Featuring a mighty 5lb felling axe, an old Jersey, and an *English* Hudson Bay axe by Elwell. (edit, the big 5lb axe is unknown but someone found a very similar 6lb axe that had a faint stamp of Cornelius Whitehouse and Sons Ltd (Cannock, England) and posted it to the Axe Junkies page on FB [ Ссылка ]) I salvaged some Rock Elm ( _Ulmus thomasii_ ), rived some handles, and experimented going against the grain on grain orientation. I tested out the handles with some felling and bucking and talk about some Rock elm history and biology.
00:00 New axe project!
01:12 Salvaging Rock Elm lumber
03:38 Grain orientation terminology diagram
04:20 Riving billets (cont'd)
06:11 Felling axe handle plan and the merits of different grain orientations
08:51 Rough carving the outline (+Hudson Bay at work)
13:03 New handle for the Jersey
14:39 Finished axes (and adze and mallet)
17:42 White Elm felling plan
19:58 Chopping the face cut and reading book excerpts
26:40 Back cut and more excerpts
38:55 Felling debrief
39:43 Bucking test head-to-head: vertical vs. horizontal grain
45:56 Bucking test debrief
I didn't mention it in the video but the Trees Canadensis website ( treescanadensis.ca ) by Owen Clarkin is a good reference for elms and other trees. After I uploaded this video, I found out that Owen gave a presentation [ Ссылка ] that was recently posted to the Ontario Woodlot Association YouTube channel @ontariowoodlot; it's got a lot of interesting information.
I also made a video about identifying different Elm species: [ Ссылка ]
With respect to growth ring orientation, @MrChickadee has a very nice video hand-riving some hickory handles with the growth rings perpendicular/horizontal across the eye [ Ссылка ]
(This guy also agrees that horizontal grain has better shock absorbing flex: [ Ссылка ])
Other sources (Roughly in order mentioned)
USGS. 1991. Digital representation of "Atlas of United States Trees" by Elbert L. Little, Jr.
[ Ссылка ]
But easier to get via Wikimedia commons
[ Ссылка ]
University of Guelph Arboretum. 2021. Ontario Tree Atlas Project: A participatory science survey of Ontario’s tree species (1994 - 2006)
@eastcoastlumberjack's series of videos on handle strength and grain orientation: [ Ссылка ]
Don't see author listed. 1865. The Art of Chopping. The Canada Farmer. Vol 2. No. 5. 1865-03-01
Dudley Cook. 1999. The Ax Book : The Lore and Science of the Woodcutter (Originally published: Keeping warm with an ax. New York : Universe Books, 1981)
Roy Underhill. 1981. The Woodwright's Shop: A Practical Guide To Traditional Woodcraft
My video about making a Rock Elm adze handle [ Ссылка ]
Catharine Parr Traill. 1836. The Backwoods of Canada
Aeneas McCharles. 1908 Bemocked of Destiny: The Actual Struggles and Experiences of a Canadian Pioneer and the Recollections of a Lifetime
Huron Signal. Goderich, Ontario. 1881-04-15
Julia Ellen Rogers. 1917. Canadian Trees Worth Knowing
Harold F. Sholz. 1957. The Silvical Charactersitics of Rock Elm (Ulmus thomasii). Station Paper No. 47. US Forest Service.
Donald Peattie. 1950. A Natural History of Trees of Eastern North America
Clarence M. Weed. 1946. Our Trees: How to Know Them (5th edition)
Crow, T.R. Rock Elm Ulmus thomasii Sarg. In Burns, Russell M., and Barbara H. Honkala, tech. coords. 1990. Silvics of North America: 1. Conifers; 2. Hardwoods. Agriculture Handbook 654.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, DC
[ Ссылка ]
John J. Stransky and Sylvia M. Bierschenk. Cedar Elm Ulmus crassifolia Nutt. In Burns, Russell M., and Barbara H. Honkala, tech. coords. 1990. Silvics of North America: 1. Conifers; 2. Hardwoods. Agriculture Handbook 654.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, DC
[ Ссылка ]
Harriet L. Keeler. 1900. Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them
Robert Bell. 1886. The Forests of Canada
W.D. Brush. 1918. Utilization of Elm. USDA Bulletin No. 683
