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Post by intothewest1836 on May 16, 2011 0:42:22 GMT -5
this weekend we had a small gathering of people on some land i got. we camped and made a good visit out of the weekend. i decided to make this club land for my freinds. we started making shelter so we can come at any time like the fur trappers who built winter shelter in the past. would the old trappers use a tomehawk or hatchet , a hawk is hard to use to cut much. what does an axe of the time look like?
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Post by phoenix1967 on May 16, 2011 9:41:14 GMT -5
this will give ya some idea's... A few of the patterns are still for sale new, so it wouldn't be hard to pick one up (sand the paint off and soak it in vinegar to make it look aged) www.google.com/search?q=1800's+axe&hl=en&safe=off&sa=G&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbs=simg:CAESEgkmTQDGBUffGiHnss-yK0-6PQ&iact=hc&vpx=328&vpy=388&dur=1437&hovh=84&hovw=112&tx=23&ty=174&ei=PjbRTd7KIaLs0gHDramhDg&page=19&tbnh=84&tbnw=112&ved=1t:722,r:7,s:438&biw=1131&bih=722
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Post by beaudro on May 16, 2011 10:58:39 GMT -5
Joe, it was a great weekend. The tomahawk was never a preferred working tool. The axe and hatchets were just easier and better suited for work. A tomahawk was carried mainly by Natives for fighting, there are no mentions of them being thrown that I know of , but brandished by many. A few trappers mention using them, but mainly in context when they were in hard times. Axes and hatchets of every make can be found in the inventories. Broad axe, felling axe, adze's , saws, drawknives, and anything else you can think of for working logs. Some of these guys out west were real builders, just look at each fort and it will tell you that. A modern axe isn't far off , unless your particular. The handles were straighter on early 1800's axes and hatchets. Normally a guy will find a decent head and make a straight handle for them, thats hard to do with a big axe. Most of the tradehawks and hatchets were sent out west without handles , but the axes came with them. Check Carl P. Russell's book, "Firearms, traps, & tools of the mountain man" , it shows dated axe heads that you can still find today and use as a good replica. I find them at garage sales and flea markets from time to time. There are a lot of American Axes on the inventories, I can't find a better picture, but this shows a broad axe with the correct handle. Not a felling axe, it is sharpened on one side of the blade, made for squaring up a log, called Hewing, sort of like a chisel. An adze does the same thing. These were common around the west, but an axe is more common. Hard to find a picture of a good axe.
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