Edged Tools

The last 15 years of my working life were spent in a manufacturing plant that fabricated steel parts.

Fundamentally, my plant did five things.

1. We moved material
2. We positioned material
3. We joined material
4. We separated material
5. We formed (bent, shaped) or transformed (baked paint) material

I still think in those terms.  I am hard pressed to think of a "production" activity that cannot be fit into those five categories.  That includes "knowledge work".

Separating material

Edged tools are used to separate materials.  Sometimes the cutting edge does not look much like an edge.

A shovel?  Yup, that is an edged cutting tool.  And it is much more pleasant to use a sharp shovel than a dull one.

Tin snips?  You bet.  Don't believe it?  Take a grinder to the working edges and see if they cut.

Hatchet

Kubota read Hatchet by Gary Paulsen over Christmas Break.  I thought it was time to get Kubota his own hatchet.  I did a little bit of research on axes and hatchets.  Times have changed since the 1970s.

There are Zombie killing axes and hatchets.

There are Made in China and India axes and hatchets.

There are Scandanavian axes and hatchets made by Norse and Swede and Finns bachelor blacksmiths

There are boutique axes and hatchets.  There are ornamental axes and hatchets.  Brass and stainless, carbon steel, flint and agate.

There are regalia tomahawks and throwing tomahawks. 

There are roofing hatchets and trapping hatchets.

There are blogs dedicated to axes and hatchets. This first link is a pretty good blog ==>  Link and link and link.

Amazon.com carries approximately 6000 tools that have "Axe" as a key word.

I ended up ordering two axes.  I ordered this hatchet and this axe.  I anticipate I will have to invest some time putting an edge on them.

A good tool can last a lifetime although I may have to lay in a supply of 28" axe handles.