to the cam clamp, the blade is stretched between the ax handle and the blade and brought into working position. The ax turns into a saw.

The handle and cover of the ax are made of high-strength plastic, and all metal parts are made of stainless steel.