Granfor Bruks Swedish Carving axe: Better than a bandsaw. Let me explain. Made a bow 20 years ago using only a tomahawk, file and a knife. It came out very nice, but took a long time, and as I must work long hours with kids in college and grandkids starting to show up, time has great value-never enough of it. So I indulged and bought a Jet 17" 2 hp bandsaw and outfitted it with a 1/2" 4 tip skip blade- a real osage eater. But the drawback is you can ruin a stave very very quickly, and the carcass is full of odd angles and weird ridges that take a while to rasp out. Enter the Grnafors Bruks. Bought an GB american felling axe at the local plow and hearth outlet many years ago. It will take a shaving edge better than a BH, and is pure beauty for splitting wood. My wife saw the joy of a fine edged tool so bought me GB Swedish carving axe for Christmas about 5 years ago. But until lately it has only sat in the bowyers tool box, unused. Pulled it out for the latest rendition of osage carving therapy on a whim, and used it to reduce a bow. The shaving edge gives total control and makes it easy to use just the axe to bring the one latewood ring (a drawknife is still king for this chore) stave to almost-floor tiller in just a few minutes. AND, it is already smooth and round, just a few strokes with the UBR 10 and it is ready for the Bowyers Edge. The Swedish carving axe is faster because it can go to near final shape without all the rasping required with a bandsaw roughed stave. These axes are hand made - one at a time works of art; not cheap at current cost $180, but still much cheaper than the 17" 2hp JET. AND will ruin fewer staves! There is joy in a fine edged hand tool.

Thanks for the info. I'm the type that without this kind of info from you would just see an over priced axe and wonder why. Would you be able to post a picture of it?

Michael, I have the same axe. Last week I took an osage raw stave down to floor tiller in just a little over an hour mostly using the axe. I really like it for cutting in my fades. I took of all the white wood then finsihed my final ring with the draw knife. Just took a few minutes to reduce the belly down. I like to bring the belly down to one ring and then remove one ring at a time. The axe is perfect for this. The only problem I have with the axe is that my forearm gets fatiqued pretty quick from the motion used in chopping. I have to take a lot of short breaks to get rid of the cramping. I think using it more the muscles will quickly adapt.

They are hand forged and made one ata a time. The maker stamps his initials in the head, I think only two guys make this one, although they must have 20 types of axes and hatchets. They come in Right and Left handed, as the edge is angled to ease use

I will check it out, but the price does seem a bit steep. Do you know of any other similar axes for less money? I use a cheapo from lowes and like it, and can put a shaving edge on without problem.

My No-name tomahawk will hold a razor edge and has perfect control for this kind of work.

Mike, One of my all time favorite old archery books is done by Adrian Hodgkin called "The Archer's Craft".

Great book with great pics of the old Englishman, dressed in suit and tie and hat reducing yew staves down to dimension with a small axe-hatchet..:)Classic..

The Granfors Bruks Swedish axes and hatchets are truly fine tools..

My own favorite stave hatchet is Swedish steel and made in Italy and is a replica of the Roman legion belt axe used when they were in the Brit Isles during Hadrian's time.

It is shaving sharp..rings like a bell..and very easy to use..I bought it from A.G.Russell years ago and I believe they still sell it..Search under 'roman axe'..Jim

and a picture of the Roman axe..Jim

As a note on bandsaws: Get a decent quality 14" one.Replace the blade guides and rollers and buy the best 1/2" blade 3-4 TPI you can for it.

Get and keep it tensioned and adjusted properly.

Bandsaws that DON'T cut true to the line are worse than worthless..

I use my old bandsaw to cut double fishtail splices in yew or osage sister billets that fit together like hand in a glove.. Jim

yes i see the point,,depending on which tool you have the most skill with,,,i think underestimating the efficiency of either would be a mistake,,

That is a cool roman axe. Granfor Bruks axes are kinda like Randall Knives - not for everybody. I use swedish steel blades on the Jet, and it does track sraight, (Current price of the same saw new is $1400, adjustable ball bearing roller guides top and bottum) but the osage does not, and am now using rounded bellies. WIll still use the Jet for glass lam and BBO work, as well as major rough work. With the granfor bruks I can just push the pommel and take off strips that follow the grain with little effort. With the angle of the edge it does not over dig or run out, pretty amazing really.

Old American made bandsaws go pretty cheap and are better than any off-shore stuff. I have a free one, a five dollar one and a $75 Canadian one. The Canadian was ready to plug in when I got it.

After the band saw, I use draw knife, spoke shave or scraper much more than a rasp. I could have a stick ready for final tillering in less than an hour after it is laid out.

If you are in no hurry, lots of sharp tools could do the work, with a keen-edged hatchet at or near the top of the list for the rough work.

I'm too lazy to use all hand tools. I made and used a frame saw to cut out my first bow. Decided right then to start looking for a band saw.

Jim

I wouldn't begin to begin to compare the speed of an axe to the speed of my bandsaw for roughing out staves, but I will say that I'm amazed with the Gransfors Bruks small forest axe that I recently bought. Out of the sheath, it was just as sharp, if not sharper than the broadheads I hunt with.

I've owned a couple of "rendezvous grade" tomahawks for many years. Having roughed out many staves with them, I can say their steel is very poor and they don't hold an edge. Their wide eyes make it difficult to chop at very acute angles to staves and I always get alot of glancing blows. But I just like doing handwork sometimes and have persisted with them.

The head on the Gransfors, on the other hand, is very narrow and gives me very controlled, very thin shavings when I want precision. It also gives deep cuts when I go for heavy chops. So far, I've cut down half a dozen small trees for bow wood, limbed a couple of very large trees for firewood, split small logs and kindling, and have been working on a couple of bows with it, and the edge is still very sharp and will pop a few arm hairs, with no honing done so far.

I can see this won't be my last Gransfors axe.

Here's a bow I'm working on. http://youtu.be/0p7eDE6dz04

This was a bow wood gathering hike a couple of weeks ago. http://youtu.be/0p7eDE6dz04

So, can you use that axe to make a .050" lamination?

A friend of mine uses that same hatchet, and I reduced three staves to bow blanks with it. It is a quality tool with nice balance, however I didn't find a $150.00 difference between his Gransfors, and my American made $30.00 Estwing hatchet.

I think the comparison was a bit tongue in cheek. The axe is a great tool but will never hold a candle to a bandsaw for sure if you are pretty good with a bandsaw.

I have one of their hunter axes. Got it at a garage sale cheep. A very fine tool and holds an edge well. Not sure that I would spend the 180.00 for a new one though

I love a good hand axe ,still use the band saw most of the time but will use the axe now and then.Ruined my far share of staves early on till I learned to use the saw,Now now very often. That is a beautiful axe dire wolf. Pappy

I love ALL edged tools..and have a flock of them that I use..for proper purposes..:) There is a time and place for most good tools for the archer-crafter..The trick is to keep them sharp and in good order and know when to go to which tool..:) Jim

I have a Gransfors Bruks small forest axe it has a 19" handle and it is perfect https://bestoutdooritems.com/best-felling-axe/ I might consider the small forest axe as a better axe for a group when weight is not as much of an issue. The bigger size would be better for splitting.

I have the same ax and they are a joy to work with. The problem I seem to have is my forearm cramps up too quick when I use the carving ax. I can't figure out why as I have worked with hand tools all my life but axes have always pumped up my forearm and fatigued it very quickly. I figure it must be too my wrist action and not enough arm but whatever it is I get frustrated as I love working with the ax till the fatigue sets in. I can hard draw knife for hours on end.

I greatly appreciate a good axe like few other things in life. I still try to cut as much of my firewood as I can with nothing but an axe and all of my woodworking including making bows is done with one as well. The satisfaction of using such a tool shows up in the finished product(as I am sure you know!) Power tools may be faster but like so many things in life faster does not always mean better.Nice to see so many others still appreciate what a good axe and a skilled user can accomplish. Dave

I love my band saw. Saves me lots of time. But yes there is a learning curve with every tool including band saws! I don't ruin many staves any more but find myself getting two bows from staves because of it. Arvin

I realized this was an old thread when I saw some of the posters. Miss them. Anyway, I don't use a bandsaw on bows. I rough them out with a hatchet. Just an old one. Nothing fancy. But I keep it sharp. Jawge

I have always loved the idea of roughing out a bow with a hatchet. Too many years of removing the bark and sapwood from hundreds of osage staves with a draw knife has given me a major case of carpel tunnel syndrome so the hatchet work is out of the question.

Eric, I watched Bill Metcalf hack out an osage bow in well under an hour with a machete. It was brutal to watch but the bow is still shooting 20 years later.

I am pretty sure I saw him whack out a hackberry bow and be shooting it in 30min.

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