It's.........showtime!!

**Jack** · 09-12-2003, 08:36

Well, this weekend I have some of you chaps coming down to Dorset to spend the weekend on a hurdle making course. They will be bring all their kit and will be stringing up their hammocks and building shelters ( Is this normal behaviour just?). I think I will hearing ‘ mines bigger than yours’ a lot this weekend.

Anyway, the point is, I know how to swing a Billhook pretty well. You know how to swing an axe. So, this weekend we will be having a Axe verse’s a Billhook competition to see which is the ultimate tool for bushcraft. So my Billhook will be having a show down with a Wetterlings and a Gransfors axe.

Personally, I think my Billhook’s will make it look like the Wetterlings and Gransfors are still in bed!! Lets face it, a Billhook is more versatile than an axe anyday.......isn't it?

Watch this space and place your bets.

Best wishes.

Jack.

**Nod** · 09-12-2003, 09:46

I'm with Jack.
Come on you Billhook!!!!

Not ever used one mind you, but they seem to be more kind of shapely and look fit for purpose, and are sort of reminiscent of England in days gone by.......

**Tony** · 09-12-2003, 10:48

The first test will be hammering sticks into the ground, the second will be splitting logs, the third will be felling a tree, the forth will be... :rolmao: :ekt:

**Nod** · 09-12-2003, 11:20

It would make for a good reality TV show wouldn't it.

**Stew** · 09-12-2003, 12:57

Is the billhook you use the type with a straight blade along the back, as well as the curved one?

**Roving Rich** · 09-12-2003, 13:35

Hmmm I best get busy sharpening me thinks.
5th in the test cutting hazel at the stool in a single swipe, 6th cleaving down the middle then its onto hedge laying....

T: :uu:

**grumit** · 09-12-2003, 16:10

my money go's on the billhook good luck jack

**Gary** · 09-12-2003, 16:11

Jack I managed to bust that billhook stuart showed you at the wilderness gathering - never busted my trusty old axe.

But each is a tool in its own right - but interesting to hear how you get on - after hurdle making will you carve spoons, feather sticks, butcher a beast or chop fire wood too?

**Jack** · 09-12-2003, 16:12

Rich, I will show how to coppice and put your hook away as you will be using our hooks.

Stew. We can use either.

Tone. They can do all of that with one hand behind their back, and more!

Up the Billhooks!!...............Bye bye axe!

Jack.

**Jack** · 09-12-2003, 16:21

Thanks Grumit!.........it isn't looking good for the axes.

Gary, I thought that hook of Stuarts wouldn't last long. When I used it at the Gathering it was very sharp but its weak point was on the join at the handle, it was welded.

Yes, we will carve spoons, feather sticks, butcher a beast or chop fire wood too and will show you how to make good pair nut crackers out of hazel and they also make a wonderful spade!

Cheers.

Jack.

**Gary** · 09-12-2003, 16:46

:-D You crack your own nuts Jack!

Sounds a good weekend shame I cant make it.

**Jack** · 09-12-2003, 16:56

Gary, leave my nuts out of this, we talking Billhooks here!

Cheers

Jack.

**Roving Rich** · 10-12-2003, 09:21

Damn I spent all night sharpening my hook.
:-(
Rich

**Jack** · 10-12-2003, 17:45

Rich, go on then, you can bring it!

**Nod** · 15-12-2003, 15:20

Was it the axe or the billhook?

**Stew** · 15-12-2003, 18:20

Oh yeah I had forgotten aboout this coz I'm still thinking it's Sunday as I've had the day of! Which was it?

**Jack** · 15-12-2003, 19:45

Well, that was one hell of a weekend I have just had! Five grown men who enjoy bushcraft in the woodland for a weekend.

I have never seen so much kit in all of my life and I never knew so much kit could exist. I don’t know where they all get their stamina from.

Some driving six hours to get to me on Friday night and then staying up until 5 in the morning talking bushcraft and then spending Saturday in the wood with me Hurdle Making.................and comparing tinder and fire steels and then staying up until 3am Sunday morning......................t alking kit! Then back into the woods on Sunday morning Hurdle Making and comparing..................... ...Hennessy Hammocks...........don’t ask! Back from the woods when it’s dark on Sunday night comparing..................... ....hurdles!!

Now, I can’t really answer the question that I asked at the beginning of this thread without sounding biased but the axes didn’t stand a chance really, it took an axe 7 swings and the hook only 2 to fell a 4 inch tree....... the hooks made the axes look like they were still made from flint!

I think the Billhook won over some fans over the weekend.................what do you say Ed?

Best wishes.

Jack.

**grumit** · 15-12-2003, 20:10

well done jack :biggthump

Ed · 15-12-2003, 23:05

Those billhooks of yours jack are very powerful tools. Learning how to use one over the weekend realy opened my eyes to a few things and I'm starting to regret noy getting one off you while I was there.... then again it may be better to leave it a few weeks and let my blisters heal :-)

All of us were impressed I think, but yes I'm a fan.... I'll use a hook over an axe anyday..... and it will be interesting to see how stuarts hook design comes out.

Being a skinny bloke with not much upper body strength I was amazed how easily I could cut through the hazel with just a flick of the wrist when I eventualy got the hang of the technique..... thats the thing about hooks, its all about technique....

O dear... I'm starting to sound like Jack raving about bill'ooks ;-)
your a good teacher jack... I'll remember alot.

:-)
Ed

**Nod** · 16-12-2003, 12:18

Sounds like a good time was had by all.

**theknight** · 16-12-2003, 12:36

Hold on a minute.

You are telling me that it took 7 swings of an axe and 2 swings for billhook to cut through a 4 inch tree..............hell, what sort of hook is that! and where do you get them!! Or is it a case of strenght!

And what other gadgets were on display?

**Tony** · 16-12-2003, 16:22

It was more a case of 4 axe and 3 bill hook

Good bit of kit and tough as nails.

**Fallow Way** · 16-12-2003, 16:38

I use both (midland) billhook and axe daily, a ot of traditional woodland management and hedgelaying. I would have to say, on the balance of things I much prefer an axe.

A billhook is preffered in hedgelaying where there are small gaps to get into, but other than that, with more or less every job i do, the axe is more efficient in my experience.

Not ever thought of a billhook in terms of using it for bushcraft, might take one along with me the next weekend i`m out and see how it matches up :-)

**Jack** · 16-12-2003, 17:00

Tone are you sure it wasn’t 40 axe and 3 Billhook!!

There was a fair bit of kit on display Tone, Kellam Stuart and Roving Rich bought there Hennessy Hammocks and a Ray Mears Hammock with them so we had six hammocks amongst us and I won’t say to much about the Hennessy Hammocks as there will be a review going up about them but Wow they are something else, three of us swung in one of them with a combined weight of about 48 stone.........pictures to follow.

Of course FireSteels, BlastMatches and god knows what other forms of fire lighting were on display with 4 different forms of tinder, all good, and all fun to watch in action.

We had a look at loads of different knots and I now know how to tie a knot while I am hanging on cliff face!...........you never know, that might come in handy in the woodlands one day!

Tony had about 58 different rucksacks to have a look at we had about 20 Kelly Kettles, 104 knifes, 300 metres of Para cord, 12 compasses, 8 axes, 11 billhooks, 10 survival saws and about 400 cigarettes. Please bear in mind that must of the above list was just what Kellam Stuart brought with him!..............

It was a wonderful time and I was impressed with everyone’s achievements and they are all a great bunch with great stamina . Ed has the makings of a Hurdle Maker and Tony earned the name Twist Master. Roving Rich is now know as Splitter Rich and if any of you know Jamie and Kellam Stuart, you will know what they are called anyway!..........

There is a lot more kit to come but I can’t remember it all, perhaps they can tell you.

Best wishes.

Jack.

PS. Don’t forget what I showed with those two hands full of soil!!

**Stew** · 16-12-2003, 19:08

Originally Posted by Jack

PS. Don’t forget what I showed with those two hands full of soil!!

And what was that then?
:-D

**Jack** · 16-12-2003, 22:17

The farmland soil - woodland soil comparison............

Ed · 16-12-2003, 22:33

There is more life in a handful of woodland soil than in a whole field that is farmed ;-)

Ed

**Jack** · 17-12-2003, 08:30

Thanks Ed.............I think Stuart is a bit tired or something..........or, that handful of soil doesn't invole any gadgets!!

Cheers.

Jack.

Ed · 17-12-2003, 14:09

I think you have given me a bit of a woodland bug Jack..... I've only gone and got myself signed up on a hedge laying weekend with the local agriculture college.....

;-)
Ed

**Roving Rich** · 17-12-2003, 15:32

Hi folks, we had a great time at the weekend. I was a bit nervous of meeting up with a a bunch of strangers I'd only chatted to here, my girlfriend (Fiona) helped -"bit like Internet dating in it". Then on arrival Ann pointed out "bit like a murder mystery weekend this, five strangers arrive at an isolated county house...",I looked around at the array of Billhooks, axes and sharp knives :shock: Still we all had a good time and it was great to put some faces to names.
I could have done with a bit more sleep though, I think a gag for Stuart (Kellam) may help? Stuart should award for top kit! For the smallest, lightest niftiest gadgets. I wish I could pare my excess baggage down to his meagre 2 side pouches on a yoke!! We will have to harass him on the kit chatter strand, as his knowledge, kit and explanations are extensive.

It was wonderful to meet the Beckett household, and share there idyllic rural life with us. To be shown in from a dark and stormy Dorset night to a wingback armchair by the fire with a hot cup of tea, fresh milk straight from the goat, eggs from the chickens and freshly baked bread in the morning - Heaven, Thanks guys. Excellent to get away from traffic noise, planes going over and streetlamps, though a few More road signs may have helped?

Hurdle making is hard graft. Respect to Jack for choosing it as his living.
"Twistmaster" Tony soon got to grips with turning Hazel rods into rope/withies at the ends of each weave, while the rest of us struggled and snapped em. I was one of the few that escaped without blisters!

I reckon the Billhook scored a decided win. Axes are good for little (maybe chopping down big stuff) that a the hook is not better at. When it came to felling a small tree, Axe 7 swings, if you include Tony's misses, billhook 4 though this was largely down to Jacks superior technique and experience

- cut with the grain, so cut in at a 45 degree angle. The same technique is applied to "cleaving" (splitting down the middle) the Hazel. Cut in at 45, open up, then using the "bill" of the hook cleave apart, no strength required as you have plenty of leverage and control with the hook. The difficult bit (for us not the Master) was keeping it central, this is achieved by bending the rod as it splits involving strange contortions and braces from us lot. Jack does this with his eyes closed (poser) or while chatting to us nonchalantly.

Blyme -bit of an essay and I don't seem to have covered a fraction of what occurred.
To conclude We all enjoyed ourselves and learnt stuff. If this small meeting was anything to go by than a larger get together will be a great success.
I look forward to it, maybe see you at the Knapp-in ?
Cheers
Rich :-D

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