A New Ax (and an apearance of a Cute B'Goot)

      Last week I finished an ax for my Etsy shop. I had been trying to make something reminiscent of a Viking bearded ax and a boarding ax from the days of sailing. 

     I did a little research on boarding axes and found that they are much different animals than I thought. They were meant primarily as tools for cutting ropes and other shipboard needs, rather than as weapons. I thought that was pretty cool and I'd like to do another post on that in a few months, after I make one. 

    At any rate, I did intend for this ax to be used as a tool around bonfires. It's pretty light so it isn't too heavy for carrying on camping trips. While the head might be light than the typical log splitting ax the length of the handle allows for building up momentum and speed for splitting wood that is typically used for camping: fallen dry logs, branches, sticks and the like. I tested it with palm branches and it did good. Having the "beard" helps protect the handle from hitting whatever you are trying to split too. 

   I also decided to theme myself for this product. I don't have a good viking get up so I went pirate.

    It kinda worked. At least it gives you an idea of how big it is.
​(and perhaps how cool you would look with this ax as your own)

    On the other side is a small hammer head that is good for pounding in tent stakes.

​    I would also like to make a mention of Fathers day, which was yesterday. As a dad myself, I know how hard it can be to spend time with kids and get them active with the outdoors. Yesterday my son came to me trying to show off his archery skills with one of my old prototypes and a small dowel I will use to make prop arrows. While ya'll might assume this would be normal in my house, I have to say it was the first time. He's actually a really young dude, who is also exceptionally strong for his age. Sadly at that time I could not show him how to properly hold or shoot a bow and arrow because we needed to get him ready to visit relatives. When he came back later that night I did get a chance to show him, though he did have a bit of a hard time because he was a bit impatient with the learning process. One day he'll get it, especially if he keeps seeing me practice.

     Well that's about it for today, I'll leave you with a few recent pictures of my products in use by real kids (who may or may not be related to me) at a recent event I attended. The boy isn't mine but the pink one is and her description for today is "Cute B'Goots!"

Forging Ahead,
Stephen