Arvika 5 Star: The Worst Axe I’ve Ever Hung!

I’ll admit it’s a bit of a click-baity title, but how else I’m I suppose to get you guys to watch-seriously, let me know lol? Anyway, in this video I go on about how I messed this hang up, talk through some of the issues I see with this axe, do a little chopping, and then get soaked by an unexpected rainstorm. Hope you enjoy, cheers.

[@bentonleach6730]

I am shocked this channel only has 750 subs. Please keep up the content. You are bringing some of the best axe content on KZbin.

[@Brian2bears]

I agree sir.

[@kurts64]

Definitely

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Thanks Benton, it is hard to believe some channels have so many when they’re not doing anything original. But I do it for you guys that watch regularly and participate in the chat. Thanks

[@cosmicbilly]

Words in the woods sounds cool. Although, i really like Kevins disobedience. Rolls off the tongue better in my opinion.

[@Fogyt121]

Welcome to the big boy club. You'll find you reach for that axe quite often. The feel of each hit from a heavy head that sinks deep is unmatched. Thumps good, too! Edit: if your accuracy suffers, try hitting lighter. Each hit counts with a heavy axe, that's why I like swinging lazy. Edit 2: Kevin's Woods Work

[@kurts64]

It's all about the thump! Big axes rock

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Thanks, but I doubt I’ll be here with you guys very long. I enjoyed swinging this axe, but I have so much more fun with light axes, and I’m convinced 2.5lbs-3lbs is ideal for this kind of work. But for bigger wood, I will definitely take this guy out to buck.

[@Apalm12]

@@KevinsDisobedience I like theirs what length handle is this

[@KevinsDisobedience]

@@Apalm12 26.5”

[@skaagkaal2613]

Good to see you back in the woods swinging. I didn't comment or suggest jack for a new channel name. Just because my creativity for making cool clicking stuff is about as resonant as a stone dropped in a barrel of water. Glad to see someone putting their arvika five star to use getting her toes and heels dirty.

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Np. Thanks for watching though. And yeah, I wish the rainstorm hadn’t moved in. I was just getting warmed up. Next week…

[@skaagkaal2613]

@@KevinsDisobedience Here's to your health pulling through and I hope it holds up. Enjoy seeing someone share having fun in the woods with us and i'll be seeing you around on the tube later.

[@jeffreyrubish347]

I completed the garage ceiling and you know, it's actually not bad. It took me forever with the ladder and all but I'm impressed with my semi-skills 😄

[@KevinsDisobedience]

It’s always the best part. Never gets old stepping back and admiring the work.

[@brianmcguire5005]

Kevin’s woods and words sounds good I think! Like the content man!

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Thanks

[@saradreaming]

You made the right choice. Kevin's Disobedience is pretty clever and unique. It literally leaves you open to do what ever you want. :)

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Yep, thought so too, and It’s easy to remember.

[@theodorewood5083]

I would have scrapped that hang when i noticed it was off. Good on you for trying it anyway i guess. Ive seen videos where guys bashed through logs never hitting the same line twice and declaring the wrong tool for the job they are using as great...so it was nice to see you hitting your marks even with the handle not indexing. And pointing out the axe not pushing chips. Good video, burn that handle.

[@KevinsDisobedience]

I will definitely swap out the handle at some point and pop it on a 28” stick. I just thought it be a good experiment for the channel.

[@bundufundi]

I like Kevins' Disobedience most but possibly as others have suggested, Woods and Words might be more generally understood?

[@kurts64]

Great vid mate, Country Cousin Cletus cracks me up. Glad to see u got around to swinging the arvika. I've never used one of the new ones, they do look pretty thin, but I reckon performance will increase as it wears back. If you were to re-hang it, would you stick with the same handle length? Woods and Words is a cool name too

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Glad someone enjoy the comedy. And yeah I like 26-27” handles on heavy heads, makes it feel lighter to me. 28” would be fine too, but I don’t like anything longer than that. If you haven’t tried it, give it a try. Looks strange, but after two swings you’ll forget the length and the weight.

[@kurts64]

@@KevinsDisobedience I reckon with that short handle it will go well. I've been looking at some Aussie made race axe handles in some shorter lengths for a few Tassie heads that need hanging, would be cool to try it. What are your thoughts on the helko file?

[@GripperCc]

One of the world's best axes and more of a competition ax than made for daily forest work although it works great for that too. That ax needs its man, and some muscles are lined up behind it when it will come into its own. I have one myself and absolutely love it! But have another Swedish treasure and it is a Fiskars X27 very nice splitting axe.

[@urbanlumberjack]

Oh my Lord, an arvika a 26 inch handle is a sledgehammer with an edge! I waited six months for my Avika, and it showed up yesterday. I hope the handle never breaks, but if it does I might think about a 28 inch handle, or even a smidge shorter

[@KevinsDisobedience]

That’s a good way to describe it lol. I think a 28” handle would be perfect for this, but don’t be afraid to experiment-that’s my main message here.

[@buddyblankenship4186]

I got soaked every evening this past week , it would start right before quitting time (between 2:00-2:30) and the skidder was always gone . Are the Arvika’s a good splitter or do ya know yet .

[@cosmicbilly]

They are fine splitters. Good weight to em.

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Sorry to hear that. And no, I wouldn’t have guessed that. Unless you mean splitting saw cut wood on a block. Pretty much any sharp piece of metal with any amount of weight will split like that. But I’ll definitely give it a try. And I’ll see how it does splitting on the ground too. I wanted to here but the rain stopped me.

[@Joey-L]

In the past I've had some hangs that were misaligned as well and my accuracy was always terrible, but I often wondered if it was just in my head because I knew it was there or if it actually makes a difference. Hope you get to do a further review on the Arvika. I have one too and I am curious to see what you think about it. I would never have thought to use that handle length on that heavy of a head. How's the balance feel?

[@KevinsDisobedience]

In general, I find a short handle on a heavy head offsets the extra weight quite well. As for the axe, too early to tell but I do think it’s going to suffer when bucking fro, being a little too thin. But we’ll see…

[@johngrossbohlin7582]

If you're up for experimenting: I have to wonder if you could steam bend a crooked handle to correct problems like you encountered. If done before a finish was applied I'd think steam bending even kiln dried ash or hickory might work... For example, put the head end of the handle in a steam box. Remove the handle from the steam and push it into the eye of the axe head which is held in a vise. Then bend the handle to correct the problem and bend it a bit more to take spring back into account. Then secure the handle in that position until dry--perhaps with rope or a ratchet strap. After dry remove the handle from the eye and hang as usual. You might be able to try it with that crooked handle...

[@KevinsDisobedience]

If only…I actually gave this a try for two days before I hung it. I’ve got some pics I believe. It would alter it some but always pop right back. If the bend was more towards the middle, this method may work for a longer time, but once wood dries it pretty much wants to find that position again. I’ll address this and other questions in my next vid.

[@MrDesmostylus]

I like the arvika shape but you’re right, not enough meat behind the head

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Almost suffers from being to long in the bit. If it were just shortened up, it be better.

[@robertopics]

​@@KevinsDisobediencelike the helko.

[@johngrossbohlin7582]

"Kevin, Back in the Woods," as paraphrased from your opening line is catchy too....

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Ohhhh, I do like that. Might add that to the list too.

[@johngrossbohlin7582]

@@KevinsDisobedience “Back in the Woods” could be your catch phrase too.😉

[@cosmicbilly]

One of my favorite double bits i own is crooked. Yet it's my favorite because i am the most accurate with it. And all of my notches come out super clean compared to my other axes that i have a harder time with. I couldn't tell you why. But I've not noticed a problem with it.

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Agree, it’s not a problem. And it won’t be with this one. Just need some more time to get used to the heavy head.

[@petehendry4756]

I like" kevens disobedience" it sounds edgy and cool . Also" keven the disobedient woodsman " or maybe" keven the disobedient axeman "

[@jeffreyrubish347]

I couldn't hit the mark with my Plumb boy's axe and then noticed that over a few years the eye portion had taken on a warp.

[@KevinsDisobedience]

It could be the case. But I think you can easily adjust and not notice the bit alignment pretty quickly.

[@jeffreyrubish347]

@@KevinsDisobedience Perhaps, but I couldn't tolerate it and it's been rehandled. It was a pretty significant warp on a hardware store handle that started out straight. 🙄

[@tjcraft8642]

Where’s the halve from looks good other than the eye! Great video!

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Thanks I’m going to follow up this video soon-hopefully this weekend.

[@olevollbrecht2946]

Nice to see you chopping again! I have an old bison axe with the same 'problem' - but it dont bother me... -cannot say it influenced my accuracy. Did you have to hang a new handle? I use my Arvika with the original handle modified to a length of 30" and massively thinned down. It was easy to make it comfortable for me. Woods and words is my favorite.

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Sorry I’m just getting back to you. Never got notified of your comment. In answer to your question, yes I just bought the head so I had to hang it on a new handle. Probably should have went with a 28”, but I was curious to see if the shorter handle would make it feel lighter than it is.

[@thcolonyest]

any experience with ox head handles? looking at their e83 27in handle for a racing style axe for felling and bucking

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Yes, they’re quite a nice shape, but come really thick. I mean really thick, but then you have plenty of room to shape it how you want it. They’re a good bargain.

[@thcolonyest]

@@KevinsDisobedience good to know, thanks for replying back man. God bless buddy

[@victorcordova3997]

Imo those missed hits are due to the left side being your weak side. I noticed the same problem with my chopping as well. To avoid the problem i hold my ax right handed the right side of the notch and as i work on the left i switch to left handed chopping. It has helped me develop my off hand chopping and improved my overall technique. Keep up the good work.

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Thanks, could be. Moving your feet kind of eliminates the problem of a weak side, but not entirely. Do what works and feels comfortable, though. But my main message here is don’t be afraid to experiment. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@elemental4rce]

i reckon you could take that grind back a lot more, think mine and ben's are both around 18

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Nope, you were right. Just checked. Only the heel and toe is at 18. The middle is 20. I’ll take some more out of the middle. Thanks

[@awyrcoch]

interesting, I have the same issue on my Basque 1.75, it came really fat at around 25deg, I filed it back to about 20 but can't file it any more or I'd be filing the whole head right up to the eye (i.e. the head is a 20ish degree wedge) ... I wonder whether Owen's 1.75 Basque has thinner cheeks than 20, and if so, is it hollowed out? or is the whole head a sub-20 wedge...? cheers lads

[@KevinsDisobedience]

I was able to take mine back another 2degrees by filing it right flat on the eye. That puts me close to 18. To fo any further you’d have to hollow it out.

[@bigoldgrizzly]

Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted! Forgive me preaching to the converted .... I set the head, not too tight, in the vise and under the handle end I place an old 56 pound potato weight which I 'shim up' off the floor with scrap wood to the correct height. This acts just like an anvil and gives much greater control when driving wedges and all the blow goes into the wedge. When the wedge is halfway home, I take the axe out of the vise and give a good sharp crack to make sure that wedge hammering has not 'unset' the head to even the smallest degree, and then set it up again and finish driving the wedge home . Sounds a bit finicky I know, but takes seconds and can make all the difference. Started doing this when I messed up a hang and ended up with the head at 'half mast' and had to drill out wedge and rehang. That was a long time ago and was the last time I ever glued a wedge. Good to see your health improving buddy

[@KevinsDisobedience]

I agree. I’m not sure why folks insist on trying to hold the axe against the concrete and fight it flopping all over the place. This is so much easier. As for glue, I rarely use it either. I intended to use no metal wedges in this one since the eye was so big, but it didn’t go according to plan so I had to improvise. Such as life lol.

[@brettbrown9814]

Not to confuse things but another channel name idea popped into my head... "Kevin in his Element"

[@douglas9607]

Great vid. I have an old Craftsman db and the eye is way out of alignment with the bits. Somebody must have had a bad day on the production line. Anyway, It cuts just fine.

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Yep, my experience too. My Brades eye is punched crooked. Like you said, someone had a late night at the pub lol.

[@man-qz8ki]

Friend, you help the chips pop by giving the axe a slight swist upon retrieval, that is also done to help it get unwedged from the wood.

[@man-qz8ki]

Watch the pro's, they do it in a rapid fashion. From the looks of it you only unwedge the axe by sliding it up and down instead of the slight twist or Pry

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Yes it helps, just as I had to do here, but with an axe that’s shaped properly it’s not necessary. Check out any of my other chopping vids, except the Connie vid (it suffers from the same problem). The chips should pop out. They often hit the camera.

[@KevinsDisobedience]

As for unwedging the axe. Best advice the Timber Sports guys give is the axe has to come out the way it went in. They also show how to use your knees and body weight to pop it out. It’s a neat trick. This axe was actually pretty free in the cut. It just didn’t want to pop chips. But I barely used it, so gotta give it a chance. Rain cut things way short.

[@seff2318]

Kevin’s Disobedience

[@KevinsDisobedience]

I agree…

[@KillingerUSA]

Overall, I think the axe performed well.

[@KevinsDisobedience]

I didn’t swing it much, but honestly it didn’t. Any axe I own would have popped those chips out and hit the camera. I had to pry everyone out of the cut. I’m sure it will limb well and fell well, but it’s really too heavy for that. But I need to use it more before I make my judgment. The rain cut things real short.

[@benkohler27]

Glad my name made it into the top 2. Kevin's Disobedience is great -- Thoreau gets a good amount of mention on the channel. Like some others have said, the reference could be lost on people, but it's a great name nonetheless. Now, if only you made drywall videos, you could be Kevin's Drywall Den, and then you've got Walden in the name

[@kurts64]

Haha that was awesome

[@KevinsDisobedience]

It is a good suggestion. As for Disobedience, I’m not really concerned people make the connection. I just like the connotation the word brings with it. I strive to think for myself, and unfortunately in our world that comes with a certain amount of disobedience.

[@nguyennam2185]

could you review the velvicut felling axe please kevin

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Is that CT Jersey on the full sized handle? I’ve got a few reviews lined up before, but I will get to it sometime or other. I do have the CT Velvicut 2.5lber, and I love it, but I don’t think it’s any better than the budget version.

[@nguyennam2185]

@@KevinsDisobedience how about the felling axe bro

[@KevinsDisobedience]

I’d love to, but It has the same problem. I’d be buying an expensive axe just to immediately cut the long handle off to swap it out for a 28”. I will do at some point, but have a few other projects in mind atm. But keep watching. It’ll come…

[@GottoLoveNature]

Hey, might very well be me who is a bit stupid here but... How could a bit not alligened with the handle make you less accurate? Balance? I don't think so, i have used around 10-15 different axes a lot and 50 more or so a little (but not enough to know the tool)! And Balance only seems important to me while felling or doing horizontal cuts. I haven't noticed any difference in any other aspect. But let's just say it plays a role. You might have a few grams of imbalance, but wouldn't an axe already have that? I do not belive any axe is perfectly symmetrical, from the forge! But what if it is, you axe is perfect symmetrical. Then you would have a few grams of imbalance, but.. That being the case, you could take into account the human error, 1 in a 1000(no clue if that is correct) swings might be 100%perfect alligenment of you and the bit of the axe, with no imbalance, so again, I don't see how the little imbalance plays a role. But, what if all yours swings 100% perfect. Well... The handle is flexible wood.. It will almost with guarante flex mid swing, and cause imbalance.. Could keep going but I think you get the point here. So next issue. Since the bit isn't alligened with the handle you won't hit exactly where you aim(hope you understand what I mean here, from Denmark, so English isn't my strongest side). If you mean the axe hit hit where you aim, then I'm at a loss. Even with the in alligened handle and bit, if you do your part right, the axe will hit the same spot every time. And even if you have problems with accuracy relates to in alligenment, we'll wouldn't that just be a question of getting used to the axe? Correct if I'm wrong please Love your content! Nice to see someone who actually thinks, and not just listens and says "well that must be true"! Keep it up

[@GottoLoveNature]

Oh forgot 1 thing. My most used an beloved axe, was the I ever hung. Terrible hang, almost 100% wrong handle grain and runouts, probably the worst handle I have ever seen. It is hung almost as crooked as your arvirka there. Have atleast cut 3 chords with it in 2-3 years, no handle failure yet, and the axe I am most accurate with.

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Thank you for the thoughtful response. There’s no way a response like this could be stupid. So first let me say I agree with you. I don’t think this matters much if at all, and like you said I don’t even know what people mean when they say an axe has good balance. Often they hold it up by the head with one finger and say how good it is. What does that prove? Nothing. But the idea is this. When chopping in a line, everything is lined up with your nose at a 45 degree angle with the log, so when the axe strikes the cut the handle is perfectly parallel with the head. If your hands feel the front of the handle but the bit is skewed to the side, the idea is that you will now have to compensate for that. Personally I don’t think it works like that, but it’s hard to explain. I’ll try to make sense of it in my next video.

[@GottoLoveNature]

@@KevinsDisobedience yeah, it's a very difficult matter to discuss in a chat... But I think I understand what you mean, and that we are on the same page. In theory it is true it causes imbalance/poor accuracy, but in practice, it makes no difference, atleast in my opinion Oh and, great question: what is balance? I don't know😅

[@KevinsDisobedience]

I’ll try and address some of this in my next video.

[@uncletony3674]

Save the handle for another.

[@KevinsDisobedience]

A little too late for that lol

[@IndianaDoug]

So Kevin’s Kickass KZbin Channel is not being considered?🤣 Jokes aside, don’t you hate when you spend the time on a great handle, and it’s not perfect? It’s the equivalent of wearing one size too small of shoe on one foot...

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Lol if only YT would allow it. But yes, it is very annoying to spend that much time and end up with something less than perfect. I almost trashed this project, and if I had another handle that fit, I almost certainly would have. You decide on a new truck yet?

[@IndianaDoug]

@@KevinsDisobedience so far it’s been leaning toward the Ford Procrastinator😆

[@KevinsDisobedience]

@@IndianaDoug which is to say keep getting nickel and dimed by the one you’ve got lol. I’ve been there.

[@Brian2bears]

I knew you were younger than me, not a spot of grey in that beard...While we would like our axe to be perfect or close, some time behind the imperfection diminishes it...

[@KevinsDisobedience]

So far no grey, but there’s always time lol. And yeah, I just don’t think it matters much.

[@ForemanMade]

Kevin's Disobedience really sits right with me

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Me too.

[@MichelleMakesStuff]

I like Kevin's Disobedience, but I'm not sure people would understand the reference. Woods and Words would help the new viewer understand what the channel and you are about. Tough choice!

[@KevinsDisobedience]

The allusion to Thoreau is secondary. It’s the connotation of the word the attracts me. I’ve always strived to think for myself. To be an individual separate from any collective group, and unfortunately with that comes a certain amount of disobedience. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I’ll make a choice soon.

[@JourneyNorthAK]

It's just a handle..use and abuse it

[@KevinsDisobedience]

My thoughts exactly

[@tbone541]

What's much better?

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Depends on what you’re looking for, but a proper Taz is the best hardwood axe out there.

[@jamesnelson1443]

All that work for nothing I hate when that happens!