Cleaver for wood: strength and beauty of handmade

The ax has become a constant companion of man since the Stone Age. His "younger brother" - a cleaver - is about the same age as our era. But since he appeared, not a single piece of firewood can be dispensed with without him. Now manual labor has ceased to be unique, after all various electromechanical and hydraulic adaptations are invented, including in order to quickly and safely chop firewood. But when the current is cut off and the hydraulics refuses, nothing will help - only the cleaver for manual wood will help out. And in order to manage with him skillfully and without risk to health, you should know the rules of handling this tool.

The ax never replaces the cleaver for wood, and vice versa. These two tools complement each other, as they are designed for different jobs. The ax cuts the trunks of trees, which will later be sawn on logs. The cleaver splits them into firewood.

That's why they are so unlike their appearance. Axes, the blade of which is designed to cut wood, is shorter, lighter and with a fairly figured ax handle. Koluny for chopping firewood significantly more weight (3-4 kg), with a straight and long hatchet (an average of 70-80 cm) and without any hint of figure skating. This is a crude and effective tool of labor.

The increased mass and long ax handle provide greater impulse and impact force. In addition, the narrow blade of the cleaver (70-80 mm) is also sharpened at an angle in the range from 40 to 60 degrees. A significant part of the impact force of this tool is aimed at tearing the fibers of the wood from each other. They diverge perpendicularly to the direction by which the cleaver for the wood enters the log. This explains the "killer" effectiveness of this tool.

The blade of the cleaver is not only straight, but also semicircular. With this form, lime wood and resinous logs are easier to prick. There is also a two-sided cleaver for firewood: on one side a blade is sharpened, on the other hand a sledge hammer is formed. This is done for clogging in a particularly "stubborn" block of wood or steel wedges to expand the crack.

For the chopping of thin and dry firewood, there is work for a short cleaver with an ax in the length of 40-60 cm. If it is necessary to put thick logs and logs on the firewood, a cleaver with a 915 mm ax is in use.

The best wood for an ax handle is ash. Birch, maple and beech are less durable. Also, an ax handle can be made from oak and acacia, but they still try not to use this wood. Specificity of it is that with an ax handle of such length it does not extinguish after impact of its oscillation in a plane that is perpendicular to the plane of the palms. As they say in the people, "dry their hands."

It often happens that when a blow follows a slip, and the cleaver for the firewood hits the chump with an ax. This contributes to its rapid deterioration at the point of attachment. To protect him, it is advised to nail in this place a piece of iron or wind some turns of aluminum wire.

For the chopping of firewood, a block or a deck is designed (a wooden stump that is obviously larger in diameter than any block), the base for which must be firm and not elastic, so as not to amortize upon impact and not "eat up" a significant part of the pulse.

Each blow with a cleaver should be applied, standing confidently on fairly widely spaced legs, and it is better to put a block in the long part of the deck in relation to the spitting man. This is done for security reasons: in case of a miss, the blade of a heavy tool will stick into the near side of the deck or into the ground between the legs.

Kolun - the right thing in the economy of a self-employed man. With due care this tool will last for many years.