After years of cutting firewood, I decided that I was just tired of taking the little tiny limbs off of trees with a big chain saw. Perhaps I’m older and wiser or older and weaker, but I don’t want to reach all over the place with that saw anymore. I walked up into the woods with a 36” axe that has about a 4 pound head and played around with limbing some downed trees with it. That was too much axe. It worked well at felling, but took too much effort to get rid of some branch the size of a pencil. Off I go into the internet world, where I find that of course, I know nothing of axes and there are many more choices that what I would have anticipated based on availability at the local farm supply store. This research project began to look like it might have a rather expensive outcome.

When I learn that there are specific, specialized axes for particular uses and that hand-forged axes are much preferred over any other types, I know this will be expensive. Yet after reading reams of material, opinions are virtually unanimous – a rare find in internet land – which leaves me convinced that I’m going to get the “best” axe.

Drifting over to the Swedish company that was continually mentioned, Gransfors Bruks, I find their website has a wealth of information about their products and uses. Interesting, because it’s rare to see such a niche market company with so much product knowledge. And, all of the information is downloadable, so their diagrams on stacking firewood in a circle, something I’d never seen before, I could get for free. I determine which of the axes is designed to take limbs off, the Scandinavian Forest Axe, and I can then find a dealer there or wherever I wish. I wish most companies had websites that were as user friendly.

Spending six times what a 36” hardware store axe costs to get a 25” axe with a 2 pound head seemed to be a bizarre gamble. How good can these things be? It knocks off branches. I’m rarely impressed by tools (or much else) but me writing this gives away my position. This little axe shows up and it is amazing. This is craftsmanship at its best. It’s not an axe as much as it’s a custom knife edge with a handle, it is absolutely as sharp as most hand-made knives I have seen. The usual hardware store axe has an edge like a chisel, this axe is like a razor. Someone will say this edge won’t hold up to chopping. Really? I’d have said that, too. I’d have been wrong. It seems that most things tend to be mediocre and that’s expected. How unexpected to find something as common as an axe can be so uncommon. Excellence can be encountered when least expected.