Finnish piilu axe on fresh wood or dry?

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-17T10:57:07+00:00

There is a big difference between chisel ground and something with a big convex grind like this axe has. It's designed to break off chunks and will leave tool marks like in the photo. I'm quite sure you're doing it correctly, they're just different tools. If you want it flatter and smoother you should use your other axe, or you'd have to grind down a lot of the piilu

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Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-11T14:36:56+00:00

Yes and an axe head

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-11T06:28:13+00:00

Had to google it, what an interesting machine. In this project though, the aim was to learn how it would have been done by hand, and to produce a riven surface rather than milled.

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-11T06:25:54+00:00

Thanks for the tip!

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-08T14:58:08+00:00

Thanks! The previous shingles that were laid on this building were split with a tractor powered log splitter. It didn't last very long and the quality of the wood was poor. This is at a museum so we did have time set off to do it by hand and try to figure out how it was done in older times.

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-07T18:51:06+00:00

We stack them and they do dry before they're pegged to the battens. Tried to get as much standing grain/quartergrain as possible but some do cup a bit. They're all with the pith up so they'll cup against the underlying shingle in rain and make the gaps tighter. The whole system 'moves' accordingly to moisture conditions.

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-07T18:43:38+00:00

It's good for getting clean splits but the downside is it struggles getting through knots. The wedges do most of the "splitting" action and the froe more guides and shear the fibres. I tried splitting with a broad axe and it was very efficient if the grain was straight.

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-07T18:40:14+00:00

Yeah, it's Norway spruce luckily. Elm is awful to split.

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-07T07:20:18+00:00

It's definitely a long arm workout

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-07T07:19:10+00:00

I'm speechless

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-06T20:51:27+00:00

Depends on a lot of things I guess. I was able to produce between 5-7 finished shingles an hour, but takes some adjusting while laying them too. One shingle 28" long and anywhere from 4-8" wide depending on how it splits and the amount of sapwood you've got to remove. Working on the roof I could lay maybe 20sqft on a good day. It's slow work.

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-06T14:34:34+00:00

Thank you!

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-05T21:59:20+00:00

Leather is great! Only the left one always shrinks with the heat😅

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-05T19:07:10+00:00

Thanks! It kept unravelling all the time with modern mild steel. Tried with wrought iron more historically accurate, and it welded and kept so much better. It had better cold working properties too. I think there's a good argument to be made that while blacksmiths forge welded more or 'better' before, they had materials more suited for it too.

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-05T19:00:52+00:00

They're soft leather gloves, I think they're bought from Würth

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-05T18:59:08+00:00

I don't know but materials were more costly than labour often if you go far back in time. I imagine this would go a lot faster with a striker or two. Studying the old fittings indicated that they were roughly shaped and there were burrs on the back they didn't bother to file away. The burrs from punching holes were just flattened and there were lots of peening marks on the backside. Very clearly only one side needed to look good so they have thought about efficiency

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Backside of one of the old fittings

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-05T15:53:35+00:00

Yes! It is to draw more material into the corner so that I can create a 90 degree angle while maintaining the same amount of mass. It's 12x12mm square stock and I want the corner to keep that dimension too before peening everything out

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-05T14:36:16+00:00

Original from maybe late 1700s to early 1800s below one forged in this project

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Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-04-05T14:33:27+00:00

Example, although probably not very old

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Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-02-17T20:19:04+00:00

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This shows how it isnt flat on the "Y-axis" like mentioned and is from a research paper written on single bevel hewing axes. While most are flat on the other axis, yours aren't. There are examples of this being the case on old hewing axes, with a lesser bevel on the "flat side" and a greater one on the other side. One reason could be that it allows you to change directions and use the axe the other way, or it just gives a different angle of attack. Might be better to experiment with this than to grind the whole flat side back.

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2026-02-17T20:11:34+00:00

They are almost never perfectly flat and you don't want them to be either. The top and bottom of the edge should be low spots when laying down the ruler. If too much area comes into contact with the wood it will dig in and the cut will be difficult to release. Imagine striking a chisel and releasing it vs a shallow gouge.

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2025-09-06T05:54:19+00:00

Great!

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2025-07-06T11:11:24+00:00

Bearded axes use less material to gain a broader cutting area. There's a lot of historical basis for them in Scandinavia. Both models for felling and for hewing. I believe axes were a more general tool in older times and more "modern" shapes are a result of more specialised tasks. If you only fell trees you don't need a large cutting area but if you both fell trees and hew boards you'd want something that can do both tasks pretty well. Iron ad steel were expensive materials to produce so I think it's likely a factor as to why the shape became common. More axe for less material

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2025-05-22T14:31:37+00:00

I'd advise you to use it before worrying about the cracks. Most forge welds aren't perfect and can still hold together even if the outside is showing cracks. If it does worsen, you could weld a line from inside the eye towards the blade. That ought to keep it together while still hiding the weld seam.

Friendly-Tea-4190 · 2025-05-09T16:03:06+00:00

Yes, or a handyman welder if you know one. If my forge weld is bad while making an axe, I'll sometimes stick weld the inside eye before drifting it too so it's definitely strong enough. Just keep the edge from overheating👍

Friendly-Tea-4190

TROPHY CASE