Mr. Roy’s “Two-Fer” Axe Tips
It was a hot, sultry, summer day deep in the woods near Kelly Creek at the far corner of the county. There was little breeze and a lot of bugs, not to mention the copperhead I almost stepped on as I climbed down from Mr. Roy’s battered and beaten old truck and headed into the woods. Faded and rusty, the old truck looked near as old as Mr. Roy but probably not in as good shape. The green paint had faded into a faint shade of its’ original color with rust taking over as the predominate color. Probably in his seventies at the time, Mr. Roy cut a slim profile in his well worn overalls now sky blue rather than the dark denim they originally were when he bought them at the crossroads store near his small, hardscrabble farm.
An old family friend, Mr. Roy told me he would be “much obliged” if I could help him “lay-in” some firewood for the winter. I jumped at the chance as I never failed to learn from his lifetime of working a farm and logging even though the lessons sometimes took years to be absorbed or put into practice. That particular day, however, his lesson on sharpening axes was absorbed quickly and has served me well over the years.
From a few feet away, he watched me labor with the file to renew the edge on the large single bit axe as I braced on the truck’s tailgate. Thinking I was through, I put the file away and said “let’s go”. Shifting his chew of plug tobacco to the other jaw, he said “you ain’t near through yet , boy.”
With a quick step belying his age, Mr. Roy spun and went to the cab of the truck where he pulled something from under the seat and walked back to the tailgate.” Normally, I try to learn you something when we’re together but today I’m gonna give you a ‘two-fer’ and I ain’t gonna charge you for it neither”, he said with a look in his eye that told me I’d better pay attention.
“Most folks think they can file an axe and git to cuttin’ wood without doing nothing else to the edge and you can but it don’t work near as good as when you hone it and strop it”, said Mr. Roy. With a hand rough and gnarled and aged by years of hard work in the sun, he showed me a round sharpening stone and an old brown leather belt, both of which had seen a lot of use.
“Now, feel the edge of that axe with your finger ‘fore you go to using that stone”, asked Mr. Roy. After checking the edge, I was handed the round stone and told to work the edge with just the right pressure.
Before I could ask, he said “don’t worry, you’ll know when the pressure feels right. Just work each side of that blade until the rough edges from the axe are gone.”
“That stone has took that rough edge off the axe and now we’ll strop the edge and make it smooth as a baby’s bottom,” he said as he handed me the well used belt. Not happy with how I started stropping the edge, he quickly took the belt and axe from me and said “ watch me do it proper ”. Deftly, he stroked the edge several times on the belt to demonstrate and handed me the axe and belt back to me with the admonition to “finish her up”. After several strokes along the belt, Mr.Roy took the axe from me, ran his thumb along the edge of the blade, grinned his tobacco stained grin and said, “I reckon that’ll work, boy”.
Mr. Roy’s approval meant a lot to me and I feel sure I puffed up some and stood an inch or two taller when Mr. Roy told me that because compliments from him did not come easily.
It has been a lot of years from then to now but the lesson is still just as valid for today’s outdoorsman, if you haven’t used a circular stone and leather strop to complete sharpening your axe, then you need to for maximum performance of your tool.