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+-- Thread: Right bevel or left bevel for carving axe? (/showthread.php?tid=7351540)
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Right bevel or left bevel for carving axe? - Elijah A. - 12-02-2019
Hey, I have been using a modified hatchet for carving and I'm interest in the Gransfors Bruks Swedish Carving Axe possibly for Christmas. I am very confused about the left and right levels. I plan to use the axe with my right hand while holding the wood with my left. The GB website recommends the flat side out and the large bevel inside toward the wood. The videos that I have watched online seem to use this axe with the flat side facing toward the wood. Can somebody help me out here. I'm having a hard time getting a straight answer. Thx!
RE: Right bevel or left bevel for carving axe? - Bill_Houghton - 12-02-2019
I've used a side hatchet only a little, mainly for reducing stock dimensions, like knocking 3/4" off the width of a board. For those uses, I find having the flat side face the wood works better for me.
RE: Right bevel or left bevel for carving axe? - AHill - 12-02-2019
Here ya go. Play the video contained in the blog. The flat side goes next to your work. The bevel on the outside. So, if holding the hatchet in your right hand and the wood is on your left, the bevel is on the right side of the hatchet.
Gransfors Bruks large carving axe is beveled on BOTH sides, but the "ground left side" means the left side of the hatchet is the flatter side. The larger bevel is on the right side, or outside if held right handed and the wood is left of the hatchet.
https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/new-to-me-hans-karlsson-hatchet/
RE: Right bevel or left bevel for carving axe? - Elijah A. - 12-02-2019
That's exactly what I was thinking. I am just confused because this is what the site says. Maybe I am misunderstanding the terminology...
"Single Bevel Carving Axes
Single bevel carving axes are designed for experienced axe carvers. Gränsfors Bruk initially offered them as special order tools at the request of some professional carvers.
The left-bevel carving axe has a long bevel ground on the left side of the cutting edge when looking at the axe from behind. The right side of the cutting edge has a short bevel, but is basically flat.
The right-bevel carving axe has a long bevel ground on the right side of the cutting edge when looking at the axe from behind. The left side of the cutting edge has a short bevel, but is basically flat.
So, which one should I get? Selection of a single bevel carving axe is really about personal preference. In general, carvers who work left-handed will prefer a right-bevel carving axe and carvers who work right-handed will prefer a left-bevel carving axe. "
RE: Right bevel or left bevel for carving axe? - AHill - 12-02-2019
If you are right handed, get the right bevel carving axe.
RE: Right bevel or left bevel for carving axe? - Bill_Houghton - 12-02-2019
That is confusing indeed, and conflicts with my experience. But, again, it may be a matter of technique - mine different from the technique Gransfors recommends.
Really, of course, in the ideal world, you need both...
RE: Right bevel or left bevel for carving axe? - jasfrank - 12-02-2019
Elijah, Im not real familiar with hewing hatchets, but hewing axes were fitted with an upswept handle that could be removed and put in the other end making the axe either right or left handed. The axe eye was not tapered like a regular axe would be. At least the examples I have are that way.
RE: Right bevel or left bevel for carving axe? - AHill - 12-03-2019
If you carefully read what Gransfors is saying about their axes, it's really the conventional way a carving hatchet is made or used. What's confusing is the "long" and "short" bevel. The short bevel is on the flat side of the axe.
RE: Right bevel or left bevel for carving axe? - adamcherubini - 12-03-2019
I don't understand the sense of using what amounts to a broad hatchet for carving. Broad hatchets are for hewing, which is essentially a flattening operation. I think a double beveled hatchet would provide more flexibility for carving. But I guess it depends on what you are carving. If you are boat building, I could see how a small, curved broad hatchet could be useful. If you are doing random carving, bowl making, etc etc, I'd want (I use) a thin double beveled hatchet.
RE: Right bevel or left bevel for carving axe? - alyman - 03-05-2021
This video should clear up any confusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HcFfaCiQGY&t=429s&ab_channel=HighlandWoodworking
Right handed = right bevel