GRÄNSFORS BRUK - AMERICAN FELLING AXE - REVIEW

My take on the American Felling Axe from Gränsfors Bruk.

[@martinmiller1087]

Greetings Fredrik. That's a beautiful axe and you swing it very well. It's obvious you're not a beginner when it comes to swinging axes and you certainly know what grinds, thicknesses, tapers, head weights, handle lengths, etc. make an axe perform well, or not well at the various tasks, axes are used for in the forest. It's also apparent that you are gifted at axe sharpening. ... Regarding American axes, the Pulaski axe is used in the American west and Alaska for wildland fire suppression. It's an odd looking axe with a sharpened hoe like cutting tool on the poll side of the head. It is very underrated as a versatile forestry axe. The head has plenty of mass for biting deeply when felling or splitting. The hoe side is great for quickly limbing a standing conifer of the small, dead branches from the ground up on species that aren't self-pruning (in interior Alaska's boreal forest,, that is spruce), to eliminate the possibility of a ground fire having the ability to ladder into the crown. The hoe is also used for grubbing out fire line, cut down to mineral soil, easily cutting small roots and loosening the soil for the shovel. Use of the hoe in the soil keeps the axe head sharp for the heavier wood cutting chores. It is perfect for grubbing out a campfire pit, to mix ash, embers, cooler mineral soil (dry mopping) and mixing in water with the hot embers (wet mopping). Remember to "cold trail" your campfire with your bare fingers, feeling for heat before you declare your fire as out. On the fireline, we called that "dragging your dick in the dirt!" ... As with all axes, specifications, head weights, tapers, thicknesses, etc. vary among manufacturers. Every Pulaski I've seen and used has had a straight handle and an oval maul type eye. Handles also vary greatly in thicknesses at the grasping end, even from the same manufacturer. It is a good idea when selecting an axe, to hold it up at arms length and sight along the handle, from the handle end to confirm that the angle of the axe head edge is perfectly in line with the handle and that the handle is straight. If it's not, every strike will introduce torque to the handle at the head upon impact, with less than desireable results. ... Very useful guards are available that cover both edges of the Pulaski well for user safety. I like the old school metal ones best if you can find one (maybe on eBay?). When I would deploy from Alaska to the lower 48 on a fire assignment, no matter the nature of the job I was resource ordered to fill from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, ID, I'd always get and old metal Pulaski axe head guard from our State Forestry warehouse and pack it along in my kit, just in case. ... EDIT ... It's been several decades since I used a Pulaski and I never rehandled one. I now think they had axe eyes in the head, rather than the oval, splitting maul type eye, I described earlier. Sorry that might have been in error and confusing. The rest of the information is valid. Since I posted earlier, I went onto eBay to see if those old metal edge guards might be available. Not today. But I did discover there are quite a few Pulaski axe heads for sale at reasonable prices. If you're comfortable with replacing a handle, it would be a great way to try out your own Pulaski pretty inexpensively. Just be very careful if you use it in the Mann Gulch. (Wildland fire fighter insider reference - google it for more info). ... In Alaska, Hudson Bay pattern light axes are very popular with dog mushers, trappers and outdoorsmen. I've used that pattern quite a bit and am very fond of it. Snow and Nealley used to make a good, inexpensive example, but I've read they are manufactured in Asia now and I can't vouch for the quality of those. ... Currently, Council Tool's Velvicut Hudson Bay axe is a superb, properly ground and heat treated example of an American made one. ... I hope you are able to obtain one, and look forward to your review of it, as you are definitely THE MAN on You Tube when it comes to edged, hardened steel cutting implements. ... Chop well and stay safe, my friend. ... Marty

[@rickc4317]

Wow, what a nice monster of an ax. Thanks for the good review of it, by a knowledgeable wielder, Fredrik.

[@williamtaylor6280]

@Pink G10 this is an awesome axe and looking to buy one. Can you give me more details on the handle wrap and paracord as well as the initials of the person at Gransfors Bruk that smithed this one?

[@Erik1970Viking]

..the GB Felling Axe is just awesome. I have got one with the 90 cm curved handle and i like it a lot. Just a beast.

[@PinkG10]

I wouldn't mind trying a few swings with the 90cm handle. It's about 10cm longer than my longest axe-handles, though!

[@Erik1970Viking]

@@PinkG10 Hi Fredrik, yes, the 90 cm handle is quite nice, although i guess with the 80 cm handle, it might be a bit more easy to make very precise chops.. I did 2 videos on the long GB Felling axe, kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZnJaa2aitFonMU and kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKO9qompZr9kfLM ... and also a size comparison between the Arvika 5 star and the GB Felling axe kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYDClqiZaMR1gNE . - i relly like your channel, you have a good taste for axes. And since i noticed that you are a fan of GB .. i am too: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXi4q3uPmbSajaM :-) Cheers, Erik

[@Homeyomey]

Awesome! Do the Scandinavian forest axe and small forest axe next!

[@PinkG10]

Thank you, Omar! Will do!

[@skigrandbec]

I think you can do better. But really nice axe. My next one.

[@rodrigoroaduterte9415]

The main question is: why cutting a green tree? It does not burn. It is useless. Just for the sake of making a video, eh?

[@PinkG10]

No, not for making this video. The tree was going to be taken down regardless, among with a few other trees. We used chainsaws for the other trees, but since I was going to make a review of a FELLING axe, I thought I'd use the axe for what it was designed for. Yes, I do ofc own the property shown in this video. Don't be so quick to judge. And the trees that were taken down, including the one shown in this video, has now been cut up to smaller pieces and is going to dry for a season or two to later on be used as fire wood.

[@rodrigoroaduterte9415]

@@PinkG10, ah, ok then :)

[@PinkG10]

@@rodrigoroaduterte9415 - I do agree, however, that there're A LOT of people here on KZbin who chop on whatever they come by, just to show how great their axe or knife cuts. Very, very unnecessary indeed. When I'm out and trying to get a fire going, I usually just collect twigs and sticks etc. I sometimes chop larger twigs off of dead trees, but I try to avoid doing tasks that could result in any type of injury when solo out in the wild.