This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2011)

Double and single bit felling axes

The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has many forms and specialized uses but generally consists of an axe head with a handle, or helve.

The earliest examples of axes have heads of stone with some form of wooden handle attached (hafted) in a method to suit the available materials and use. Axes made of copper, bronze, iron, steel appeared as these technologies developed.

The axe is an example of a simple machine, as it is a type of wedge, or dual inclined plane. This reduces the effort needed by the wood chopper. It splits the wood into two parts by the pressure concentration at the blade. The handle of the axe also acts as a lever allowing the user to increase the force at the cutting edge—not using the full length of the handle is known as choking the axe. For fine chopping using a side axe this sometimes is a positive effect, but for felling with a double bitted axe it reduces efficiency.

Generally, cutting axes have a shallow wedge angle, whereas splitting axes have a deeper angle. Most axes are double bevelled, i.e. symmetrical about the axis of the blade, but some specialist broadaxes have a single bevel blade, and usually an offset handle that allows them to be used for finishing work without putting the user's knuckles at risk of injury. Less common today, they were once an integral part of a joiner and carpenter's tool kit, not just a tool for use in forestry. A tool of similar origin is the billhook. However in France and Holland the billhook often replaced the axe as a joiner's bench tool.^{[citation needed]}

Most modern axes have steel heads and wooden handles, typically hickory in the US and ash in Europe, although plastic or fibreglass handles are also common. Modern axes are specialized by use, size and form. Hafted axes with short handles designed for use with one hand are often called hand axes but the term hand axe refers to axes without handles as well. Hatchets tend to be small hafted axes often with a hammer on the back side ( the poll). As easy to make weapons, axes have frequently been used in combat.

History[link]

Roman axe in an ancient Roman relief in Brescia, Italy

Initially axes were probably not hafted. The first true hafted axes are known from the Mesolithic period (ca. 6000 BC). Axes made from ground stone are known since the Neolithic. Few wooden hafts have been found from this period, but it seems that the axe was normally hafted by wedging. Birch-tar and raw-hide lashings were used to fix the blade.

Sometimes a short section of deer antler (an "antler sleeve") was used, which prevented the splitting of the haft and softened the impact on the stone blade itself, helping absorb the impact of each axe blow and lessening the chances of breaking the handle. The antler was hollowed out at one end to create a socket for the axehead. The antler sheath was then either perforated and a handle inserted into it or set in a hole made in the handle instead.

The distribution of stone axes is an important indication of prehistoric trade. Thin sectioning is used to determine the provenance of the stone blades. In Europe, Neolithic 'axe factories', where thousands of ground stone axes were roughed out are known from many places, such as:

• Great Langdale, Great Britain (tuff)
• Rathlin Island, Ireland (porcellanite)
• Krzemionki, Poland (flint)
• Plancher-les-Mines, France (pelite)
• Val de'Aoste, Italy (omphacite).

Stone axes are still produced and in use today in parts of Irian Jaya, New Guinea. The Mount Hagen area was an important production centre.

From the late Neolithic/Chalcolithic onwards, axes were made of copper or copper mixed with arsenic. These axes were flat and hafted much like their stone predecessors. Axes continued to be made in this manner with the introduction of Bronze metallurgy. Eventually the hafting method changed and the flat axe developed into the ‘flanged axe,’ then palstaves, and later winged and socketed axes.

The Proto-Indo-European word for "axe" may have been pelek'u- (Greek pelekus πέλεκυς, Sanskrit parashu, see also Parashurama), but the word was probably a loan, or a Neolithic wanderwort, ultimately related to Sumerian balag, Akkadian pilaku- .^{[citation needed]}

Hand axes from Swanscombe at the British Museum that belongs to Swanscombe Man who lived 200,000-300,000 years ago

A bronze axe from the Chinese Shang Dynasty, 12th to 11th centuries BC

Symbolism, ritual, and folklore[link]

At least since the late Neolithic, elaborate axes (battle-axes, T-axes, etc.) had a religious significance and probably indicated the exalted status of their owner. Certain types almost never show traces of wear; deposits of unshafted axe blades from the middle Neolithic (such as at the Somerset Levels in Britain) may have been gifts to the deities.

In Minoan Crete, the double axe (labrys) had a special significance, used by women priests in religious ceremonies. In 1998 a labrys, complete with an elaborately embellished haft, was found at Cham-Eslen, Canton of Zug, Switzerland. The haft was 120 cm long and wrapped in ornamented birch-bark. The axe blade is 17.4 cm long and made of antigorite, mined in the Gotthard-area. The haft goes through a biconical drilled hole and is fastened by wedges of antler and by birch-tar. It belongs to the early Cortaillod culture.

In the Roman fasces, the axe symbolized the authority to execute and were often used as symbols for Fascist Italy under Mussolini.

A collection of old Australian axes

In folklore, stone axes were sometimes believed to be thunderbolts and were used to guard buildings against lightning, as it was believed (mythically) that lightning never struck the same place twice. This has caused some skewing of axe distributions.

Steel axes were important in superstition as well. A thrown axe could keep off a hailstorm, sometimes an axe was placed in the crops, with the cutting edge to the skies to protect the harvest against bad weather. An upright axe buried under the sill of a house would keep off witches, while an axe under the bed would assure male offspring.

Basques, Australians and New Zealanders have developed variants of rural sports that perpetuate the traditions of log cutting with axe. The Basque variants, splitting horizontally or vertically disposed logs, are generically called aizkolaritza (from aizkora: axe).

In Yorùbá mythology, the oshe (double-headed axe) symbolizes Shango, Orisha (god) of thunder and lightning. It is said to represent swift and balanced justice. Shango altars often contain a carved figure of a woman holding a gift to the god with a double-bladed axe sticking up from her head.

Parts of the axe[link]

A diagram showing the main points on an axe.

The axe has two primary components: the axe head, and the haft.

The axe head is typically bounded by the bit (or blade) at one end, and the poll (or butt) at the other, though some designs feature two bits opposite each other. The top corner of the bit where the cutting edge begins is called the toe, and the bottom corner is known as the heel. Either side of the head is called the cheek, which is sometimes supplemented by lugs where the head meets the haft, and the hole where the haft is mounted is called the eye. The part of the bit that descends below the rest of the axe-head is called the beard, and a bearded axe is an antiquated axe head with an exaggerated beard that can sometimes extend the cutting edge twice the height of the rest of the head.

The axe haft is sometimes called the handle. Traditionally, it was made of a resilient hardwood like hickory or ash, but modern axes often have hafts made of durable synthetic materials. Antique axes and their modern reproductions, like the tomahawk, often had a simple, straight haft with a circular cross-section that wedged onto the axe-head without the aid of wedges or pins. Modern hafts are curved for better grip and to aid in the swinging motion, and are mounted securely to the head. The shoulder is where the head mounts onto the haft, and this is either a long oval or rectangular cross-section of the haft that's secured to the axe head with small metal or wooden wedges. The belly of the haft is the longest part, where it bows in gently, and the throat is where it curves sharply down into to the short grip, just before end of the haft, which is known as the knob.

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2010)

Axes designed to cut or shape wood[link]

Splitting axe

• Felling axe – Cuts across the grain of wood, as in the felling of trees. In single or double bit (the bit is the cutting edge of the head) forms and many different weights, shapes, handle types and cutting geometries to match the characteristics of the material being cut. More so than with for instance a splitting axe, the bit of a felling axe needs to be very sharp, to be able to efficiently cut the fibres.
• Splitting axe – Used in wood splitting to split with the grain of the wood. Splitting axe bits are more wedge shaped. This shape causes the axe to rend the fibres of the wood apart, without having to cut through them.
• Broad axe – Used with the grain of the wood in precision splitting or "hewing" (i.e. the squaring-off of round timbers usually for use in construction). Broad axe bits are most commonly chisel-shaped (i.e. one flat and one beveled edge) facilitating more controlled work as the flat cheek passes across the squared timber.
• Adze – A variation featuring a head perpendicular to that of an axe. Rather than splitting wood side-by-side, it is used to rip a level surface into a horizontal piece of wood. It can also be used as a pickaxe for breaking up rocks and clay.
• Hatchet – A small, light axe designed for use in one hand specifically while camping or travelling.
• Carpenter's axe – A small axe, usually slightly larger than a hatchet, used in traditional woodwork, joinery and log-building. It has a pronounced beard and finger notch to allow a "choked" grip for precise control. The poll is designed for use as a hammer.
• Hand axe – A small axe used for intermediate chopping, similar to hatchets.
• Mortising Axe - Used for creating mortises, a process which begins by drilling two holes at the ends of the intended mortise. Then the wood between the holes is removed with the mortising axe. Some forms of the tool have one blade, which may be pushed, swung or struck with a mallet. Others, such as twybil, bisaigüe and piochon have two, one of which is used for separating the fibres, and the other for levering out the waste.^[1]

A Swedish carpenter's axe

Axes as weapons[link]

The execution of the Duke of Somerset after the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.

• Battle axe – In its most common form, an arm-length weapon borne in one or both hands. Compared to a sword swing, it delivers more cleaving power against a smaller target area, making it more effective against armor, due to concentrating more of its weight in the axehead.
• Tomahawk – used almost exclusively by Native Americans, its blade was originally crafted of stone. Along with the familiar war version, which could be fashioned as a throwing weapon, the pipe tomahawk was a ceremonial and diplomatic tool. A similar type of axe is the African nzappa zap.
• Spontoon Tomahawk – A French trapper and Iroquois collaboration, this was an axe with a knife-like stabbing blade instead of the familiar wedged shape.
• Shepherd's axe – used by shepherds in the Carpathian Mountains, it could double as a walking stick.
• Ono – a Japanese weapon wielded by sōhei warrior monks.
• Dagger-axe (Ji or Ge) – A variant of Chinese spearlike weapon with a divided two-part head, consisting of the usual straight blade and a scythe-like blade. The straight blade is used to stab or feint, then the foe's body or head may be cut by pulling the scythe-like horizontal blade backwards. Ge has the horizontal blade but does not have the straight spear.
• Halberd – a spearlike weapon with a hooked poll, effective against mounted cavalry.
• Pole axe – designed to defeat plate armour. Its axe (or hammer) head is much narrower than other axes, which accounts for its penetrating power.
• Danish axe – A long-handled weapon with a large flat blade, often attributed to the Vikings.

• Throwing axe – Any of a number of ranged weapons designed to strike with a similar splitting action as their Mêlée counterparts. These are often small in profile and usable with one hand.
• Hurlbat – An entirely metal throwing axe sharpened on every auxiliary end to a point or blade, practically guaranteeing some form of damage against its target.
• Francisca or Frankish axe – a short throwing weapon of the European Migration Period, the name of which may have become attached to the Germanic tribe associated with it: the Franks (see France).
• Parashu - The parashu (Sanskrit: paraṣu) is an Indian battle-axe. It is generally wielded with two hands but could also be used with only one.

Axes as tools[link]

Firefighter with a fire axe

• Firefighter's axe or fire axe – It has a pick-shaped pointed poll (area of the head opposite the cutting edge). It is often decorated in vivid colors to make it easily visible during an emergency. Its primary use is for breaking down doors and windows.
• Pulaski – An axe with a mattock blade built into the rear of the main axe blade, used for digging ('grubbing out') through and around roots as well as chopping. In addition to the McCloud (a tool similar to a hoe/rake combination), the pulaski is an indispensable tool used in fighting forest fires, as well as trail-building, brush clearance and similar functions.
• Splitting maul – A splitting implement that has evolved from the simple 'wedge' design to more complex designs. Some mauls have a conical 'axehead'; compound mauls have swiveling 'sub-wedges', among other types; others have a heavy wedge-shaped head, with a sledgehammer face opposite.
• Slater's axe – An axe for cutting roofing slate, with a long point on the poll for punching nail holes, and with the blade offset laterally from the handle to protect the worker's hand from flying slate chips.
• Ice axe or climbing axe – A number of different styles of ice axes are designed for ice climbing and enlarging steps used by climbers.

Hammer axe[link]

The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (October 2008)

Hammer axes (or axe-hammers) typically feature an extended pole, opposite the blade, shaped and sometimes hardened for use as a hammer. The name axe-hammer is often applied to a characteristic shape of perforated stone axe used in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Iron axe-hammers are found in Roman military contexts, e.g. Cramond, Edinburgh and South Shields, Tyne and Wear.

Today they are used in many different fields of work, completing all jobs from splitting wood to removing engines from vans. Tungsten is often added for weight as an upgrade, as well as six foot handles for the heavier jobs that require added force and "massive blows" such as cutting automobile frames, slicing brake rotors, rough body work, home construction, home de-construction, etc.

See also[link]

• Corded Ware culture
• Fasces
• Nzappa zap
• Sagaris

Related forestry terms

• Chain saw
• Felling
• Hewing
• Limbing
• Logging
• Log bucking
• Splitting maul
• Wood splitter

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Neolithic axes

• W. Borkowski, Krzemionki mining complex (Warszawa 1995)
• P. Pétrequin, La hache de pierre: carrières vosgiennes et échanges de lames polies pendant le néolithique (5400 - 2100 av. J.-C.) (exposition musées d'Auxerre Musée d'Art et d'Histoire) (Paris, Ed. Errance, 1995).
• R. Bradley/M. Edmonds, Interpreting the axe trade: production and exchange in Neolithic Britain (1993).
• P. Pétrequin/A.M. Pétrequin, Écologie d'un outil: la hache de pierre en Irian Jaya (Indonésie). CNRS Éditions, Mongr. du Centre Rech. Arch. 12 (Paris 1993).

Medieval axes

• Schulze, André(Hrsg.): Mittelalterliche Kampfesweisen. Band 2: Kriegshammer, Schild und Kolben. - Mainz am Rhein. : Zabern, 2007. - ISBN 3-8053-3736-1

Superstition

• H. Bächtold-Stäubli, Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens (Berlin, De Gruyter 1987).

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Axe

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Axe.

• Section about types of axes is originally based on a Quicksilver Wiki article at the timber framing glossary under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
• U.S. Forest Service Ax Manual
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "Axe". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. 
  • "Axe". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. 
  • "Axe". The American Cyclopædia. 1879. 

Les Stroud (b. October 20, 1961, in Mimico, Ontario^[1][2][3]) is a Canadian musician, filmmaker, and survival expert best known as the creator, writer, producer, director, cameraman and host of the television series Survivorman. After a short career behind the scenes in the music industry, Stroud became a full-time wilderness guide, survival instructor and musician based in Huntsville, Ontario. Stroud has produced survival-themed programming for The Outdoor Life Network, The Discovery Channel, The Science Channel, and YTV. The survival skills imparted from watching Stroud's television programs have been cited by several people as the reason they lived through harrowing wilderness ordeals.^[4]

Biography[link]

Stroud graduated from Mimico High School in the Mimico neighborhood of Toronto.^[5] Stroud went on to complete the Music Industry Arts program at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario.^[6] Stroud worked for several years at the Toronto-based music video channel MuchMusic, and as a songwriter for the band New Regime before a Temagami canoe trip sparked a career change.^[1] During this time he also worked as garbage collector for the City of Toronto.^[3] In 1990 Stroud became a guide for Black Feather Wilderness Adventures leading canoe excursions into the Northern Ontario wilds.^[3] It was also during this time while on a survival course he met his future wife, photographer Sue Jamison.^[2] They married in 1994 and together left for a year-long honeymoon in the remote Wabakimi area of Ontario which was to become the basis of the documentary Snowshoes and Solitude. Afterward, the couple moved to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories where Stroud was employed as an outdoor instructor to special needs individuals of aboriginal descent.^[7] Stroud and Jamison then settled in Huntsville, Ontario where they had two children and started both the outdoor instructional outfit Wilderness Voice and the media company Wilderness Spirit Productions.^[6] Inspired by the popularity of the television show Survivor, Stroud pitched a more authentic version of the show to The Discovery Channel Canada. Stroud produced two programs titled One Week in the Wilderness and Winter in the Wilderness for @discovery.ca in 2001.^[2] The success of these specials led to the development of Survivorman, a show that followed a similar format of leaving Stroud on his own, with minimal equipment, in the wilderness to videotape his survival experience.

Stroud has extensive experience with survival and primitive living skills, initially training with expert David Arama.^[8][9] He went on to study with many others including John "Prairie Wolf" McPherson.^[10]

Stroud has been an active participant in adventure racing and has competed at the Canadian championships.^[8]

In late 2008, Stroud and Jamison separated.^[11][12]

Film and television[link]

After his marriage to Jamison in 1994, the two of them spent one year in the Canadian wilderness to attempt a paleolithic existence. They traveled to Goldsborough Lake (50°41′55″N 89°20′46″W / 50.69861°N 89.34611°W / 50.69861; -89.34611) deep in the Wabakimi, first building a tipi then an attached A-frame while using no metal, plastic, or otherwise manufactured tools. For the first half of the year, they took a store of traditional foods such as wild rice, squash, beaver and moose meat, bear fat, and maple sugar. In late September, Stroud's friends Doug Getgood and Fred Rowe brought in food for the next six months and chopped firewood for the couple. Stroud and Jamison built and equipped a winter cabin using an axe, a modern bow saw, and trapper's tin wood stove left by Getgood and Rowe, along with a metal pot they found.

Family and medical emergencies brought them out of the bush on three occasions. Once when Stroud's father was dying from cancer, another when they both went to be treated for giardiasis, and again when Jamison had a miscarriage. Stroud filmed their primitive living experience and released the 50 minute documentary, Snowshoes and Solitude, which was named Best Documentary at the Muskoka Film Festival and Best Film at the Waterwalker Film Festival.^[13]

In 2001 Stroud produced two one-hour specials for the science news show @discovery.ca. These segments follow the same format as Survivorman with Stroud filming his own survival in the wilderness. They were originally broadcast as daily segments over the course of one week but were repackaged as two one-hour specials titled Stranded.^[2] The popularity of these pilots spawned the show Survivorman. Stroud produced 23 episodes of the show which began airing in 2004.^[2] Stroud also composed and performed the opening theme music of Survivorman.^[14]

In 2006, Stroud produced a 90-minute special documenting his family's journey to building an off-the-grid home. The show, Off the Grid with Les Stroud, chronicled the process of buying property and refitting an old farm house with solar and wind power, a raincatcher and well, as well as the adjustments the Stroud family had to make to adapt to this style of living.^[1] Stroud has made multiple television appearances including on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The View, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Larry King Live.^[15]

Stroud has also hosted an episode of the Discovery channel show I Shouldn't Be Alive titled Lost In The Snow, which aired during its first season and the TV program Surviving Urban Disasters, which aired on the Science Channel and the 20th annual Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.^[16]

In 2010, Stroud hosted and produced the Gemini nominated hit kids TV series Survive This and Survive This 2 (YTV, Cartoon Network) that takes teens into the wilderness to teach them how to survive by giving them some instruction and challenging them with survival scenarios. Stroud's follow-up show to Survivorman was titled Beyond Survival with Les Stroud and debuted in 2010.^[17]

Music[link]

In addition to film making and wilderness survival, Stroud has also worked in the music industry as a professional musician. After graduation, Stroud worked both as an associate producer for the nascent music channel MuchMusic as well as production manager on music videos for artists such as Rush and Corey Hart.^[18] During this time Stroud also played in the David Bowie cover band Diamond Dogs and played lead guitar and composed music for his band New Regime^[1] which signed with RCA Records shortly after Stroud left the band.^[7][19]

Stroud and The Pikes CD Art

As frequently illustrated in his show Survivorman, Stroud is considered an exceptional blues harmonica player.^[19] This instrument is featured prominently in his self-titled debut CD which has been described as "a collection of diverse roots/blues and traditional folk, acoustic music that reflects the uniquely northern spirit of freedom and adventure." Several songs off of this album can be downloaded from his official site.^[19] Stroud has performed in and around the Muskoka area and at the Orillia Blues Festival and Toronto Beaches International Jazz Festival.

Stroud and The Northern Pikes have struck up a musical collaboration under the name Les Stroud and the Pikes. Throughout 2005 and 2006 they performed together live several times, and an EP born from this collaboration entitled Long Walk Home that was released in the spring of 2007.^[7][19]

Awards[link]

Stroud has received several accolades as a musician. He has won "Best Acoustic/Folk Act", "Best Blues Act" and "Best Overall" awards at the Spirit of the North music festival in New Liskeard, Ontario.^[6][7][19]

Stroud's documentary Snowshoes and Solitude was named Best Documentary at the Muskoka Film Festival and Best Film at the Waterwalker Film Festival.^[13]

Stroud was nominated for 6 Gemini Awards for his work on Survivorman^[20][21] In 2010, Stroud and his production team was nominated for Best Children's or Youth Non-Fiction Program or Series for Survive This.^[22]

References[link]