Limbing with a Gransfors Forest Axe - Safety

Description

In this short video, I show how I safely use my Gransfors Bruk Swedish Forest Axe to trim branches off of felled spruce trees to prepare the logs for my log cabin. Safe handling of an axe in tight quarters.

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Tags: bushcraft,camping,self-reliance,survival,Cabin,log cabin,off-grid,self reliance,tiny home,small home,shelter,living off the land,homestead,woodcraft,woodworking,gransfors bruk,axe,pathfinder school,dick proenneke,cabin living

Video Transcription

I want to show you a bit of what I'm doing with it this Swedish for Zach so it's made by grants birds brush in Sweden it's a versatile small axe and you'll see me using it a lot with one hand and I can choke up or choke down clearing these clear these limbs off some of these branches are a little bit stronger against the ground so got to be careful how you take them off anyway the issue I have with these lighter axes is being only a two pound head you need to use more of the force you need to put more muscle into it to swing that head to get a good good impact on the wood I prefer a three pound header or two and a half pound head it's all about momentum so at three pound head for felling for example or cutting fucking mr. log in half three pound head with a thirty or thirty six inch hub handle on it the axe head does all the work so you just letting that go imagine three pounds and on a longer pendulum three pounds coming down on that log the axe is doing the work for you the lighter the axe and the shorter the handle the more your muscles are doing the work so you tire out cook more quickly and you end up swinging and putting more force into everything every into every swing and that takes its toll on you over the course of a day and when it you're fatigued you're more likely to make a mistake and have that axe come back and hit you so for that reason just get always get in the habit of being aware with a knife any cutting up on that knife axe saw make sure you have no part of your body in the arc of that day at that tool so in this case I'm getting tired and I start getting sloppy if I cut like that and it passes through it's going into my leg if I swing on this side of the tree up here taking that off same thing follows through don't always assume that you're going to get a clean cut or bite into that log if it glances like this glances off that logs if you can see that glances like that it's coming into my body absorbs continue on the path that you started on so that continues on and it's you or the next person next to you then you're going to have mess on your hands because that is shaving sharp if I just touch myself with that I'm cutting and I'm cutting deep it's got a lot of weight behind it and knifes got enough but two pounds of Steel coming out any part of your body with razor-sharp edge is going to cut deep and it's going to cause you a lot of trouble so get in the habit of using a bigger axe whatever your your arms and shoulders and and back muscles can handle swinging let the axe do the work for you and on the finer work like lemmings and go with a lighter axe maybe even a hatchet with a smaller handle even and get used to the using that and just get really accustomed to using or your tools the more adept you are with your tools and safer they're going to be [Music]