AN ESSENTIAL READ ON OUR
MOST IMPORTANT BLADEAMERICAN AXE—
THE TOOL THAT
SHAPED A CONTINENT
Few implements in human history have
proven as useful as the axe. There’s vis-
ceral pleasure in a good swing into a
solid log. And this tome helps explain
the tool and why it endures. It also
makes a surprisingly nice coffee-table
book, the kind of read you’ll find your-
self picking up again and again to
browse its pages and look at the lus-
trous photos of classic choppers.
American Axe shines with an
extensive treatment of axes from the
country’s prime woodchopping era,
which ran roughly a century from the
Civil War to somewhere in the 1960s,
when axes were run out of town by one
of our other favorite tools: the chain-
saw. Axe making was serious business
then, and their use was likewise serious
in felling trees for lumber, firewood,
pulp, and land clearing.
Serious business, indeed, the axe
and its use. My dad bore an ugly scar
on his knee from a cut he received as a
teenager on the farm. Looking through
the pages at these classics, like the
Sager Chemical, I even wondered if
one was the type that gave him the
mark so common to people who spent
enough time using axes, especially in
the dead of winter. In my dad’s case,
his own father gave him that when the
axe glanced off a frozen maple. The
author points out that the Spiller Axe
made in Oakland, Maine, was famous
for its edge-holding when chopping
frozen wood. Perhaps it could have
prevented the scar on my dad’s knee.
— Roy Berendsohn↑ (^) BEST GAS PRESSURE WASHER
Simpson MegaShot MSH 3125-S5 $400
In a year where people were stuck at home, we had plenty of time to stare
at and obsess about every little thing that needed cleaning. Ergo, blasting
dirty siding, mildewed fencing, crusty-looking outdoor furniture, and
stained concrete with a pressure washer proved to be therapeutic. And
the U.S.-built MegaShot was just the tool for the job. For the money, you
get a big Honda engine with massive air-cooling fins on its head and an
equally hefty axial cam pump complete with anodized hose fittings and
an effective thermal relief valve. That mighty engine and pump produce
a lot of dirt-blasting capability that rolls easily on 10-inch pneumatic
tires. Whether or not you’re stuck at home this summer with nothing to
do but clean, this is a productive, no-nonsense machine.
↑ (^) BEST GAS CHAINSAW
Echo CS-3510 $260
Looking for a great little saw for storm cleanup, light firewood cutting,
and trimming? Consider the CS-3510, a 34.4-cc machine weighing
10.4 pounds with a 16-inch bar. We used it on those types of jobs and
liked its high power-to-weight ratio and slim bar, which works espe-
cially well for pruning.
March/April 2021 61
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