I received my new axe on Monday from a young man who does some outstanding work on making and reproducing 18th century knives and axes. His name is Ben Hoffman of Hoffman Reproductions. I met Ben and his wife Lynsey at the Fremont trade show this past February. Ben is very knowledgeable on the items that he is making, and all are hand forged and well made.
He had a few axes displayed on his table and one kind of caught my eye and through out the weekend I kept walking over to talk to Ben and at the same time looking at this axe. When the weekend was over I left not buying the axe. So for a few weeks of thinking about it, I gave Ben a call to see if he still had the axe in stock, as luck had it he did, and now it's mine.
So I spent last night and this morning working on a new sheath for the axe and something to carry it in, slung over my shoulder. I don't like just stick it in my belt, don't want to spend a day looking for it if I happen to lose it .As you can see in the first photo this is what I came up with.
The axe is a semi poll axe and is a nice size for camp use and other lite duty stuff. The semi poll is good for hammering in nails, wooden tent stake. The head is 4 1/2" with a 2' cutting edge, not sure of the weight but it is well balanced. The handle is a nice curly maple 14" long and well fitted to the head.
The carriage that I made for it is small and it is balanced so that the axe stays upright and not wanting to flip upside down . The strap is at a length in which I can tuck the handle in to the back of my belt to help keep it in place when running or bending over. I hope to give my new axe a good workout this spring when I take to woods hunting for that spring gobbler.
If you would like to see what Ben has to offer you can send him a e-mail to hoffmanreproductions@yahoo.com
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