What are the basics of axe safety? Bushcraft axe safety tips

the basics of axe safety there should just be common sense right if you're using a large cutting tool with very sharp edges try very very hard not to put the large cutting tool with very sharp edges in places that you don't want the large cutting tool with very sharp edges well that should just about cover it except in practice it's not really that simple as it ax is a great I use them pretty much every week and I've been using axes for 20 plus years and my life my work depends on my safe use of axis they're also potentially bloody dangerous a mistimed swing with an axe can easily sever a digit or put a massive hole in my foot or my leg or somewhere else I don't want a massive hole it's not just new axe users who are susceptible to this even if you've got dozens or hundreds or thousands of hours of axe use under your belt you could still end up being lazy or complacent or distracted or hurried and one missed hime swing will have consequences on the rest of your life when I try and teach people about using tools of any kind I try and create a an environment where there's one basic lesson that you always have to abide by one rule one principle one baseline standard and for cutting tools that is that a cutting tool can only end up in one of three safe places no matter how advanced you get as a user no matter how fancy you're felling splitting steding shaping carving technique is with that axe that baseline principle shouldn't change you should always do at least that every time you use an axe so those three safe places that an axe can end up are the work piece this is the piece of wood that you're actively trying to shape with the axe it doesn't matter if it's a tree that you're felling or a spoon blank that you're carving or a piece of wood that you're putting a point on like this to make into a post if the axe comes to a complete stop in the workpiece like that then that's the first of the safe places the second place that a cutting tool can come to a complete rest is the cutting surface so in this case it's a length of I think it's beach it's a stump it's a cutting block that I used to process firewood here at camp if I was to miss this and land on the ground that's within the same category so it's cutting surface and the ground underneath it but if the cutting tool the axe comes to a complete stop in the ground or the stump then that's the second safe place that's allowed it's worth saying that if you do bury your axe in the ground then you're going to possibly end up with some sharpening in your future it's not the best for maintaining a good cutting edge but at least it's safe and you can just work on your technique the final place a cutting tool can come to a complete stop is in the air this is particularly appropriate when you're doing something like this stripping the branches from our larger branch to either get rid of the foliage or make it to the shape of whatever you want it to be if I swing through and this I should come to a complete stop out here if I swing through and the axe does its job I should come to a complete stop what it that requires is my body to be positioned off to one side and holding the workpiece out like this so that a swing either hits the workpiece or goes completely past my body so there you have it the three safe places an act can come to a complete rest in the workpiece the cutting surface or the ground in mid air and it could be as simple as that if the axe technique that you're about to employ means that your axe could likely end up somewhere other than one of those three safe places then you need to stop and make a better decision change something about what you're doing about the environment around you about the cutting tool that you're using something that means it brings everything back to within those parameters so where the axe is Oh likely to end up in the workpiece in the cutting surface or in air and I know that their nature of YouTube videos means that you're unlikely to watch through the whole video to the very end so if you click away now then we've covered the very basics and we've covered everything that you need to know still here brilliant let's take a look at a few more things your body position will make a huge difference to your safety if you're using a long handle cutting tool like this splitting maul then you if you have your legs close together like this and you swing and you miss the next thing to hit could be your foot so you can modify your position you can stand with a wide leg stance like that and then that means if I swing through it should go between my legs but it could still deflect off the stump like that and come down and hit me in the foot anyway you can stand a little bit further back and you can give yourself a little bit of a dip motion that was quite exaggerated but you get the idea you give it you put a dip in there when you strike with a blade this changes the angle again and it means that the cutting tool hit the ground before it comes to you you could also put a log in front of your feet like that so that the cutting tool hit the log before it hits your feet in might hit it with some force but at least it's going to hit that if you're using a shorter axe like this then moving to a kneeling position is worthwhile I haven't changed anything about my upper body but I have changed the mechanics I've changed that angle so that's when I swing through if I miss the workpiece and the cutting surface and hit the ground it is going to hit the ground before it hits my body with straight arms it's actually almost impossible to hit myself with this axe it's a very safe position if you have short lengths like this then you'll probably want to split them with an overhead swing like that and that's absolutely fine but if you have slightly longer pieces or ones with slightly wobbly ends then that's a bit unwieldy and it can fall off to the side so you can just modify your technique and bring the two together and you've achieved the same thing if you have slightly wobbly pieces of wood like this one and you're worried about your accuracy with the axe and the swing then you can hold it in place with another fairly long piece of wood like this a chicken stick and then use that to guide you through another thing you can do is bring another piece of wood into play this is just another length of I think it's hazel and I'm just using it like a mallet it doesn't have to be anything fancy if you want to learn how to make a mallet from a piece of wood there's another tutorial on the channel when you're putting a point on a post like this you want to angle both the workpiece and your body and position your body so that your hand is well clear so that it can't the cutting tool can't end up there so that I'm working down here above a cutting surface so that if I strike through and come to the point the cutting tool can end up in the cutting surface or that if I'm working slightly higher up and swing through my body isn't the next thing behind the axe it's going to come to a rest in complete air safe air mid air like that so it can sometimes require a bit of faffing around and movement and careful force but well a bit of faff is much better than the alternative and if you think that you can ignore some of that advice because well you always wear thick leather boots to protect your feet well you're wrong because even a lightweight relatively small axe like this will happily go through a couple of thick layers of leather in a boots allow me to demonstrate there's the blood circle this is nothing to do with jiu-jitsu and that kind of thing this is a blood circle for use of cutting tools it is a circle whose radius goes from the center of your body out through your extended arm out through to the tip of the cutting tool and then a little foot bit further beyond that it goes out to all in all directions and it does draw a complete circle this means that anything within this circle you'd need to clear away unless it's absolutely necessary for the cutting tasks that you're about to perform so if you've got overhanging branches and roots and loose things on the ground you clear them away if you've got your equipment and your things that you don't want to bury an axe in you clear them away if there are other people at the camp then you let them know that you're going to be cutting there and they can stay away if there are children or animals around that won't necessarily respect what you tell them to do then you can manage them in some way you can tie dogs up and put them on a lead I don't think you're allowed to tie children to trees and put them on leads but you'll know best what to do with your own children the important thing is that as the person using the cutting tool you are responsible for what goes on within that blood circle if somebody enters it you stop cutting you don't start cutting again until they are a safe distance away this is really quite important because things happen unexpected things happen and it's not just the downward stroke that you need to be aware of it's what goes on behind you when you swing through with an axe like that just idly swinging it well away from your body you need to create a blood circle around you every time you use a cutting tool and you are responsible for what goes on within that blood Circle the last thing to say is that whenever you have finished using a cutting tool actively using it it means to go back away safely into the place that it's normally stored so that should first step should be to put it in a leather sheath or a mask or a storage device of some kind and then put the axe the cutting tool back in its safe storage place so that could be back on the side of your rucksack in the designated tool area at the camp back in stores back in the vehicle wherever that axe is living for that time in that place get into the habit of putting your tools away somewhere safely as soon as you finish using them it means they're less likely to get lost and damaged and it means that you're less likely to cause an accident through leaving a sharp cutting tool somewhere where it shouldn't be that about covers the basics and let's face it there are dozens of you tutorials out there on YouTube and online that show you how to use an axe in a certain way for certain wood types or for a certain axe type or for certain conditions and you could just keep breaking things down more and more the key thing to take away from this video and for using any one of those techniques is that the axe can only end up in one of those three safe places if the cutting technique you're about to employ means the axe could end up in somewhere else in another place then you need to decide whether you're going to have to make a better decision and try something else thank you for watching this video if you liked it then please click the like button and if you want to subscribe to the channel and you're not already please do that to original outdoors I'm not you tuber and we're not a youtube brand as such were an outdoor skills training company based up here in North Wales on the borders of Snowdonia we run outdoor skills training courses for well a huge range of clients and we run a lot of things all the way through the year have a look at the courses on the website at original outdoors code at UK there you'll also find the blog and there are more articles and opinion pieces and text pieces there plus link back to all the videos that you'll find on this YouTube channel there's also links to our social stuff in the description below this video and elsewhere on the website so you can go and have a look at those you can go and have a look at one of our other videos or you can just go on and get on with your life whatever you're gonna do next thank you for watching this video and I'll see you again next time

Channel: Original Outdoors

Views: 22,117

Keywords: axe safety, original outdoors, axe safety tips, richard prideaux, wilderness survival, how to, self reliance, axe safety rules, axe safety scouts, carving axe safety and use, wilderness survival skills, boy scout axe safety, wilderness survival tips, wilderness survival hacks, bushcraft, bushcraft tips and tricks, bushcraft uk, bushcraft camping, bushcraft skills, bushcraft uk camping, bushcraft gear, est framework, bushcraft uk kit, uk bushcraft show, bushcraft tools, axe

Id: DeQ9PwLvGAo

Length: 13min 21sec (801 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 28 2019