Axe Or Hatchet?

[cabinetman]

In my posting of tools to the woodworker, that are common to some of us and new to others, with the tremendous interest that has been shown I thought I would continue with more tools.

The hatchet is the short little doobie, the axe has the long handle. While neither is used too much in woodworking for most, they do have their place in the craft. This is about the "broad hatchet and broad axe". It's used a lot in rough woodworking, and timber framing. The design of the head as you can see in the picture has one flat side, and the other is ground to a bevel. As a hatchet, it's used usually after the rough work was done with a broad axe, by smoothing up surfaces, or chopping corners off square timbers. I've used one of these with a heavy mallet in lieu of a wide chisel as the cutting edge is around 4 1/2" on some brands.
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[LCHIEN]

Lizzie Borden took an axe
Gave her mother forty whacks
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one

So goes the rhyme many of us learned as school kids. BUT - what was Lizzie really doing on August 4, 1892? Did she viciously kill her father with an axe? (The murder weapon was actually a hatchet.) Did she brutally shatter her stepmother's body?

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the above from a website http://www.lawbuzz.com/famous_trials...zie_borden.htm

so you see there is some confusion over hatchets and axes even back in 1892... or maybe it was just easier to rhyme with axe....

PS I heard this rhyme from my mom when I was a kid - she must have learned it as a child. What the heck did they teach kids back then?

[Sawduster]

Before the advent of the 'lectric powered saw, woodworkers dreaded rip cuts on long boards. Even in the production of very fine furniture pieces, single bevel hatchets like the one pictured were very often used to hack away much excess material close to a line. The work would then be cleaned up using handplanes. This was generally in the cases where more material needed to be removed than could be done quickly with a plane.

Stopping cuts would generally be made across the grain, then thick shaving cuts taken with the grain. The stopping cuts would prevent splits from running into the area you wanted to keep.

[ragswl4]

I used a double edged axe (not a hatchet) when I was a kid to split some firewood. My technique was flawed and I ended up cutting through my shoe and into the side of my foot. Hospital for some stiches and home for a whooping from my Dad. Haven't touched an axe since that day. Guess I got a complex.

[linear]

Definitely a technique flaw.

[ragswl4]

Definitely a technique flaw.

Still hurts when I think about it. Never, ever hold the log on the ground with your foot and hack at it with an axe. Hey, 8 years old, wha-da-ya-spect! Now I got a chain saw, really dangerous.

[cabinetman]

Still hurts when I think about it. Never, ever hold the log on the ground with your foot and hack at it with an axe. Hey, 8 years old, wha-da-ya-spect! Now I got a chain saw, really dangerous.

Chainsaws are easier to control than an electric or gas powered axe.

[gwyneth]

People interested in old wood tools (pre-electricity) should read any of Eric Sloane's excellent books. Neat drawings, explains how they were used and what they were used for.

In one of them he shows at least 25 types of axe-head and explains why different profiles developed in different parts of the country.