iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

How in the world do you use a brush axe?

Started by shinnlinger, March 27, 2018, 10:11:13 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

shinnlinger

 

 
So I recently acquired a few of these brush axe deals and this one had a decent handle, so I basically cleaned, oiled and sharpened it up.  But what to do with it?  The interweb is surprisingly devoid of information but shows 2 different, conflicting  approaches.  One guy drives it directly into the dirt, which can't be right, and another, prominent Utube personality claiming to show the "proper way" by using it high, like a regular axe, and it quickly becomes evident he has no idea what he is is doing and sums up his performance by denouncing the tool altogether.  .  Yesterday I Had little luck mimicking these fellers , but today was a little better when I swung it like a slap shop/golf T drive as low as I could.  I had some success yanking back in tight spaces as well.  I think part of my issue is I'm 6' 4" and the handle is only 36" and pretty much like a normal axe handle.  It seems short.  I'm thinking I will make a longer, straight handle for my other one, but hoping I can get some decent advice here.  

Thanks.

Dave
Shinnlinger
Woodshop teacher, pasture raised chicken farmer
34 horse kubota L-2850, Turner Band Mill, '84 F-600,
living in self-built/milled timberframe home

JB Griffin

The "proper" guy on youtube admits he doesn't know how to use it and then goes on to demo the "proper" way. Got no use in him anymore. 

I have one identical to yours and am rough on it, stick it in the dirt, hit rocks, etc.. basically what I won't do with my chainsaw. "Proper" or not its what I do.
2000 LT40hyd remote 33hp Kubota with 6gpm hyd unit, 150 Prentice, WM bms250, Suffolk dual tooth setter

Over 3.5million bdft sawn with a Baker Dominator.

mike_belben

Praise The Lord

Southside

Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

Don P

That looks a little funky to me. The ones I've used are mounted on the end of the handle and are double edged. The inside hook where yours is sharpened is for limbs or down below you like on a hill or ditch or reaching into something like a rose, the outer curve is also sharpened and is the edge most often used.

Magicman

I have never been fond of a brush axe/blade.  It is kinda between an axe and a ditch bank blade and for my use, does not measure up to either.  Nothing beats an axe for chopping nor a ditch bank blade's longer handle for knocking back briers without getting "brier'ed.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

moodnacreek

As a boy, I was allowed to use an axe but not the brush axe that was in the shed. All the old timers said they where too dangerous.

TKehl

Council Tool sells both the single bit brush ax like the OP shows and a double bit like Don P mentions.  

http://counciltool.com/brush-cutting-shrubbing/

I was excited when I got one at an auction as a brush ax has sounded like a good tool.  But now that I have one, I'm with shinnlinger in scratching my head how to use it effectively.   :D
In the long run, you make your own luck – good, bad, or indifferent. Loretta Lynn

Kbeitz

I have better luck using a machete than a brush ax.
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

mike_belben

I prefer a 6 way blade.  Mounted to a good dozer. 
Praise The Lord

bluthum

Decades ago as a young lad I worked for the USCEC and we had those in the tool line up. We had a different name for them which wouldn't be allowed on this site. Anyway no one wanted to use one but it was some times the go to tool for smaller sprouts on steep rocky banks. Swung like an axe. I have no desire to use one ever again. Wicked looking though, sorta like some medieval battle tool.

SawyerTed

 As a young teenager I did odd jobs of all sorts, one couple I worked for was in their 80s.  They had a ditch bank behind their house that had briars, weeds and tree sprouts up to a couple inches in diameter.  Mr. Payne had two tools available, a mowing scythe and a bush axe.

His bush axe was double sided and the handle bolted on the butt end of the blade.  I could use either side to cut brush.  It took two days to clean that bank.   Mr. Payne showed me and I learned how to use and sharpen that bush axe.  You swing it like an axe but cut diagonally down through the saplings or other brush.  When you get good you can leave a very short "stump" close to the ground all be it a sharp one.

I own two now, one I bought 30 years ago the other was my dad's.  I've picked them up a couple of time in the last 15 years but just to move them out of my way.
Woodmizer LT50, WM BMS 250, WM BMT 250, Kubota MX5100, IH McCormick Farmall 140, Husqvarna 372XP, Husqvarna 455 Rancher

ESFted

The survey crews at my last engineering firm used those to clear survey lines. Swung like an axe against brush and saplings. As said above, diagonal cuts close to the ground and watch out for the sharp stumps.
S.U.N.Y. College of Environmental Science and Forestry '65
Stihl MS661CRM, Stihl MS460,  Stihl MSE 220, Solo 64S, Granberg Alaskan MK-IV CSM
Dreams of a Wm LT70 w/all the accessories

petefrom bearswamp

My dad had one he called a bush hook.
I used it to cut horse trails when I was a pup.
I mis-placed it and never found it.
My dad reminded me of this fairly often til the day he died.
as I recall it worked ok.
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

james

leaves sharp stumps also known as tire go flatters or punji sticks
james

gspren

I have one that hangs on a nail in the pole building, looks impressive but doesn't get used.
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

JB Griffin

The double edged ones ya'll are talking bout ain't brush axes, their called ditch blades or more commonly around here kaiser blades. Big difference between um, brush axes are much, much heavier made, my True Temper brush axe blade is 5/16"-3/8" thick. The kaiser blades I've seen were maybe 3/16".
2000 LT40hyd remote 33hp Kubota with 6gpm hyd unit, 150 Prentice, WM bms250, Suffolk dual tooth setter

Over 3.5million bdft sawn with a Baker Dominator.

btulloh

Quote from: gspren on March 28, 2018, 03:15:09 PM
I have one that hangs on a nail in the pole building, looks impressive but doesn't get used.
That's the best place to keep the brush axe.
HM126

thecfarm

We sell them at the store. In the 3 years I have been there,I don't remember having a customer ask about it.
When we use to cut bushes here and I still do,they had to be cut right down to the ground. I can still hear my Father say,not going to ruin a tractor tire with something sticking up in the air 2 inches. Which is true. Along the edge of one field that would be just about useless. Lots and lots of rocks sticking up. But I suppose the tractor would not be in that area,so a foot high would be OK. But My Father would still not like it. I am too much like my Father's son.  ;D
I have picked it up,at the store,more than once. Seems like a lot of weight hanging out there. We never had one and I have never seen one used.
I just feel it's made for a 19 year old that says I can split wood faster than a wood splitter. :D
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

SwampDonkey

I have one of those exact tools. But, I'd rather use a Sandvik brush axe myself. Barring that, I would be firing up my 560 brush saw. No pointy stubs to fall on. I walk my boundary lines, so I don't like pointy sticks poking up from the ground after they get brushed out. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

TKehl

I bought it thinking of clearing rose bushes.  However, once it was in my hand and I was staring at a rose bush, I realized the handle wasn't near long enough and I hadn't thought this through all the way.   :D

Any ideas with dealing with big multiflora rose?  My army of minions (goats) are taking care of the smaller ones, but the ones 6' or taller look like they've been given a bowl haircut with lots of foliage on top of rose stems (almost trunks).   :(  I took out some with a chainsaw (let my minions take care of the regrowth), but don't want to try that trick again.   ;)  Have an electric pole saw now and hoping that will do the trick.   ;D

Oh, and I can still outsplit a splitter.  Just not for as long as I used to could.   :)
In the long run, you make your own luck – good, bad, or indifferent. Loretta Lynn

mike_belben

How about burning them to a nub then pulling out stump with a chain?
Praise The Lord

gspren

Quote from: TKehl on March 29, 2018, 09:29:46 AM
I bought it thinking of clearing rose bushes.  However, once it was in my hand and I was staring at a rose bush, I realized the handle wasn't near long enough and I hadn't thought this through all the way.   :D

Any ideas with dealing with big multiflora rose?  My army of minions (goats) are taking care of the smaller ones, but the ones 6' or taller look like they've been given a bowl haircut with lots of foliage on top of rose stems (almost trunks).   :(  I took out some with a chainsaw (let my minions take care of the regrowth), but don't want to try that trick again.   ;)  Have an electric pole saw now and hoping that will do the trick.   ;D

Oh, and I can still outsplit a splitter.  Just not for as long as I used to could.   :)
I used a chainsaw attachment on my weed eater and then pushed several on a pile to burn. The goats kept new growth down until they died.
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

WV Sawmiller

TKehl,

   My place here was overgrown with Multiflora roses when we bought it. I got a long cable and would make a big lasso around a pile and the end to the little tractor and get wife or son to drive while I walked along cutting the stumps. Every time I'd cut a stump the noose would tighten. When I'd cut the last one we'd drag them to a tire and through methods not to be further discussed we would burn them. The ones I could reach with the little Gravely tractor with the 30" bush hog on front I could cut. When I got a fence up that would sometimes keep goats in they cleaned up everything. They ate all the greenery they could reach and in winter they'd gnaw the stumps girdling and killing them. Now that they are gone the horse, mule and deer keep them under check. Maybe you just need to give your goats a little more time and cut back on the other feed and make them work harder.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

mike_belben

Good info.  

Next question, what do you actually do with a goat after its cleared your lot?
Praise The Lord

Thank You Sponsors!