Bearded axe forged with stones

You need tools to make tools, stones can be the first tools used to forge a bearded axe. Such an axe is an all-round tool. It can be used to fell a tree, build a house and other wood construction, but I think of it as a slöjd axe, an all-round axe for making whatever I need.
This time I used a thinner stock of steel resulting in a welding that have fewer and more shallow delaminations than last time. But the size of this axe is at the limit of what the forge will heat evenly, the thin beard and pointy tip regularly got overheated when I tried to weld the thicker parts. The flooded stream and frozen ground also made it difficult to dig up proper sand for flux. I spent about ten hours to forge this axe. Then it took me more than 12 hours to grind and whet it on the sand stones I´ve found. But I edited most of the grinding out since it is too repetitive to watch. The temperature when I forged was between 10 and 3 ˚C below zero but the last whetting of the axe I did in 15 subzero degrees, It was cold, but it also made me feel more alive than in a long time.
The design is common in skräd axes of the 14th century Scandinavia, except that I made it slightly heavier; thicker stem, the axe head weight around 750 grams (might help me when hewing). I made a birch haft as a temporary solution, there was a birch with the bend I prefer in these axes at the site I am at and birch is comfortable to work in, but it will not last, I will make a proper rowan haft or maybe ash when I get the time. The edge is between 25-32 degrees angle 25 in the tip and 32 on the lowest parts of the beard. I tried to make it 27 degrees all over but it seems my eye is not as sharp as I thought, the edge sides are as straight as I could make it. I do not prefer burned hafts in general but it is a simple way to smoothen a rough surface since I have no more sand around and also needed to dry the wood for the hafting.
The video is recorded with a 360 video so if I walk out of the picture just tilt your screen or swipe to follow. I have material for another four videos already recorded so this spring there will be a few more publications then otherwise. I publish on an irregular basis so please subscribe to make sure not to miss any new content.

[@kareemjohnson8059]

You have definitely inspired us who can't afford expensive tools, to not be discouraged, they didn't have all those tools thousands of yrs ago and they became masters of the craft. Thank you and hope to learn more from you in the future

[@gustavthane2233]

Thank you, yes I appreciate you taking the time to say so. It gives me inspiration to keep bringing the camera.

[@omstallningsresan4878]

Imponerande! Jag gillar ju när det är från grunden och detta är verkligen det :) Smart med eggstålet, i vanliga fall har ju man sin tång och reflekterar inte över hur man kan göra annars. Blir ju samma princip som i spiksmidet.

[@gustavthane2233]

Ja precis, kruxet är bara att yxan är så tung att man måste lämna en rätt tjock bit kvar vilket leder bort värmen o gör att vällningen blir svårare, men principen är ju den samma. Det blev så när jag först började smida med stenar, att tänger som brinner upp o hammere som knappt väger någonting gav helt nya förutsättningar, super kul ju, tvingar en att tänka om. Men det riktigt svåra är att smida helt utan eggverktyg, inga hål ingen avskrot eller mejsel av något slag och förståss ingen dräng som släggar åt mig.

[@Erikreaver]

I am quite impressed with the lovely shape you managed to give the axe, especially given you work with stones. It can be fairly challenging even with a modern anvil! Come to think of it, do you know what sort of stone your anvilstone is? The stone I have in my highland home is mostly granite, and I am sure it would work, but it tends to be quite coarse! :) I always wondered why these axes have the canted hafts. Then it struck me that it might be more comfortable when hewing and working planks and such! I wondered if the birch would be enough, I know that Finns that don't have many other hardwood types have developed the collared axes to maximize the contact area (though I am sure those are a thing in Sweden as well), but now I see it is a temporary measure. Well done!

[@gustavthane2233]

The small hammer stone is a red gneiss, which is really good but quite rare around here. The anvil is some sort of sedimentary stone of sorts, pink-ish grey. As you can hear in the video it keep scaling of when I weld. Ah yes, the shape. I sat out to make a bearded axe but I had my doubts, considering the time I spent I could have made several axes of simpler shape but still kept to the original plan. In the end it was worth it. It turned out to be quite a hewing axe.

[@verdigrissirgidrev4152]

forged with stones, filmed with potatoes

[@gustavthane2233]

Yeah, I saw that, the camera seem to handle snow in a poor way, I got myself a new camera now so before summer there will be videos filmed without the potato.

[@gotzbreitenbucher5027]

Skulle kanske vara klokt o smida tång o hammare först ?

[@gustavthane2233]

He he visst, det hade det ju varit... det var faktiskt det jag gjorde, men så var det ju så spännande att smida med stenar så jag ville se hur det skulle vara att smida något lite mer avancerat utan att ha de avancerade verktygen först, en undersökning av hur mycket av produkten som ligger i verktyget och hur mycket som ligger i hantverkaren, så jag la dem åt sidan ett litet tag. Och jag får ändå säga att det var inte så lätt att skafta hammaren utan yxa eller kniv... så i den bemärkelsen borde yxa komma före hammare trots allt. Men det kloka, om det nu är klokhet vi talar om vore kanske att köpa en yxa på miltärt överskott, de är både billiga o bra ; )