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Here’s a handy one-page reference that highlights care and sharpening of axes and hatchets.
A good quality new hatchet will cost more than lower quality tools, but they are worth the investment. Many highly touted hatchets and axes on the market are upwards of seventy to a hundred dollars, and I suppose they are probably worth the cost but they seem over-priced to me; there are some excellent tools that will do the same work for less than $40.00. If you’d like to see my choices for camping tools see this post.
Caring for Axes and Hatchetsand over 40 moreinfographics and helpful PDF documentsAre included in the |
I was always taught to sharpen towards towards the edge. I just checked “An Axe to Grind” from the forestry service and they agree.
The USFS booklet says that if you file towards the edge you will have less of a burr to remove from the opposite side, but that never made a difference to me. I like to have that burr form as it gauges how evenly I am filing the axe. I may even end up filing in both directions if I need to. Filing towards the edge can be a little easier too, but It matters little to me what direction you file in, so long as a sharp blade is a result.
Odd, I was always taught to wear heavy gloves and file the axe towards the edge?
I file away from the edge because I like to watch the burr form along the edge, it helps me gauge how I am doing. It’s also safer to file away from rather than into the edge. It’s of little consequence which direction you file in so long as as sharp blade is the result.
As for gloves, I’ve worked around edge tools professionally all my life. There are few times where I wear gloves because I feel they are awkward, and therefore less safe, than bare hands. But that’s me.
I’d suggest that Scouts wear gloves until they have developed some skill. When it comes to knives, saws, and axes some “safety” measures actually have the opposite effect. I am an advocate of developing a sense of how to safely handle these tools rather than setting up a bunch of rules about their use, two very different things.
Scouters and Scouts who aren’t skilled with edge tools shouldn’t teach others how to use them, but that’s often the case. I’d suggest anyone instructing those things ought to cut a load of firewood with a saw, split it with a hatchet or ax and whittle several tent pegs or fuzz sticks before they think about instructing anyone.