Axes and Adzes

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The axe is the most dangerous tool used in spooncarving and must be used with care and respect, especially when hewing relatively small pieces of wood. A sharper axe is a safer axe as it will bite the wood sweetly and cleanly and with less force required .

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gransfors baby hatchet This is the Granfors Bruks baby hatchet. This particular model has a red beech handle. This is a nice light axe and has a reputation for being a good controllable size.  For the scale of hewing needed on relatively small pieces of wood it can be just right for turning out spoon blanks
Hans Karlsson adze
This adze is hand forged by Hans Karlsson of Sweden. It's a beautifully made tool,  well weighted for a wristy action for carving the bowl of large spoons and ladles. This is a beginning of a ladle carved from hawthorn, a challenging project as the grain weaved everywhere!