In the piggy bank of the home master is a selection of universal tools that can replace a hammer, wrench and saw. How to make a knife from a saw with your own hands Making a knife from a canvas

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, the inventor from the USA, Glenn Klecker, decided to improve the well-known ax and turn it into a multi-tool. 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 has repeatedly encountered a situation where it was necessary to chop branches for a fire, unscrew or tighten a nut, open a bottle with a metal cap. Carrying a whole arsenal of tools for this is not an option: it is both heavy and inconvenient, and there is no extra space in the backpack.

On reflection, Glenn decided that the ax, with some modifications, could be turned into a multifunctional tool. The inventor decided to get rid of ... from the ax handle.

Glenn thought this: “Why carry an extra piece of wood with you if any stick that is suitable in thickness will fit for an ax handle?” As a result, having drawn several sketches, the inventor developed the design of a universal metal sheet for an axe.

The canvas can be planted on an ax handle in a couple of minutes.

To do this, the canvas is equipped with a special screw clamp and swivel "legs". All the traveler needs is to find a stick of a suitable length, wedged one of its ends, score and then fix the canvas with a screw.

Due to the wedging effect and the paws clasping the ax handle, the canvas is securely fixed and does not fly off during operation. Those who do not want to search for a suitable stick are invited 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 figured cutouts in the canvas. With an ax, you can open bottles, tighten hex nuts and bolts, turn screws, plan wood, hammer nails. Also in the blade of the ax there is a mounting hole for the holder of bits, 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 the method of fixing the canvas on the ax handle. In the cheapest model, the canvas, which does not have a special screw fastening, is attached to the ax handle with a thin nylon cable - paracord. In the most expensive model, the ax blade is laser-sharpened and made of titanium. To carry the ax in the canvas there is a hole for a lanyard.

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

In fact, the tool is an ordinary ax, in the handle of which a case is made for storing a saw blade about 40 cm long.

In case you need to cut a tree, 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 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.

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

A homemade knife from a disk, a hacksaw for wood or a saw for metal will last for many years, regardless of storage and use conditions. Consider how to make a knife from factory-made metal parts, what you need for this and what you should pay special attention to.

Raw materials for manufacturing homemade knife can be any new or old hardened steel cutting piece. As a workpiece, it is better to use cutting discs for metal, hand and pendulum saws. A good option is old chainsaw. From its chain, you can forge and grind a blade that is not inferior in quality and appearance 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;
• a hammer;
• sandpaper;
• sharpening bars;
• 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 pen, it is better to use:

• non-ferrous metal (copper, bronze, brass, silver);
• tree (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 resilient, in the process of its manufacture it is necessary to follow the rules for working with metal. They are as follows:

1. Blanks must not have visible or hidden damage. Before making a knife, the blanks must be inspected and tapped. A solid part sounds loud, and a defective one is muffled.
2. When designing the shape of the blade, corners must be avoided. In such places, steel can break. All transitions should be smooth, without kinks. The cuts of the butt, the handle and the fuse must be ground off at a right angle.
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 adapted to work with the hardest alloys. If you do not overheat the canvas in the process of turning and finishing, then it will not have to be hardened.

The blade shank must not be made too thin. It is on this part of the product that the greatest load will fall.

Making a knife from canvas

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

Knife from circular saw do it yourself in the following sequence:

1. A pattern is applied to the canvas, the contours of the blade are outlined. Scratches or dotted lines are applied over the marker with a core. So the pattern will not be erased when cutting the workpiece and fitting it to desired shape.
2. Workpieces are cut from the circular saw blade. To do this, it is better to use a grinder with a disc for metal. Leave a margin of 2 mm from the contour. This is necessary in order to remove the material burned by the grinder. If there is no grinder at hand, then you can grind the workpiece with a vice, a hammer and a chisel or a hacksaw.
3. Everything that is superfluous is ground on a grinding machine. This process will take a lot of time so as not to overheat the steel. To prevent this, the workpiece must be regularly lowered into water until it cools completely.
4. The blade is outlined. Here you need to be careful to keep the contour of the knife, do not burn it and maintain an angle of 20º.
5. All straight sections are aligned. It is convenient to do this by applying the workpiece to the side of the grinding wheel. Transitions are given a rounded shape.
6. The part is cleared of burrs. Blade grinding and polishing. For this, several interchangeable circles on a grinding machine are used.

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 that, the blank is mounted on the blade, holes for fasteners are marked in it. The handle is fixed on the blade with rivets or bolts with nuts. In the case of a bolted connection, the caps of the hardware are sunk 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 are painted with inside. In overlays, you can make cavities filled with jewelry, products from colored and precious metals, small compasses and photographs.

After fixing on the blade, the handles are turned until they acquire the necessary shape and smoothness.

chainsaw knife

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

The manufacture of a blade from a chain from a chainsaw must be carried out in the following sequence:

1. Prepare clothing and gloves made of thick fabric and a protective mask. Pour charcoal into the hearth and set it on fire with a special liquid.
2. Fold the workpiece from whole piece chains. In the place where the handle will be, you can add a few segments from the chain. It should be remembered that the result of the work should be a single monolithic product. Separately, the handle for the knife is not made.
3. Put the workpiece on the coals. Provide air flow to raise the temperature. Wait until the steel turns dark red. In this state, it becomes forged without losing its quality characteristics.
4. Remove the red-hot chain from the fire and place it on the anvil. With a few strong blows, flatten it so that the links fuse together, turning into a single monolithic part.
5. Step by step, heating the workpiece in the furnace and giving it the desired shape with a hammer, forge a knife with a handle and blade indicated. After cooling the workpiece, sharpen and polish it.
6. Carry out hardening of the product. To do this, it must again be red-hot and lowered into cold water. After that, you can finish the knife. For this, acid and an engraving machine are used. The finished blade is polished again and washed in warm soapy water.

When making a blade yourself, you must adhere to certain parameters, to ready product did not fall under the category of edged weapons.

This hatchet combines three functions, it is an ax itself, and there is also a small sharp hacksaw, as well as a beer opener. The author calls this device a survival ax, although it is rather just a small assistant in tourism.

A hatchet was made for mountaineering and, in general, outdoor recreation, with the use of beer, so an opener is provided here. As for the hacksaw, it is convenient for her to cut moderately thick branches, and then prick with a hatchet on chips for kindling. An ax is made easily; we use a saw blade as a material.

Materials and tools for homemadethat used

List of materials:
- saw blade;
- wood for the manufacture of handles;
- nails for the manufacture of pins;
- epoxy adhesive;
- washer, nut and bolt;
- hacksaw blade Sawzall (the author used 200 mm).

List of tools:
- marker;
- ruler;
-
- ;
- a good set of files;
- sandpaper;
- it is highly desirable to have a vise or clamps.

Hatchet making process:

Step one. We invent and cut out the main profile
First of all, you will need to come up with the shape of your hatchet. Always remember that the main chopping characteristics of an ax depend on its weight. The more metal there is, the heavier the ax will be, and the better it will cut. Decide also on the shape of the blade, it all depends on the purpose for which you will use the hatchet. We draw the profile of the ax on the cutting disc. Or you can first do it on paper, and then cut it out and transfer it to metal, this is a more professional solution.

In addition, you will need one more detail that needs to be cut. But it will be needed if you install a saw blade in your hatchet. A narrow steel plate must pass through the entire length of the handle, as a result, a groove is formed in the handle in which the hacksaw will hide. Of course, the shape of this steel plate should be such that the hacksaw blade comes into place unhindered. Since the author’s handle is quite long, it will not work to cut these two parts in one piece, we cut out the ax and the long plate that goes through the handle separately.

As for the tool, you can cut the whole thing with the help of a grinder. Try not to overheat the ax blank, as this causes the metal to be tempered and becomes soft. However, this problem is solved by re-hardening. This work can also be done with a hacksaw, however, in this case, the metal is usually released by heating, after which it is easy to cut. Finish the remaining fragments on a grinder or the same grinder.

Step two. We make a pen
This step will be pretty easy if you have a CNC. But this pleasure is expensive and few people have such a device. But all this work is quite simply done manually. We draw the profile of the handle on the tree and slowly cut it out. It’s good to have a jigsaw, if not, it’s not scary, everything can be done and hand tools. You will need to make two halves. Keep in mind that the handle is not too thick. Then sand the blanks well so that they are smooth and uniform.

Step three. Drilling holes in metal
The metal of the saw blades is hardened, it is made of high carbon steel. You can't just drill it with a regular drill. For these purposes, you will need a special drill with a carbide tip. Usually this can be done with the drill that is used to drill concrete.
There is another option, you can always heat the metal to red, and then let it cool in the open air. As a result, it will be drilled without problems with a conventional drill. Don't forget to drill two holes in the long metal plate that runs the entire length of the handle. However, you can release this metal without problems, hardening is not required here.

Step four. beer opener
It just so happened that our author is a fan of having a beer around a campfire with friends. Of course, you can open the bottle with a knot, but it is much more convenient to do this with a prepared tool, in our case it is an ax. It’s not difficult to make an opener, just cut a clove with a grinder that will cling securely to the lid. According to the author, it works great.

Step five. Trial build
First of all, you have to deal with the locking mechanism. hacksaw blade. That thin metal plate that runs through the entire handle acts as a spring and retainer. First, the author collects everything on the bolts and checks if everything works well. To do this, we drill holes in the right places, where exactly, look at the photo. If something is wrong, it's still not too late to adjust everything. Try to pull out the canvas and cut something, it should be fixed securely.

Step six. We sharpen an ax
The most crucial moment in the manufacture of an ax comes - this is its sharpening. Since the hatchet is made without subsequent hardening, it is important for us to sharpen it correctly. When sharpening, the blade will heat up, which means that metal tempering can occur if the temperature gets too high. After tempering, the metal will be soft, and the ax will quickly lose sharpening. Before sharpening, stock up on a bowl of water and constantly cool the blade in it. The author sharpens carefully with the help of a grinder and a grinding disc. This creates a bevel, as well as rough sharpening.

For finer sharpening, we take files, as well as sandpaper. If desired, with the help of sandpaper, the hatchet can be sharpened to the state of the blade. But since we will chop wood with it, we don’t need it very sharp, besides, it’s not safe.

Step seven. We glue the hatchet
We use epoxy as glue. It will be convenient to use a double syringe that simultaneously applies resin and hardener. The glue must be applied carefully as there are moving parts inside the handle. Before mixing the resin with the hardener, prepare the pins. The author used ordinary nails as pins. We cut them to the desired length so that they protrude a little from the handle on both sides.

We apply glue in the part where the hatchet is attached, and also glue the upper half of the steel plate. The lower part does not need to be glued, it works like a spring. We tighten the whole thing with clamps and leave it for 24 hours, this is how much epoxy glue often dries.

Step eight. We form the handle
When the glue is completely dry, take a file and carefully process the surface of the handle, remove the excess. After rough processing take a large sandpaper and continue grinding. Finally, by gradually reducing the graininess of the paper, we make the handle absolutely smooth. After that, the hatchet is almost ready, try it in action!

Highly useful project With detailed video the process of making a knife from a web of old circular discs. All stages of manufacturing are present here, including hardening and sharpening. I especially liked the horn from an ordinary hair dryer. The persistence of the author is surprising - the entire manufacturing process was carried out without the use of electrical tools. Well, he had this fantasy. On the other hand, a good experience. With a certain amount of perseverance, such a knife can be made practically “on the knee”.

My friend and fellow YouTuber wanted to make a joint video. We bounced around some ideas and eventually decided to shoot ourselves in knife making. The catch was that I would do it by hand (except for the drill and oven) and he would do it with power tools. We both started out with the same blade, the same steel, but the rest of the design aesthetic was left up to us. I also wanted to do this because I read many times all you have to do with a knife a few files and a drill or something like that. I was wondering how long it would take me to make a knife with my hands and to see if I could do it without cheating and using my tools. So I realized that this is a great opportunity to try it. It was fun to build, took much longer than I expected, and gave me a whole new appreciation for people who make knives entirely by hand. Overall I'm very happy with how the knife turned out and I hope it helps someone out there that wants to give it a try.

Step 1:

I tried to increase the size of the knife with the designs that are used for the saw as much as possible. I made a paper template using card stock, which is just a heavier weight paper so I could easily trace the paper template onto the saw blade. I used a thin tip marker, although this is a small thing in my opinion, it is very important. Fine marker tip leaves fine lines to cut or file too unlike conventional marker tip. The cut line can become ambiguous if its too wide, which can affect general form and lead to violations in the form and more problems, down the road.

Step 2:

With the saw blade clamped onto the worktable I started by cutting out the rough shape of the blade using straight line segments. If you have never used a hacksaw, first make sure the blade is correct, the direction of the teeth should be forward or away from your body. The cuts are on the cut so make sure to set the blade correctly.

Step 3:

In order to cut out the curved parts of the handle, I made several perpendicular cuts in the relief along the entire length of the curved part of the handle. Then using a hacksaw at a slight angle, I would cut out each small plot. Reset reduction make it easier to follow the curve as you cut.

Step 4:

I needed to refine the shape of the blade, so I attached a 2x4 piece of crowbar to my workbench and clamped the blade into a 2x4. This allowed me to work forms from my file, and the blade was nice and safe. I also used the file to evaluate which areas needed more work. The spine design was slightly tilted and I could use the flat part of the file to check progress on the curve. If the spine has a flat spot it will be visible.

Step 5:

I used multiple files to get the shape or as close to the line as possible. At this point, it starts to look more like a knife and the flaws are harder to spot by eye. If I notice that a zone needs work, I would use the marker to re-draw the shape and then file with that new line. It served as a guide, so I'm not in favor of correct and mess up the design. The last picture of the blade after it has been filed and sanded down. I don't have any photos of me sanding the blade, this is the last step to shaping that removes any file marks. I would start with 150 grit and work my way up to 220.

Step 6:

I originally planned to dip with a nice high bevel, but my modest skills weren't up to the challenge. The saw blade is pretty thin material and I don't think I can extend the blade to reach the takedown line and the slope I was after. More on this subject later. At this point I also measured the placement of the pin center and punched and then drilled the holes with my drill.

Step 7:

Using a marker, I marked the entire length of the blade. Then, using a drill with the same thickness as the blade I scored a line down the center of the blade. The last picture shows, on the line it is not visible well in the picture, but it is there. This line will come in handy when filing a blade tilt, it will keep me from crooked and lopsided edges.

Step 8:

I used the bastard file to define the bevel just then I realized that I didn't have the skills to make a nice dip line by hand. So I chose a smoother angle and filed the working blade my way from edge to spine. I'm new to this and inexperienced, so I took the more conservative route in terms of pickup. Once I was happy with the bevel, I sanded the entire blade to 220 grit.

Step 9:

Here is the blade after all shaping, filing and sanding ready for heat treatment.

Step 10:

Before I leave I would like to say that while you can heat treat a blade with an open wood burning fireplace I personally don't recommend it. This is one of those cases where I really don't feel safe doing the operation. And I wasn't sure about the heat it took so I ended up using my mini forge (here's my Instructable on how I made my mini forge http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to- Make-a-Mini-Forge/) to heat instead of healing the blade. If you don't have a mini forge you can actually send your blades from them heat treatment. There are several companies that offer this service for a fee, of course. With that said, I'll explain my setup. I built a fire. Then, using a hair dryer with a tube attached to it to act like bellows, I turn on the hair dryer and eat the coals red hot. It does not take a lot of time. I put the blade on the fire and warm it up until it was magnetic and then quenched it in a container of peanut butter. The last peak shows what the blade looks like after hardening. While open flame heat treatment is possible, it is not recommended.

Step 11:

Now it's time to harden the blade, but first I sanded all the scales from quenching. Then in my oven I set the temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (in my oven, setting it to 375 degrees Fahrenheit will reach 400 degrees Fahrenheit). degrees Fahrenheit) and placed the blade in the oven for 1 hour. At the end of 1 hour I turned off the oven and let the blade spin inside the closed oven door until it was cool enough to process. You can see the blonde-ish or light bronze-ish color that the blade is obtained after hardening. After tempering I sand the blade to clean it using 220 grit and work up to 400 grit. The last time I use rice wooden block With 400 grit sandpaper wrapped around it and sand from the handle to the tip of the spatula in one direction only. This leaves a uniform sanding line on the blade.

Step 12:

Using the blade as a template, I trace the shape's handles onto the wood. This piece of walnut was given to me by one of my neighbors, a piece was cut off which he ground down. Here again using my 2x4 piece of crowbar and clamps I sawed two 1/4 thick pieces. In my excitement, I threw myself into wood cutting, if I took some time to think about my operation I could do it easily and with the best possible results. My first mistake was to cut off the waste material. I could use this material to pinch a piece down and then cut out two handles. Here again my inexperience, in this case with hand tools, rears its ugly head. I managed to make two useful pen pieces, but I'm sure I worked a lot harder than smarter to make them.

Step 13:

In order for the handles to attach to the blade with a snug fit I made sure to sand one side of each handle on as flat a level surface as possible and sandpaper. This will ensure that there are no gaps after gluing. At this point I decided what the handle shape would be and drew a reference line on the blade to make sure I liked it. appearance. I then traced the blade handle back into the woods. Using a jigsaw I rough shape on one handle and then take the handle and track it on the other handle. This will ensure that they are roughly the same shape that will come in handy when gluing on the handles. The last peak is a test fit to make sure they cover all the tang.

Step 14:

Time for more polishing and refining the shape. It is important at this point to finalize the shape to support the section, or rather the top of the handle, because once it is glued to the knife, it will not be easily accessible. And any further work in this area after gluing may cause scratches on the blade. So I sanded down to 800 with sandpaper and made sure the special section was finished in terms of sanding and finishing.

Step 15:

When drilling dowel holes through wood, I made sure after the first hole was drilled that I used a bit the same diameter as the hole to index that hole. In other words, this keeps the blade from moving or getting mixed up when drilling another hole. I used the same indexing process for the opposite side to make sure all the holes would line up when inserting the pins.

Step 16:

I used a 3/16 inch stainless steel pin that I cut from a stainless steel rod. Before sealing the mask blade and clean everything with acetone or alcohol to remove any dirt, dust or oil.

Step 17:

After everything is dry from cleaning. I mixed it up epoxy resin and slathered by a generous amount on pens and pins. Then I clamped everything together and let it cure for 24 hours.

Step 18:

Once the resin has cured I cut off the pins with a hacksaw. Then, with the help of a rasp, I began the shape and contour of the handle.

Step 19:

The two main tools of the taiga - saw and ax, and the ax, perhaps, is more important. The dimensions, weight and shape of the ax (“pieces of iron” and ax handle) should be such that the handling of these most important hunting tools is not a burden. It seems to be a common truth, however, it is not always followed. Although I am a fan of primordially Russian things, I cannot but note that the so-called canadian lumberjack ax as well as possible is suitable for work in a taiga. Its wedge-shaped shape makes it possible with the same success to dump a good piece of land, and chop firewood, and carve out some kind of plank. The ax handle 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 almost everywhere and most different sizes. There was an opportunity to choose both by hand and by your complexion. What should I pay attention to when choosing an ax?

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

Ax needed sharpen correctly, it is better to use a wide bar of medium grain, and make the final aiming fine. It is very convenient to sharpen an ax with a bar not of a rectangular shape, but with a special round one. But the best sharpening, in my opinion, of an ax is obtained on a large circle of fine sandstone, which is located on the bottom side in a wooden trough with water, and is rotated by hand. Such sharpening devices can still be found here and there in the villages. When sharpening, it is advised to keep the ax blade against the direction of rotation of the stone. However, due to inexperience, it is possible to dull the blade and spoil the stone itself. So it is more correct, in my opinion, to hold the ax with the blade in the direction of rotation. Small burrs, which inevitably form in this case, can be removed with a fine whetstone. On an electric grinder, of course, you can sharpen an ax in five minutes. However, an inept person will immediately spoil it. As a rule, the toe and heel are instantly annealed. After that, either you 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 acquires a rounded shape. Actually a blade hunting ax and should be slightly rounded, but, of course, not approaching a semicircle.

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

It is believed that elm, mountain ash, birch (butt part of the trunk) are best suited for making an ax handle. That's for sure. However, the most durable will be an ax handle made from the so-called "scar", a long influx on the edge of an old, usually frost crack on a birch trunk. Its wood structure is so dense and wavy that it is absolutely impossible to split it. True, find a "scar" suitable sizes pretty hard. Taken late autumn The "scar" must be dried for at least a year in free air, like any other wooden blank. The length of the future ax handle is determined by taking it by one end. In this case, the other, on which the ax will be planted, should touch the ankle. When hewing, chipping and bringing the workpiece to shape, leave a place behind the ax a little thicker and twice as long as the ax garden. If the ax suddenly breaks, it will not need to be thrown away. Trim this place and plant the ax again. Nothing if the ax becomes a few centimeters shorter. But a good preparation will remain. Of course, if the handle is made from a scar, this is unlikely to happen.

In one of the hunting publications I read advice on strengthening the ax on the handle. The bottom line 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 come off the ax and will not even loosen. However, everything wears out at some point. If an ax handle breaks on such an epoxy-treated ax, the tool can be thrown into the trash or the remains of the ax handle can be drilled out of the garden for a long time. Well, it's like anyone. So that the ax on the handle does not loosen, its end must be wedged. Before hammering the wedge, they make a cut, but not vertical, but obliquely. This is visible 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 put on glue. Metal wedges are not recommended. They pop out pretty quickly and, besides, rusting, spoil the wood. Shat can be temporarily removed by soaking the ax in water.

Igor Shipulin, a wonderful artist, hunter and jack-of-all-trades, published a short article about axes in the magazine “Hunting and Hunting Economy” (No. 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 ax, which should be as versatile as possible. There are many axes on sale: from large and medium construction and carpentry to small axes suitable for various household needs. But taiga ax must have special properties that can be given to an ordinary ax by redoing it.An ax with steel that is soft and slightly hardened should be preferred to an ax with a “dryish” steel. When chipping the blade, this drawback can be easily eliminated by steeper sharpening. The shape of the sharpening should be parabolic, but not razor and not straight (Fig. 1). An ax with such a sharpening does not jam in wood, it splits firewood well, it becomes less dull. With sufficient sharpness, such a blade is quite suitable for carpentry.

Much in the understanding of rationality is given by the forms of old Russian axes, as well as the axes of lumberjacks of the Carpathians, 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 upper edge (Fig. 2). The shaded part sharply reduces the efficiency of the ax, since at the moment of impact this part tends to unbend the ax handle, creating unnecessary vibration in it, and thereby dampens the impact force. To eliminate this shortcoming, the shaded part is removed. The easiest way to do this is to drill a series of adjoining 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 width of the hardening of the blade allows. A straight edge is designed only for carpentry, and when such a blade cuts, while simultaneously touching the entire edge and hitting the tree at a right angle, it has poor penetrating power. Each point of the convex edge enters the wood under acute angle(Fig. 3), a cutting effect occurs, as a result of which the penetrating power of such a blade increases dramatically. Despite the fact that the weight of the ax will decrease after processing, its efficiency will increase. The author proposes two variants of axes (see Fig. 4 and photo). One of them is lightweight, designed for running hunts, small 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 handle is 40-60 cm. The other one is heavy, for commercial hunting and long-distance trips, during which significant work has to be done. Its weight is 1000-1400 g, the length of the ax handle is 55-65 cm. The choice of the length of the ax handle is determined by the quality of the wood, the height and strength of the hunter.

Having prepared the ax, you can start making the ax handle. It must be thin. The smaller its weight relative to the weight of the ax, the stronger the blow. The ax handle must be flexible: a hard ax handle “dries” the hand. In cross section, it has an ovoid, but flattened shape with a sharper anterior and rounded posterior edges.It is best to make an ax from the butt of ash, maple, elm. You can also use curly fine-layered birch. The most suitable butt thickness for harvesting ax handles is 35-40 cm. The raw butt should be split, then dried with sealed ends. An ax with a longitudinal arrangement of layers (Fig. 5) is stronger. In front of the ax attachment, the center of gravity is found on the ax handle (Fig. 6). Usually this point (C) is located at the base of the lug. Then determine the middle 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 when struck. If you put the blade at point B perpendicular to the midline AB on the plane, then the end of the ax handle will have to touch the same plane at point C. 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 handle is 12-13 cm, and the thinnest place at the end of the ax handle is 9-10 cm. Finally, the thickness is adjusted according to the hand.

The ax ends with a thickening in the form of a “fungus” that fixes the hand (it is clearly visible in the photo). Such an ax handle is indispensable in cold and rain, when gloves or mittens are on the hands. "Fungus" allows you to relax your hands at the time of work. 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, being afraid to let go of it. On the blank for the "fungus", a thickening is provided in advance; it is processed last in order to exclude chips when the ax is mounted. Getting to the nozzle, it is necessary 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 the NE line). In the ax handle, adjusted to two-thirds of the eye depth, a wedge cut is made to the same depth (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 liberally smeared with BF-2 glue (epoxy is probably better, although, I repeat, I am not a supporter of this - D.Zh.) and the ax is finally planted. On a pre-prepared wedge made of hardwood (ash, maple, elm,

apple, pear) also apply glue and hammer the wedge. To prevent the wedge from breaking when driving, it is made short. To completely dry the glue, the ax must be dried for a day on a battery or by the stove. Finally, the handle is processed by hand, skinned and impregnated with drying oil or linseed oil.The finished ax remains sharpened. An ax will save a lot of effort and time if its blade is always sharply sharpened. It is useful for this to have plywood cut to the size of the breast pocket, glued on both sides with waterproof sandpaper - coarse and micron. Such plywood is quite enough for the whole season, if the ax does not require serious regrinding.

A large article by A.M. Radula "What should be a camping axe". There is quite a lot of theory in the article, which is unlikely to need practice. However, this article has a lot useful tips on the manufacture of axes and handling them. I decided to post the scanned pages of this article on the site - maybe someone will come in handy. You can go to the end of this page.

Starting to work with an ax, you should learn from the very beginning two, at first glance, contradictory rules. Firstly, the ax must be sharpened to the sharpness of a good 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 as a loaded gun with the hammers cocked and the safety off. In no case do not give an ax to children, although, paradoxically as it sounds, it is best to teach them to such things from childhood. It just needs to be done skillfully. After work, put on a case on the ax blade. Your imagination and skill will help you make it - thick leather, birch bark, and a simple piece of wood will go into business.

Observe own safety rules:

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

When working near a fallen tree, stand next to it so that the trunk is by no means between your legs;

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

Before swinging, make sure that nothing interferes with the swing, otherwise a springing, for example, branch that the ax caught on can throw it completely in the wrong place;

Chop even thin branches not across, but a little obliquely - so there is less chance of getting a flying piece in the eye;

When chopping firewood, spread your legs wider, strengthening the chock more securely;

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

On a halt, never stick an ax into the barrel standing tree and even more so do not turn the ax into a hanger. Injure the tree and, God forbid, yourself or a friend if the ax falls out. Stick it into a tree stump or deadwood, if it is really necessary.

Saw necessary, of course, only for long-distance and multi-day trips to the taiga. The best option- a small and narrow long cross-cut saw. She must have a small "belly" in the direction of the teeth - it is easier to cut this than a straight one. The handles are made of wood and are quite high. By tying a stick to them, you can cut 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 keep the “belly”.

Far Eastern tiger scientists P.G. Oshmarin and D.G. Pikunov in their book “Traces in Nature” (M., “Nauka”, 1990) recommend a cleaver saw for taiga trips, which can be made from an ordinary cross 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 as a cleaver when you need to clear a parking lot, a path, etc. The saw does not replace the ax, but only complements it when hiking together.

A little about the fire utensils. On the fire we cook, fry and boil tea. For each action there should be a tool. Boiling water for tea in a kettle after soup is a real crime. I would recommend having another tool even on short trips into the forest. This is a string saw. It weighs practically nothing, folded into a ring fits in a breast pocket, and saws into skillful hands log 10-12 cm thick. It is better to use such a saw alone. It requires constant tightness, otherwise, if it overlaps, it may break. It is not difficult to cut a branch on a standing tree with this saw, but something lying on the ground is more difficult, because sometimes the string is clamped. In this case, you need to act like this. Put one end of the log that you are going to saw through on an elevation so that a gap forms under it, pass a string saw into it and, pressing down on the log with your foot, saw as if from the bottom up. So the saw will never clamp in the cut.

Convinced that cooking soup, fish soup is best in bowler hat, the bottom of which is not flat, but rounded, like a cauldron - and it boils faster and is easier to wash. For frying fish, we made special rectangular ones in Pechora frying pans from two millimeter steel. They bent the sides in a vise, welded the corners, drilled holes in the corners for wire handles, and it turned out to be a wonderful camping pan. The length and width are arbitrary, but such that a good grayling lies down entirely. You can fry both on the suspension and directly on the 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 aside and placing it on this flyer, you can safely remove the pot or stir the brew in it. The best way to boil tea is, of course, in a teapot. For some reason, all sorts of garbage, coals and ashes are stuffed into the pot, even closed. Yes, and it is 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 for frost. For example, the same temperature of minus thirty is perceived differently by a person depending on the place, on the geographical area where he lives. If such a frost for a resident middle lane European part of Russia is already very hard frost, then in Irkutsk no one will pay attention to him. The whole point here is not even a habit. Air humidity is a factor that changes our attitude to 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 the cold. I once had to get into the strongest Altai steppe snowstorm. The frost was not very strong, I think it was 12-15 degrees. However, in the five hours of the journey (that's how long it took me to walk 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 a little in front. How I did not freeze then, only God knows. Even if the wind blows with little force, in reality the frost is much more than what the thermometer shows. This is especially true when riding a snowmobile. If it goes 35-40 km per hour (10-12 m / s), then the speed of the headwind will be correspondingly the same. This is in complete silence. Here's the conclusion. And I downloaded the table from the web. I'm not sure how correct it is, but I think that about all the numbers in it are true.

When spending the night in the forest, even a small frosty breeze will not let you sleep. Therefore, the choice of a place to sleep and the arrangement of shelter must be given the most serious attention. 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 must be turned inside out so that a frosty breeze does not blow through them. You can even take off your shoes and sleep in woolen socks. A shod leg feels colder worse. Wherever you burn a fire, if this does not happen in winter, leaving this place, carefully fill the fire, make sure that not a single spark remains there. Keep a close eye on the fire as long as it burns. From a gust of wind, a flame can quite unexpectedly spread to dry grass or deadwood, and here it’s not far from a forest fire. Special mention should be made of bonfires on peat bogs. It is generally forbidden to make fires in such places. It's too dangerous. Even in winter, when, it would seem, there can be no fire, the peat that has dried up from the fire ignites completely imperceptibly. And the last. Every time you make a fire in the forest, collect firewood, cut down sticks for the tent and taganka, try to cause minimal damage to the forest. For firewood - only shrunken trees. Stakes for the taganka - only from those that sooner or later will dry out anyway. Yes, and it is desirable to make a fire on an old fire. You should not leave a new burnt spot in the forest, and even dug in a fire trench, when you can use the old one.

A large article by A.M. Radula "What should be a camping axe". There is quite a lot of theory in the article, which is unlikely to need practice. However, this article has a lot of useful tips for making and handling axes. I decided to post the scanned pages of this article on the site - maybe someone will come in handy.