The Bushcraft Axe I have been waiting so long for...

well folks this is it the tax it's been many many months in the making something I'm incredibly proud of and there's a lot of effort that's gone behind the scenes on making this thing and the story behind it rather than sit here and drone on about how good it is and splitwood and things like that I want to tell you the story of how this is made because it really is incredible and it starts right here with this 100y old ash tree this once Majestic asht tree stood proud over the forest for more than 100 years before it blew down in a storm when I first discovered it I spent countless hours wondering what could be made from it after a few months I decided to Mill the main trunk of the tree into planks I then used these planks to build a cabin with my dad at the time of Milling we also cut out some longer 9-t posts that were 4x4 in thick these then sat under a tarp in the Woodland and seasoned over the course of a year I kept walking past these posts thinking of what to do with them one day when chatting to my friend Joe from Thornwood Forge we decided that the ash would make an ideal handle for an axe historically Ash has been used for centuries as a handle material for tools especially hammers chisels and axes this is due to the hardness and shock resistant properties of the wood I had met Joe a few years earlier and had seen firsthand the quality of axes and tools that he had made so he decided why not make a TA Axe and used this 100-year old ashtree for the handle that way the memory of the tree would still be kept alive and it would be so much more meaningful to its owner and so one summer I began hand cutting the Ash posts into 40 cm sections the asht tree lies in the north of the county of Hampshire in England from here it starts its 96 mile Journey West along the a303 winding its way through Wiltshire and directly past the ancient Stonehenge Monument it then enters into the historic County of Somerset into the depths of the valley where it enters through the doors of Thornwood Forge it is here that metal is struck and the axe head is for forged to begin with Joe cuts off a piece of en9 Steel which will form the ax head we decided on en9 because it's exceptionally tough to withstand impact whilst also having the ability to hold a sharp edge key features to have if you are making a high quality durable tool the forge is then lit and the block of steel is heated up to 1,000° Celsius once heated to optimal temperature a chisel and drift is then used to to punch out the eye of the axe once the eye has been punched all the way through Joe takes it over to the power hammer to draw out the cheeks of the axe when using the power hammer the axe can be pushed out of shape and so Joe goes back to using an anvil and flattens out any parts of the axe that are distorted to make sure everything remains symmetrical on this particular ax Joe opts to use fellow blacksmith Jimmy to do what is called a Smith and striker this process involves Joe the Smith holding the piece of hot metal with some tongs and then resting a fuller tool on top of the metal that he wants hitting and Jimmy the striker using a sledgehammer to hit down onto the piece of metal this technique is used to separate the blade from the eye the power hammer is then used again to draw out the blade into its bearded shape a hammer is then used to shape the cheeks of the axe into the final shape the next stage is to grind and profile the axe Joe removes the majority of the material with a coarse 36 grit to begin with he then uses a finer 220 grip belt to further remove any rough edges and lines now it is on to the final stages of the forging process this is known as breaking the corners Joe uses a light hammer and gently runs it along the edges of the axe putting a shamer on it this isn't necessary at all but this extra attention to detail is what makes this AX stand out as a really well-made tool Joe then uses the drift to even out the eye and make sure the axe is straight on both sides for the last part Joe heats up the axe ready to put the touch Mark in the touch Mark is the blacksmith stamp it's not only a sign of who made the piece but also a sign of quality a blacksmith doesn't put a touch mark on anything he is not happy with on the TA ax one side of the axe contains the touch Mark of Thornwood Forge and the other side is the stamp of ta Outdoors this not only shows the axe as a TA Outdoors official product but it shows that I fully back the quality of Joe and the Thornwood Forge blacksmiths the axes are then individually number stamped to make each axe unique to the person that owns one then the final steps of the forging process come to a close the axe head is heated up and left to cool down with the forge this is known as a KNE it reduces the stress in the steel that was created during the forging process however if left like this and then sharpened the axe would get blunt again very quickly as the steel is soft so it then needs to be hardened to do this the ax is heated up to critical temperature around 820 de C and then cooled down rapidly this is done by quenching the axe in vegetable oil this is a very important part of the process if you cool it down too fast the steel could warp and crack and if you cool it down too slow it won't Harden and will remain too soft after hardening the axe then needs to be tempered when you harden steel it can become very brittle with an impact tool like an axe you need to temper that hardness with toughness and so tempering improves the toughness of the axe to do this the ax is heated from the pole at the back and letting that heat bleed through to the edge once the blade of the axe starts to turn a yellow straw color usually around 200° C for this steel it is ready to be quenched in water with the forging process complete the axe now needs to have a sharp edge put onto it and so it's back onto the grinding belt where Joe grinds in the bevel of the axe using a 36 grp belt to begin with then he goes down to a finer belt the 80 grit then 180 220 4 400 and then he finishes it off with a surface conditioning belt the last stage is to then polish off the bur on the buffing wheel now the axe is shaving sharp and ready to have the handle put on the final weight of the axe head after grinding is 600 G this is my favorite part of the entire axe making process probably because I feel like I have a personal attachment to that ash tree Joe traces around a template that he made using a band saww Joe cuts out one handle from the ash block this he cuts at 28 mm thick then in a similar fashion to the grinding of the ax head Joe Smooths out the rough edges of the ax handle using the belt grinder he then uses a pencil to Mark out the center line which will go through the middle of the axe head then he marks out facet lines on each edge of the handle this is to act as a guide for the material that he needs to remove to round off the rough edges of the handle so it's back onto the grinding belt as Joe Maneuvers the ash handle to put the final Contours and bevels onto it he then Narrows out the top section of the handle and cuts a small slot which is where the axe head is going to be secured using a wedge using a hardwood Mallet Joe drives the axe head onto the handle into its final place to ensure the axe head is tightly secured to the handle he drives in a small wooden wedge the protruding edge of the wedge is then cut off with the band saww to further secure the ax head Joe drives in a metal cross wedge it's not really necessary but it does ensure that the axe head is securely fitted to the handle the handle is then finished with a thick coat of boiled lined oil this is to help provide a protective layer over the wood and bring out the natural grain in it it's at this moment you can really see the incredible grain pattern of the 100y old ashre that you saw in the beginning of the video so the axe itself is now complete but this isn't the end of the story we then head a further 20 mi West to the county of Devon where the last remaining oak bark Tannery in Britain is found J and FJ Baker is a family run business that dates back to 1862 the leather that is made in this Tannery takes 18 months to create it's a fascinating process and it's here that the leather is made for the axes it starts out with the 400y old water wheel which is powered by the small river which runs through it this water wheel then Powers the machine which grinds up all of the oak bark that has been collected the bark is then put into these pits where water from the river is used to fill each of them up to make different strength bark Solutions the locally sourced cow hides then enter into this Warehouse where where they are covered in salt they then head up into the lime yard where they are soaked in a lime solution the lime penetrates the hides and makes the pores swell which loosens the hair and congeals the fat which in turn makes it easier to scrape off the hide this process takes two weeks to do each individual hide is then run through these two machines the machine on the right removes the hair and the Machine on the left removes the congealed fat the fat is then collected and shipped off to make household detergents not much is wasted in this Tannery the hides then enter into the old 16th century lime yard which is where each hide is individually inspected they look for scars size and thickness and it is then decided what type of leather each hide will be used for some are used for shoe making other long hides with no scar stars on them are used for backs for the harness industry any shoulder hides are then dehaired by hand in this room this is because sometimes the hair on the shoulders doesn't come out as easily on the machines and so it needs further work by hand to remove the raw hides then head up to the tanning pits to be soaked in the bark tan solutions they start at the far end in the weakest solution they always start in the weakest solution so that they are tanned from the inside out otherwise if they start in the strongest solution and then move to a weaker solution the bark tan won't penetrate the hides as well the hides are then moved by hand daily and then each week they are moved into another pit of a slightly stronger solution if you look carefully the vertical columns in this room are moving that's because these are powered by the 400y old water wheel and the reason the hides are constantly moving at this this stage is so they don't stick together and leave any bare patches that don't get tanned evenly they are then washed in the solution like this for 8 weeks before they are moved onto the next area here they are stored horizontally for a year and in between the hides are these Oak valonia cups they are used to separate the hides from sticking to each other but they are also one of the most ancient natural dyes they naturally leech dye into the solution and they have been used in the hide tanning process for over a thousand years after the hides have been in the solution for a year they are then rinsed off and hung up to dry the tanning process has now finished and the hides then enter the currying process this is where fats and moisture are reintroduced into the hides while they are wet they are put through this setting machine each hide is then individually hand dyed and taken upstairs where natural greases are applied to the leather to hydrate it again in this particular solution fish oil is used once dried they are moved to another room where the dubbins are prepared and applied to them dubbins are prepared from oil natural wax and Tallow which is then used to soften condition and waterproof leather the leather is then sized up priced and given to the customer who ordered it in this case it went to Joe who then sent it off to Jon who makes each individual leather taak sheath by hand to make the sheaths the leather is cut beveled and burnished before being switched closed and fitted to each individual Axe and that is the story of how the TA axe is made so there you go from tree to axe I'm very very proud of this um I'm really pleased with the guys at thorwood Forge uh who make it they've been incredible to work with it's been a kind of bit of a stressful process to get everything together and the logistics behind getting these handmade in England it's something I'm very very proud of we already have the TA treer backpacks which have been a phenomenal success they've been going for a couple of years now and yeah you guys seem to be really enjoying them and we're still making them and now I'm I'm just super proud to be able to bring out an an axe I know it's more of a hatchet really but we've called it the TA Axe and you know it's part of my logo so it's been with my brand for 10 10 plus years now um it's just taken me that long to finally get one designed and made here in England uh so yeah if you guys are interested they're live now on the website which is TA outdoors.com I guess just thank you we're at that time of year coming up towards the end of 2023 where we kind of begin to reflect and I just want to say thank you to everyone who's watched and supported me over not just this last year but over the years as well for all your support it's been a pretty incredible journey um I'm looking forward to 2024 I've got some really good camping trips planned and ideas and things for videos which I think you're going to enjoy some more progress here in the woodlands and um yeah just just lots of fun things I'll put a link in the description to this should you so wish and if you're not interested that's absolutely fine I appreciate you watching the video anyway thank you for the support guys and I'll see you [Music] soon

Channel: TA Outdoors

Views: 98,752

Keywords: bushcraft, axe, bushcraft axe, ta outdoors, camping, survival, off grid, survival tool, best bushcraft axe, ta outdoors bushcraft axe, bushcraft axe skills, axe skills, winter, survival axe, bear grylls, ray mears, ta axe, ta outdoors axe

Id: mXzShQzO2VU

Length: 15min 48sec (948 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 23 2023