The joiner’s axe

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My Samson No 0 made by John Hall

Here is the joiner’s axe (UK spelling). It’s perfectly shaped in every way and it’s mine. A joiner’s axe is not a green axe or a carving axe but it carves and shapes wood as well in most cases too. It’s not a felling axe because of its size but you could fell with it on a smaller scale. A joiner’s axe is used to split wood but we never called it a hatchet because it was an axe. Perhaps a hatchet always seemed more like a dulled ax used to split wood by dull force whereas my axes are always sharpened for a prime cutting edge because it wasn’t generally used for firewood splitting as with a kindling axe. I noticed the first use of the term hatchet for me was in the US, hence my spelling of the word ax momentarily above. My wood splitting days began with fire starter wood at about 8 years old. I picked up fruit boxes from the greengrocers who seemed always glad to get rid of them and gave me an orange for each box I took. That was a prize for me. DSC_0020 Fruit was not on our menu and mister Hannah knew our family needs for food. The family axe hit the concrete regularly enough and eventually reached a point where it was indestructibly rounded to a 1/8” radius. It worked fine because nails and stapled wire holding the boxes together responded well to the same axe edge. It was the all-rounder for chopping firewood in the hands of an awkward boy and an ideal tool for me to discover the best way to understand how wood splits. And so my woodworking days began.

DSC_0014 The joiner’s axe for a Brit fulfils many a unique purpose not the least of which are wall plugs used for fixing wide skirting boards to plastered brick walls. The plugs are propellor shaped so that they twist into brick gaps as the are both driven in and dry out.

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The joiner’s axe is a scribing tool that removes stock fast from the edge of architraves in internal corners and then scribes skirting boards to awkward floorboards and such like that. The tusk tenons are bulked-out with the axe as are large housings and tenons. There is much more to shaping a joiner’s axe than meets the eye. It’s the most versatile axe I know of. It’s beautiful really.

Joiners use axes for roughing out work of every kind and any woodworker should seriously consider the owning of a good joiner’s axe. This of course becomes especially so for rough shaping all sorts of furniture parts including table legs of every shape. In the absence of machines, the axe reduces stock more rapidly than almost any other hand tool, but all the more when I use it for rough-shaping different styles of table legs. I use mine to cut tapered legs as much as by bandsaw and more complex shapes including beidermeier.  For work away from the bench and when electricity is beyond reach, say for site work and such, an axe can cut an arch, points to posts and pegs. We’d take half an inch off the width of a door in the pre skill-saw days and of course combining this with a plane it went fast.

Anyway, get a joiner’s axe and get used to using one.

Oh, axes are not for children though. Pass it on.

14 Comments

  1. Definitely not the first tool that I would chosen among my woodworking tools. I left my Boy Scout axe behind many years ago.

  2. Do you sharpen your joiners axe the same way you would a felling axe? I have heard some people flatten the cheeks of a joiners axe, but I’m not sure. I would like to use one in my shop to save time. Thanks Paul.

  3. I’ve never seen anyone spell it “ax.” It’s always been “axe” whenever I’ve read it here in the US.

    I still call that a hatchet… and yes, I own one with a nice hickory handle! Believe it or not, this is pretty much the ONLY woodworking tool you can still get in decent quality from a big-box store. Mine’s a “Kobalt” from Lowe’s.

    The thing is bloody sharp, too. I’ve used it extensively for roughing out bows (as in bows to shoot arrows from). Really nothing gets it done faster. I’ve never used it to split wood, only to cut. For splitting I recommend a froe instead.

  4. Paul, your blogs always inform, guide and give a perspective that I am greatful to attain. Thank you for all your do.

  5. Hi Paul,
    an interesting blog about an underrated tool.
    I searched your blogs about specifications of a good axe but can’t find clear ones.
    What characterizes a good joiners axe?
    How long should the axe handle be? And which weight is the best compromise between control and power of the blow?

    Can you recommend a specific axe?

    I want to buy an axe on the flea market.
    Please can you help me to know what to look after?

    Best regards and thank you for all you do

    Dominik

  6. Interesting.

    John Hall Tools were a retailer based in Cardiff and Swansea, trading from the 1890s up to the early 1970s.

    As well as branded tools they often sold their own ‘badged’ tools made by other makers, rather as Groves did with their saws.

    They had a big shop in the centre of Cardiff, (Royal Arcade, as I recall) that was like Aladdin’s cave.

    The last time I walked past it was a delicatessen or a cafe.

    All best

    1. Thanks for the input here. It’s always helpful and it means the history even on a limited level will be preserved.

  7. I didn’t understand much of this post, so I did some googling.

    It turns out that an “Architrave” (the ‘ch’ is pronounced hard as in ‘K’) is a lintel or beam that forms head of a door/passageway. It could also refer to the piece of casing trim that covers the head jamb. So in the phrase “The joiner’s axe is a scribing tool that removes stock fast from the edge of architraves in internal corners…” leaves me wondering, what internal corner? Doesn’t the architrave simply set upon the top (capital) of it’s supporting column?

    Also I don’t understand the phrase “An axe can cut an arch, points to posts and pegs.” as neither Google or I know what you are referring to. I mean I think I understand what an arch is but I need some instruction as to the meaning of points, posts and pegs.

    Thanks for the article and all you are doing.

    1. Architrave is what the US calls “trim” around a door frame to create a finished gapless look to the frame. In the US you call skirting board “base trim”. Sometimes two door jambs come close in a corner in the US. Your internal walls are mostly nice square sticks nailed together; sticks of 2x4s. Our internal wall are mostly bricks and plaster and have some undulation requiring a little scribe work.The rest of the world doesn’t i suppose. I think what we call a post you most likely call a stake; usually a square section of wood long or short to form a fence post or post for a sign of some kind. A pyramid point enables you to drive the post with a sledge hammer. So to put a point on a stake (post) is to sharpen the point– four axe blows gives a point usually. Pegs are small stakes used say to lay out a building or secure shutter boards for concrete form work.

  8. I’m intrigued by your mention of propeller shaped wall plugs. I need to attach a skirting board to a wall, and would love to know what you mean here. Not exactly craft woodwork, I’m sure, but intriguing!

  9. Hi Paul,

    Thank you for the article and all of your great works. Could you recommend any available axe ?

  10. I always wondered why my dad’s toolbox had an axe in it, when space was so limited (and why the one he gave me when I got the first house did too). Come to think of it, I’ve seen him do many of the things you describe here once or twice.

  11. Hello. I’d like to buy an axe for my manfriend for his birthday. I imagine i’d like to include some of your articles in the box. As a few others have asked, do you recommend any brand, whether big box store, or online artisan axe-maker? I have never used one myself so I need guidance! I’ll include his carpentry website in the comment details.

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