Heat doesn't come from the furnace...

 

    There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm.  One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other is that heat comes from the furnace.

    To avoid the first danger, one should plant a garden, preferably where there is no grocer to    confuse the issue.

     To avoid the second, he should lay a split of good oak on the andirons, preferably where there is no furnace, and let it warm his shins while a February blizzard tosses the trees outside.  If one has cut, split, hauled, and piled his own good oak, and let his mind work the while, he will remember much about where the heat comes from, and with a wealth of detail denied to those who spend the week end in town astride a radiator.

              - Aldo Leopold

                   "The Good Oak"

                                 A Sand County Almanac

Anatomy of an Axe

Lately, many of the school programs that I have been giving have been about the history of logging in Michigan.  During this program I show students many of the tools that were traditionally used in logging, especially those tools used in the late 1800's when Michigan could rightly be called the "logging capital of the world".

One of the things that I teach students during this presentation is the anatomy of an axe.  Specifically, I teach them the anatomy of a single-bit, Michigan Pattern felling axe.  In addition to pointing out the parts on a real axe, last week I decided to draw up a diagram to give the students.  I also included small drawings of two other axes that I show to students - a double-bit axe and a hewing axe.

Anatomy of a single-bit Michigan Pattern axe

For more information on axes and saws, check out this post from August 2013.