You couldn’t pioneer without a felling axe

The tale being woven here cannot be further told without talking about the single most important tool used in opening the American frontier to settlement. That tool was the felling axe. One of 425 different types of axes that were used across the country in the early years of settlement, the felling axe was the forerunner of the kind of general-purpose axe that most people nowadays wind up purchasing when they go to their local hardware store.

The felling axe was simply a wedge-shaped piece of iron with a handle through the thickest end. The thinnest part of the wedge — the cutting edge — was beveled on both sides, unlike members of the broad axe family which were beveled on one side only.

While traveling to his destination, the settler kept his felling axe close at hand. There was a special iron axe holding bracket installed on the tongue of every Conestoga wagon near the wagon body which allowed the wagon driver immediate access to the tool, whether walking alongside the vehicle or sitting on the lazy board. The axe was used to clear fallen trees from the trail, cut wood for cooking fires or as a weapon against animal or human attackers. With the axe always kept honed to a razor-sharp edge, it is said some settlers even used their axes to shave with.

The American felling axe differed markedly from the English felling axe from which it is directly descended. The head itself is shorter and less triangle-shaped than its British counterpart. It also has pointed lugs on the bottom edge of the head allowing it to better grip the handle. But the most important difference is that the American version of the axe incorporates a poll on the side of the head opposite the cutting edge.

The head of the English felling axe was rounded at the back, making it unusable for hammering. The addition of a several-ounce rectangular slug of iron at the back of the head of the American version greatly increased the overall versatility of the axe, giving it the ability to be used both for hammering and splitting wood. Also, the poll made for a better balance of the axe head and the extra weight increased its momentum when swung.

This was important because the user would be swinging the axe for hours on end almost daily as he worked to clear the gigantic hardwood forest that covered his land in order to begin planting crops.

The other component of the axe was its handle, typically made from straight-grained oak or hickory. The end of each axe handle had some type of finial on it. Ostensibly, this finial helped to prevent the tool from flying out of the user’s hand when swung, but it served another purpose as well. Since each handle was crafted by hand to fit the grip of the user, the finials of the handles were as individual as the makers. Finial designs could range from balls, colts foot designs, diamonds, squares, faceted balls, hearts and so on. Finials on axe handles actually became associated with various families. For instance, members of the Miller family might all use ball finials on their axes, while Smith family members might all incorporate diamonds. It was considered bad form on the developing frontier to copy another family’s handle pattern.

So, why was this important? The answer is simple. On the frontier social/work gatherings known as “bees” were common. Such events provided opportunities for neighbors to come together in a social setting while undertaking major projects for the good of the community. House and barn raising bees were commonplace, as were stump pulling, land clearing and firewood making bees. All of these required that participants bring along their axes.

The highlight of such gatherings was everyone sitting down together to enjoy a huge lunch. The men, coming to the table from the project at hand, usually all leaned their axes against a nearby tree. After lunch when they returned to work, it was easy for them to spot their own axe from among the dozens that might be there by the finials of the handle.

Because tree cutting was an almost daily activity, most settlers became expert axe men. But even the best tree chopper sometimes became distracted, struck the tree wrong and broke the handle of his axe. Because he needed to craft a new handle that fit his grip perfectly, most early settlers kept a handle pattern with which they could trace out a new handle. These flat wooden patterns always had a hole bored in them so they could be hung on a convenient nail. Few of these patterns have survived over the decades.

Once one of the most common tools on the frontier, examples of early felling axes are surprisingly rare today. Where did they all go?

Because of the almost daily sharpenings they underwent, the blades eventually became shortened to the point where they were no longer useful. Because the settlers never discarded anything that might be of further use, axe heads were routinely taken to a local blacksmith to be repurposed.

One of the most common ways a felling axe head was recycled was to turn it into a barn hinge. With the handle hole already lending itself to accept a pintle pin, the blacksmith heated the metal and drew it out into a wedge-shaped hinge. Today there still are a few early barns around that retain their original “axe-head” hinges.

Another role for used-up felling axe heads was to make raft dogs or raft shackles. This involved taking a pair of heads, boring a hole through each of them and linking them together with a length of chain. In this fashion they could be used to make large rafts for use on the river system. Many travelers carried numerous sets of raft dogs which they could pound into groups of logs laid parallel to one another to create a makeshift raft to float a wagon or various materials downstream.

Of course, with the need for a wide variety of farm tools, the iron in used-up axe heads could be re-wrought into many other objects, which survive today in far greater numbers than do the felling axes themselves.