FORGING A SCANDINAVIAN HEWING AXE
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- čas přidán 6. 03. 2020
- In this video i try my best to forge a 18th century Scandinavian style hewing axe. I recently found instructions on how these axes were made and i really wanted to try it for myself. I decited to share my experience here on youtube, with you all. Thank you so much for watching hope you enjoy the video :)
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/ nilsogren
#hewingaxe #scandinavian #forging
I'm furious I've not seen your channel before. This is truly brilliant work.
Dont be angry! Im glad you found me!
@ Hi, for the first time it really looked to me it was made out of one single still. And just now I have realised it has at least 3 parts of it. Always good to learn new things. Thanks Nils
Practicing some of these processes myself at the moment. This is a beautiful thing
Hey man if u see this I think u should do some vids like skallagrim, testing weapons u make or buy, and talking about history, maybe ur axe vs a same price one,
Think that’d be cool as love hearing u talk about ur axe,
And hopefully more views cause u deserve it man
Also do swords aswell lol
Oh my. I am getting to forging multipart axes (and knives and such) myself again after three or so years, but oh my, this one is so very complicated, yet beautiful. I think I'll have a go at making a collared axe someday, hopefully soon.
Good on you for tackling such an incredibly difficult forging! I like the honest self critique at the end, that’s how you get better as a craftsman.
Thanks!
Beautiful Bila!
From my understanding and what I've seen and own.
All of the Swedish made collared axes were hand forged from multiple pieces forge welded together. They also werent produced much after the turn of the century, about 1920 is the cutoff for them from my understanding.
Finland on the other hand was industrializing its collared axe production at the same time Sweden was going towards a western style.
Finnish kirves were forged in open dies like Gransfors uses today. An iron body with a welded in high carbon bit.
Other than the very old Bila/Piilukirves, I haven't seen many hand forged Finnish axes.
I would say their most different feature is the sloped top of the blade and the angle at which it meets the collar.
Swedish collared axes are typically 90° or close to it, Finnish axes tend to have the blade angled in towards the collar in an obvious way.
Thank you so much fpr the answer, that makes alot of sense!
Loved this video! just starting to learn knife making, forging and heat treating is tricky!
Thank you!
Beautiful axe and great insight into traditional forging techniques.. thank you!
Thank you alot!
Very fun video. Thank you for taking all the time to record and share this with everyone. I have been interested in these multiple part axes for a while and it’s interesting to see all the weld joints.
Oh, and on topic of birch for haft material - I think that is part of the reason for why the collar is there in the first place! When I was travelling Finland, the majority of trees were birches, spruces and pines, and out of those I'd absolutely pick the birch. And the long collar means more wood is "gripped"/supported by the eye, working around using comperatively softer wood. That's my train of thought, anyway!
Straight grained birch actually makes a fantastic handle compared to what we typically use, Hickory and Ash.
The collared axes are better adapt at a soft wood handle like Birch, but alot of western style axes made by the Swedish forges were hafted in Birch.
Very low shock to the hands with a birch handle.
Interesting! I'll have to give it a try. I'm accustomed to ash, oak, and a bit of beech, though I don't like the latter that much, it's what comes commercially here. Currently my own axe is hafted on elm and I cannot say a bad word about that either. Curiously, there were finds of axe haft remains from early middle ages from all kinds of woods, including a little surprising cases of cherry, apple, linden or even willow wood.
Absolutely awesome!
Thank you for sharing a great video with your amazing and fantastic videos.
Beautiful work Nils!
Beautiful work. Love that handles grain
Great piece of art. The fusion of the different parts and especially the forgeweldings are inspiring
Great video, great welds, great axe.
That's a great idea you have setting up the shop-vac under the grinder. I'm gonna have to steal that page out of your playbook for sure. Awesome work and video!
Thank you so much!
Amazing axe!!! Beautiful workmanship end to end!!! Blessings to you and your family 😇
Thank you very much!
Tack för en verkligen bra video. Mycket uppskattat och inspirerande. 👍
Great visual documentation and great narrative explanation at the finish.
Thank you kindly!
Great job, it looks fantastic, as always love the content and keep up the great work.
Thanks alot!
Awesome. I really appreciate it, thank you for sharing and taking the time to produce this video. All of your work was taken in.
Lovely build! Those are some complicated forge welds.
The discussion about Swedish vs Finnish style made me go out and actually look at my hewing axe restoration project that I was supposed to do something with forever ago. And made me realise that the axe I have flying around here is more than likely a 1-handed variant. Also made me realise that it is an axe head from a Swedish speaking area in Finland.
Outside of a different blade shape - this one is leaning backwards quite a bit - the major difference seems to be a rectangular eye thats tapering down to the end, so probably wasnt wedged. Also at least now lacks a boss on the backside. There's a lot of mushrooming in that area, so it took some abuse. The way the the collar and the blade were attached seems more or less similar to your way of doing it though. Now the differences are probably coming down to different era and the fact that its a 1-handed axe in my case, but they were still standing out to me
Has to be one of the coolest axes i've seen and definitely going to have to make something like it! Thanks for the inspiration
Thank you for watching!
I like your "Reckless testing". Well done.
Thank you sir!
That’s one heck of a blacksmith. Great job and great video.
I dont comment on videos... but this guys forge welding is on point and handpowered ... great job!!
Thank you sir!
Beautiful!!
keep it up love stuuf like this keep it up nils
Beautiful Axe Nils.
Thanks Robert!
The axe is brilliant. The handle looks awesome!
Man ripped a log!!! Heck yeah dude
Respect very nice job nice handle lightweight axe fantastic long beard. Nice weapon to enter Valhalla. 🤘🤘🇧🇪🇧🇪
Fun to figure out how the masters done it.
Thanks, I did not ever see a collar axe, And I don't claim to know it all but do love seeing tooling and history, Thanks and thanks for the extra information Sir thanks
that is a quality axe right there heirloom quality very well made
Nils ..!!! Exelente...!! 🙏🙏😀
Bra jobba!
Tack!
Your attempt, You nailed it figured it must surport the axe . I'm still messing trying to forge weld.
But after some advice I trying again this week.
Love your videos, Thanks
Also the speaking at the end
Thanks
Obra de arte...maravilhosa esta ferramenta
Parabéns você é um artista da cutelaria
Brasil
Really enjoyed the video Nils and the commentary about the build afterwards. That's important to us Noobs. Been following you from the ForgeCast, seems like you are starting to hit your stride. Keep up the great work.
Thanks alot! Means alot!
Good job!👍🏻
Awesome 💪🏻
Beautiful work! You killed it! I wish my forge was big enough for me to attempt things like that. Maybe someday.
Thanks Liam!
wow that first sheet made from that bar ..man I like that
Another great video, thanks
thank you very much!
Хорошая работа. Скандинавы знают своё дело.
Great work Bro ! 💪
Nice work!! That handle really looks amazing.
Thank you kindly!
You are a great gunsmith blacksmith
Looks good. Awesome skills. I think the finnish used house axe contruction. Where you need to have 4 pieces of mild steel and one piece of high carbon steel. 2 mild steel pieces for the side, one piece for the rear sandwich, and one piece for the middle, leaving 2 gaps, one gap for the eye and other gap in the front for carbon steel insert.
Totally awesome n sweet
Good job. Seems to be durable. That curly birch handle is really nice. Loved to watch you vid. Congrats.
Brilliant result mate. That is one great looking axe . Well done.
Thank you!
Awesome job man. Great work
Thank you very much!
I love this
gran video, me encanto esta hacha, es una obra de arte, y el que no hayas unido las partes con soldadura antes de forjar, fue excelente!, bastante informativo el podcast del final, primer video que veo y ya te ganaste un suscriptor, espero ver mas cosas grandes de ti, contigo aprendere mucho, saludos desde venezuela!
Nice work Nils, just subscribed! 👍
Good work and worklog!
Liked that you made the most of authentic techniques!
With respect from Russia!
Thank you very much!
Awesome vid!!!!🔥💪🏻⚒
🔥🔥🔥
Awesome build man. Your reckless test drive turned out better than my carefully planned builds. Great to see such a complicated process.
Thanks alot!
Muy buen trabajo te felicito desde España
Здравствуйте ! Очень интересный получился топор !
Well done
Nice one very good job, all the best for you.
Thank you very much!
I like the shape of the edge and the upper part of the handle with the iron parts serving as a guard for the wooden handle. That looks so good. Can't wait to forge my own axes, but stay with the punched eye, until I am more confident with forge welding.
Glad you liked it!
I think they would have pinned the pieces together and then forge weld it. This technique was used in complicated forge welds.
When you welded collar to body and it moved...i thought it was over!.. But you stayed with it. That was impressive. I just subscribed yesterday! I'm loving your work and the nice follow up description talks at the end. It means a lot to know what you were thinking during the process. Adds a lot of value to the videos!-Lex
New sub and amazing video mate :) keep up your amazing work : D
Thank you so much!
Very cool
Thank you wery much, I learned a lot of usefull information)
Very nice
thanks!
Well done.
Fabulous handle grain, and a very nice looking head... Subbed here!
I would so take that into battle. Cool axe dude, amazing
Nils,you've done a Really good job on this,for the first time-especially,right on.
The "book" that you mention-is that Lars Enander's?
Have you by chance heard of a gathering of axe-smiths in France,last year,on the subject of this very or a very similar axe-code named "1700"?If not,look to see if maybe Jim Austen has written something about it(he was the chief presenter),but lots of good smiths were there,Terje GranaasMathieu Colette,et c.Maybe look up Mathieu's page,it has some photos of 1700 construction on there somewhere:facebook.com/Taillanderie-Claudel-609826759129934/photos/?ref=page_internal
I cannot speak about the differences between this Bila and Piilukirves.They're Very closely related without any doubt(and both probably related to their common ancestor,some sort of Germanic "goosewing" type socket,which also had 2-3 or even more variants).
I'd say that a big factor would be the type of local ore,and charcoal,and also socioeconomics(how much time/resources people could dedicate to refining steel).One-piece socket like you did(typical for Sweden)takes some Very clean,And highly refined iron.
Possibly things in Finnmark were a bit more difficult with this.Also,their construction techniques were a bit different also,like hewing the vertical faces on logs after the walls were up...
Awesome job please keep making movies of your work.
Kult å se hva du kan lage👍🏻
Fortsett med å lage kule økser👍🏻😃
Hello, I admire your manual work. Greetings TeamSpawtech from Poland.
1:00 Subtitles: [music]
1:19 Subtitles: [Laughing]
12:46
"This was based..."
Yes.
I think you did a fantastic job and did a great job on the video I always wondered how they managed to draw down such a long handle socket well done 👏
Really good work. Good to see a fellow scandinavian hard at work :) im impressed seeing you forgeweld those difficult and complicated pieces :) keep it up :) where did you get the wood?
Thanks! Got the wood from a local woodsman!
@ nice :) thanks for answering :)
Thanks for commenting ;)
Beautifully done. If your parts are slipping before welding and you don't want to tack weld, try cutting a few "barbs" into the insert with a chisel so that it bites a bit when heated and you should find they stay in place a bit better.
Skal
Grymt!
Great job! Particularly fort your first try.
Очень понравилась ваша работа!
Mình là người Việt Nam nên không biết tiếng anh ,mình thấy bạn làm các mẫu rìu rất đẹp mình rất thích , ở Việt Nam không có ai làm các mẫu rìu như bạn cả níu có thì phải đặc làm mà giá tiền công rất cao☹
Interesting design and build. I hadn't seen one made of as many separate pieces before this, but it looks like it turned out very well. Most of the used Bilnas axes I've seen on Ebay have very distorted/mushroomed polls, so I think the piece of steel used there is a good choice.
Thank you kindly!
I'm not one to talk as I've never forged anything this big but I've seen a lot of really good smiths chisel in barbs along edges that fit inside another piece of the metal to keep the parts from slipping during the forge weld. Hopefully that makes sense. Look at black bear forge on youtube. He has a trade axe/tomahawk video where he uses the technique. Anyways awesome axe, the handle wood is amazing!!!
That was an AWESOME build. Different approach than some i have seen, but GREAT execution. Well done. Thanks for sharing. What steel did you use?
Mildsteel body, and ss2090 springsteel in the edge
This was a very satisfying video to watch, I have no smithing experience, but liked how the front was all video, and then you finished with a comprehensive explanation of your project, I thought you did quite well, especially after learning this was your first time making something like this Of coarse each next time will give you a much better intuition to work with from practical experience to guide you.... as for the Swedish/Finish differences, I also have no knowledge, but wonder if it was nothing more than regional pride and bragging, if both styles are relatively equal in function and reliability... thank for a great video!
Thank you very much!
Your axes are so pretty man. Edit : it did look really tricky to forge, the design is seemingly quite complicated for an axe, considering its in 3 parts.
Snyggt, riktigt häftigt att följa denna process!! // Rickard H
Tack Rickard! Btw ska vi inte ta en klassfest nån gång?
@ Det borde vi det! Vi borde ha tjärnfest och dricka Carl Henrik Fryklunds från ESMU13As underbara mäsk! Och dansa till "Alla måste baka"!
Hey Nils,
Try not to be too critical,you’re learning and basically re inventing the “wheel” so to speak!! But I’ll say you’re found a hell of a fine job.
Do you have any idea of gas consumption,like how long a 9kg (20lb)has bottle would last you with forging heat and welding heat together?
Nice work!!
Thanks! Depends, are you using a forced air or natural air blower?
Nils Ögren l was just wondering what your forge uses ?
I run forced but our propane in NZ is mostly butane and not as volatile
wow that came out amazing thanks for sharing
wouldnt it be easier though to assemble it all flat then bend the final side of the collar over at the end?
Found your channel after seeing Skallagrim try out the bearded axe you made him, gotta say, beautiful piece of work, as is this axe. I've always wanted to see a Lochaber Axe, ever since first reading the Elenium trilogy by David Eddings years ago. I know it's one of the hundreds of types of pole axe, but now I'd just love to see you make one! :-P
Thank! Ill look into it!
Thank! Ill look into it!
Complicated build, looks great from our view.
Thanks! More than anything it was a good forging experience!, thank you for watching!
Eye socket is deep!
It was gonna be cool if you do some demo in the end. You know split some wood and bottled or watermelons. :D :D But amazing Axe bro, good job
Thanks for the tip! Ill try to use that in my next video!
@ See if that other swedish guy making the log house wants to try and hew with it
I just found your channel. I'm very impressed. I'm a novice smith at best.
You were asking for ideas...Have you ever made a Siberian Yakut knife? Please research it.
It at 1st disgusted me since it is asymmetrical but I decided to try my hand at it. It has grown on me. I want to explore the design more.
All the best from Oklahoma USA, John.
Thanks for the sugestion!
Awesome Video! I would like to learn to forge. Any tips for beginners?
In my opinion your doing fine. And I respect your opinion on the handle material, ash or hickory would be stronger. Great video
Thanks! Historically birch was the most common wood here, since hickory does not grow here. Ash is most common in the south of Sweden, birch is far more common here.
I want one Nils