Month: November 2020

Handmade leather sheaths which were made totally with rivets, no stitching.

Stamped “Vaughan Value Brand” Double Bit Cruiser Axe.

Cruiser: one who estimates the potential lumber yield from the standing timber on a specific tract of land and may mark out routes for accessing the area. (also: estimator)

Cruiser’s axe: a small version of a double bit axe designed to make markings by slashing the bark such as when blazing. (also: timber cruiser’s axe)

My wife found this beauty at a yard sale and brought it home for me.

It weighs 4 lbs. on the nose; with a new 22″ long handle which has been shortened from standard length. I swing this one handed like a hatchet or tomahawk. One edge is a slim profile for chopping the other is blunt for splitting.

I will drive one bit into a fallen log and baton wood into it to split it.

Handmade Triangular Awl-Drill made from an old Nicholson triangular file.  Just like the knife I tempered the file at 400 deg. F for two hours x 2 times. It has three sharp edges that drill into even hardwood easily. Much better than trying to drill a hole with a knife.

I made this from a Nicholson file that I used for over forty years to sharpen my outdoor tools. I put on cherry handles and preserved them with Tung oil which I use on all my wood handle outdoor tools. By the way the knife is stuck into some loblolly pine fatwood from the eastern shore of Maryland. This is a working knife so the finish isn’t super shiny.