How to determine the best falling axe for you

Interview with Jonah Conrad of ‪@conrad.blacksmithing‬ in Mendocino, California.
To purchase the Westcoast Saw Hickory Falling Handle, visit www.westcoastsaw.com.

[@richardflagg3084]

Antone is one hell of a Cameraman. Very cool to see what everyone likes/dislikes. Enjoyed the whole series down south.

[@michaelwhiteoldtimer7648]

I put a 5 pound Council tools ax on your wedge banger handle, just a great tool

[@SimRacingEh]

Friggin Ramone just out there gettin it in the background, one hell of a guy

[@Shifffyy]

Love it. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for a Conrad axe

[@robertoduranos5196]

I've had 6 westcoast handles shipped to the UK lately, and they are absolutely stunning. A pleasure to shape/hang, solid in use and so pretty to look at, well pleased.

[@westcoastsaw1368]

Awesome to hear they are getting out to good use thank you

[@bearwoodcraft3591]

You on instagram

[@simjai1000]

Thank you all for this video, explains so much! It’s great to hear what you guys have learned over time but also sharing stories of what the older generation has passed down to us younger crews.

[@2Aces]

Great video, this has always been a big question for me. Ordered one of y’all handles the other day can’t wait to bang some wedges with it.

[@WildAcresFarms]

This was a fantastic video. Best one I’ve found on axes for tree work to date.

[@westcoastsaw1368]

Wow, thanks!

[@BudSavage]

I use a mechanics dead blow hammer. Bright orange color keeps it from getting lost. Soft on wedges too. Great for firewood maggots like me

[@SamRicks21]

I run a WCS handle on my wedge banger already but one day I would like to own a couple WCS handles with custom heads on them!!

[@westcoastsaw1368]

That would be cool we mite have to do that one day 👍

[@SamRicks21]

@@westcoastsaw1368 I think if you had a custom WCS head, you would have a hard time keeping them in stock!

[@4570levergun]

Ramon (AKA Paul Bunyan) is in the back background slaying monster trees. Not axe needed. Good stuff guys.

[@jeffschroeder9089]

That 4lb plumb looks familiar

[@markroper9269]

Cool friends hanging out! Love it!! Great information! You need "tube salad" down there with you too!!!!

[@westcoastsaw1368]

Great idea!!

[@5150amz]

Just picked up my order of 15 handles from my local saw shop. Thanks for making good products

[@westcoastsaw1368]

Wow who is your local dealer

[@5150amz]

Orland saw and mower

[@gumboot65]

I kind-of laugh a bit. A 5 lb Collins was the standard rafting axe of Southeast Alaska for the last 50 years or more. They were probably all or at least a good part were made by Mann. Collins put pretty good handles on their axes. 28" was the standard handle length for a rafting axe . Any longer and unless you were Tall. You would knacker yourself when standing on a broomstick driving a dog or staple or pegs . Then you would fall in the bay and usually loose your axe into Davey Jones locker. Using a rafting axe to drive wedges was just natural. Most of the old fallers from down south liked a 36" handle. Most Southeasterners liked the 28" unless they had some big wood to lift. Most guys that werent Tramps would have a 28 for everyday and a 36 that they would pack in with their falling saw if they had Big timber to lift. However, because mostvof southeast was Bushlin. Beatin wedges, beatin out faces , beatin on anything was avoided whenever possible . Every swing of an axe would cost a guy between a nickle and a dime. If we heard a bushler beatin wwdges it ment he was having a BAD DAY ! Ive noticed an awful lot of wedge beatin on yt and instagram vids. Especially in California. Plus, in California they seem bound and determined to fall timber UPHILL . Havent figured out why the like to break the shit out of their timber there !! Beat and Beat and Beat their £¿€《i● brains out to fall against the lean . And then Bust the tree right in the guts !! We didnt put up with that shit in Southeast. Show me a lean and I'll show you a lay ! But I do think it was a very good video ! There are plenty of ocassions when a tree needs to be wedged against its lean. Like having a fish crik in your strip , powerline right of way widening, ect. And since no one is making 5 lb rafting axes on a production scale any longer. Its GREAT that Conrad has taken to making axes that work and steer properly!

[@EasyMoneyCrew]

great video gordy thank you! very interesting. i got one of your handles and put a jersey head on it. i love it!

[@br-dj2ti]

I love the West Coast saw handle I have two of them made by Jeff Schroeder and I tell you what they're amazing to me

[@joeltexe]

This was a great explanation

[@j.d.williams6882]

Very interesting stuff my man!

[@Bixby-and-Buckshot]

Geez. I feel kinda silly with my northern tool Stihl short little felling axe compared to all these nifty rigs. Great video! Keep ‘em coming.

[@klappy803]

The tree doesn't care what kind of axe you swing.

[@chadrides914]

This video made me the biggest fan of you guys. I’ve always thought about these nuances concerning wedge banger axes but I could never find anyone to cover or confirm my thoughts. Being a baseball player of past the slight tiny differences in shape and weight and diameter make the HUGEST difference in feel at the plate and man I can feel a half once difference instantly and can tell how a ball comes off a barrel depending on how it’s lathed the exact same thing can be said for axes.

[@YoutubeVideoChainsaw]

brother, you guys have a very complex and great tool

[@rich9192]

Been waiting to find a video in this ! Great job guys 🤘🏻🤘🏻

[@mississippijohn1432]

Great information, thank you.

[@fearsomepanda]

I have a plumb 4 jersey style head I put on one your handles and it's amazing, perfect weight and length for the little bit of falling I do, I like the jersey style heads myself but everyone has a personal preference

[@westcoastsaw1368]

I agree those are very cool heads and your right they work great

[@mariushegli]

I have nothing to say really, but I appreciate your content, and wish to help with the yt-algorithms.

[@rickstafford5316]

Great info thanks

[@justinweaver8107]

Great information thank u so much fellas. I love what y'all are doin.

[@clrd4tkoff]

Great Video!! Lots of knowledge it that group! 👍🏻👍🏻

[@kmtphx]

great video Gordy. Love the knowledge transfer you're putting on with all these guys.

[@westcoastsaw1368]

Much appreciated

[@sporranheid]

Great info and always great to hang out with you guys talking shop. So much knowledge & experience. Details and refinements. I don't think perfection can ever be achieved but damn it's fun trying. 😁 P.S. That was some weird colour-grading/contrast going on with the camera. I know a little but not enough to say what settings you need to change...🤔 ✌

[@westcoastsaw1368]

Somehow my settings got changed on this video we got her fixed up now 👍

[@williamsolomon1307]

Thanks fellas! I needed that info!

[@westcoastsaw1368]

Any time!

[@garlandremingtoniii1338]

It never fails. And that is, I never ever fail, to learn something a-new when I watch Gordy and his absolutely outstanding WCS, WEST COAST SAW.

[@jakemesa3211]

I rarely cut anything over 4’ on the stump. I run a council 3.5lb with a 28” handle. I tend to like a lighter axe with a longer handle. I’d like to have a 4 1/4 or 4.5 for when I’m in bigger timber though.

[@westcoastsaw1368]

Yea can definitely get some head speed with the longer handle light head combo 👌

[@br-dj2ti]

The one you just made me Jeff Schroeder it's a West Coast saw ax handle with a I believe it's a 5lb Kelly stiletto beautiful then I have another West Coast saw handle with a council USA 22 I believe it's a 5-pound also beautiful beautiful bangers

[@westcoastsaw1368]

Jeff does awesome work I am sher they are mint 👌

[@br-dj2ti]

@@westcoastsaw1368 oh there mint their beautiful buddy I probably have I bet 11 axes total and once your handles got released I grabbed two of them immediately I absolutely love them your handles feel so good in the hands

[@br-dj2ti]

@@westcoastsaw1368 All My axes are made by Jeff

[@iffykidmn8170]

Great video! still have no idea what type of banger I want or what length handle and that I need to buy multiples to figure it out.

[@stockbanger]

Good stuff 💪

[@westcoastsaw1368]

Thank you glad you liked it 🤝

[@blkrdr59]

Love the videos! What is the length of Gordy’s handle shown in the video?

[@davidwyby]

***Geometry - look at a RR spike driving hammer/sledge. The weight is all in line with the strike to focus the kinetic energy.

[@butchmontgomery3595]

I bought my 1st 5 lb Stroh 30 years ago, back then they were the best and most balanced axe we ever found. Unfortunately I lost it and could never find another 1. I always swung the 28" handle since i swing so hard. A 36" handle I'd always break on the 1st tree. Where can I get another Stroh?

[@westcoastsaw1368]

I have a few I mite sell You can call our office and ask for me the phone number is on our website

[@iskato914six]

as far as wood species are concerned for axe handles, is ash the go to? what about in different places in the world, you have any idea what other outdoorsmen prefer? like Japan, northern Europe, African countries, etc. good episode!

[@1südtiroltechnik]

I like these Axes. But i only have 2, for now, Improvement suggestions: 1. They are only used for removing Bark, so why are their Blades so thick? They can withstand being half as thick and then even tordate to make breakage even less likely. Also why are the Blade faces not nearly parallel, this would make them thinner thus lighter and also easier to sharpen. 2. A Barrel Wedge! Currently the best Wedge there is, use it! :)

[@dgoodman1484]

Hated my plumb. Steel is so damn hard you couldn’t file it. I bet I’ve ruined a hundred bucks worth of new files and barely scratched it. Loved my Stroax. Most don’t know but back in the day you could call them up and they’d grind and polish it up before they shipped it to you. Think it was three or five bucks extra. Took a season to get however which today wouldn’t seem bad but almost no end user ever ordered anything. Still a nice head but not crazy about the handle I put on it. Don’t remember it bothering me back then though so I must be getting soft! lol 👍🏼

[@justinweaver8107]

Does anton have a channel as well?

[@Maniacal_Saw_Works]

Stroh rafter is more like a Kelly or plumb

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Please make a longer handle, Gordy.

[@westcoastsaw1368]

What size you lookin for ?

[@maycreekcruiser]

What are your opinions on double bits for falling? I’ve met people who use them and many who don’t…

[@westcoastsaw1368]

That mite have to be another video lots of different head designs to talk about 👍

[@davidwyby]

Steel/energy transfer...I wonder about the heat treatment of the whole head to xfer force better from the bit to the poll - and the eye wall thickness. Maybe thin/soft walls don't transfer the force and the handle absorbs it.

[@ishure8849]

G'day David, In nature nothing is pulled or towed but pushed if you a banging a wedge the pole side of the handle is doing the work chopping the opposite side, the side walls only need to be thick enough to keep them together 👍.

[@davidwyby]

@@ishure8849 When the poll hits the wedge, the kinetic energy from the weight of the bit transfer through the eye walls to the poll, adding force/inertia.

[@ishure8849]

Correct the old timers worked that out and as you said the handle absorbs that energy as well .

[@garengtutorial8923]

Wow keren 😮😮

[@fern6114]

Great axes but nothing to sold on his webshop…cheers from Luxembourg 🇱🇺 europe in the middle

[@johnarnettsways.8758]

New subscriber. Great wedge banger comparison. All very good axe designs. I personally swing a 5 pound council. I Re-chamfered the pole and changed the bit profile just a bit. I cut fantom bevels in it. Great vid. Thanks. ❤️🌲🪓👊🏻🙏🏻

[@justinweaver8107]

Nice to see u here brother these guys have a great channel an outstanding products.

[@BrennanRaihl]

Have y’all ever used tazzys

[@westcoastsaw1368]

Not me personally

[@PurpleNovember]

Any plans to sell axe heads?

[@westcoastsaw1368]

That would be cool

[@ourv9603]

Whats a falling axe? Do you mean a FELLING axe? !

[@sleathfighter]

"Work with your Equipment"

[@andrewsmith4429]

All love to Jonah, but it just dawned on me that he looks like a man-sized garden gnome.

[@masaharumorimoto4761]

Could easily be talking about wieners LOL!

[@kerrymillar4981]

In New Zealand we call them tomahawks

[@jasonmichaeljimenez]

You weird bloke are using deadblow hammers.

[@1südtiroltechnik]

​@@jasonmichaeljimenezThis way they wont have any Injuries, pretty smart!

[@Loggeraaron1990]

I just ordered a west cost saw handle for my wedge banger I have a Kelly true temper 3 1/2 lb there's a story behind the axe 🪓