An axe with a flexible wood handle

[bandel4]

Hi...thought I'd share this video I recently compiled.
Mr Moderator, please move my post if it is not posted on the right place.

Enjoy

[Biker]

Gotta love that left-handed swing action

[mrcharly]

Is there supposed to be an advantage to that handle? Looks to me like he doesn't have much control over where he hits.

[southey]

Looking at the cuts he seems to have plenty control over the tool, very cool video Bandel4, what is the wood called? is that axe used just for felling?

[JAG009]

Looks to me like he doesn't have much control over where he hits.

Are you watching the same clip,, both cuts on the tree are no wider than the axe head ,,looks ok to me


Jason

[Dreadhead]

awesome swinging there, what are the adventages though? i would think a non-flexible haft delivers more force? then again you use what woods are around i guess. still very interesting

[Mesquite]

Looks to me like he doesn't have much control over where he hits.

Look at his cut on the left side of the tree... I'd say that was pretty good control of the axe to achieve a cut like that

[mrcharly]

Are you watching the same clip,, both cuts on the tree are no wider than the axe head ,,looks ok to me


Jason

Erm, that's not accurate.

Someone who is good with an axe will be able to position the blows to within less than a centimetre. There is at least one blow where he is out by 3-4".

He's also just chopping downward, no upward blows, so if the tree was much bigger he'll very soon get chips jammed and have to faff about to free them.

Sorry, I don't see great axe work there. But then I grew up watching axemen race.

[southey]

Hahahaha well I guess there is a big difference from watching axemen race, to a chap who just uses the tool day to day to make life work,

[southey]

But hey, who cares, its this guys tool and he does very well with it, the cut works on that tree

[JAG009]

Erm, that's not accurate.

Someone who is good with an axe will be able to position the blows to within less than a centimetre. There is at least one blow where he is out by 3-4".

He's also just chopping downward, no upward blows, so if the tree was much bigger he'll very soon get chips jammed and have to faff about to free them.

Sorry, I don't see great axe work there. But then I grew up watching axemen race.

This sort of stuff you mean http://youtu.be/fIz2sNmAffw all good and well but the axes they use are for one 4 to 6 times bigger than the one used in the clip and cost thousands of dollers ,,,and the guy on the clip got the job done ,,i think you are just splitting hairs,,,,, it was well accurate enough to get the job done ......



Jason

[John Fenna]

I wish I was as accurate with an axe...

[jorn]

What's the point of striking the wood within one centimetre every time? It doesn't help for felling a tree. One needs to open up a gob on both sides of the tree to get it the wood to break. I think this man cuts down a tree with minimal effort, even though i think i wouldn't like a felxible axe, it seems to work for him.

[mrcharly]

This sort of stuff you mean http://youtu.be/fIz2sNmAffw all good and well but the axes they use are for one 4 to 6 times bigger than the one used in the clip and cost thousands of dollers ,,,and the guy on the clip got the job done ,,i think you are just splitting hairs,,,,, it was well accurate enough to get the job done ......



Jason

That sort of thing - but the axes used back then came from the hardware store and cost bobbins. The champ axemen had beer guts the size of rhinos and the uniform was white plimsoles, white trousers and blue singlets - Aussie blokes dressing up to impress the ladies.

I don't deny that the bloke in that video did a good job of chopping down the tree, it's just that his bendy handle seemed to send the axe all wibbly wobbly. More of a good craftsman managing to use his tools rather than good tools.

[bandel4]

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the comments.

I made the video solely because I am amazed at how much traditional craft and knowledge that still exists within Stem and his people. The Semelai tribe, according to some books have made Lake Bera their home for more than 600 years and for that I think they have adapted very well to their surrounding. They are one of the few indigenous communities in Malaysia I know that still make dug out canoes, fire pistons, musical instruments with materials from freshwater puffer fish (from the lake) and even harvest tree oil using fire the traditional way. The Semelais at Lake Bera are like my 'Myth busters'


As for the flexible wood handle, Stem refers to it as 'Mempulut'. The word 'Pulut' itself means 'glutinous rice'...'Mempulut' is literally 'to glutinous rice'.

I am amazed because he did not use rattan for a flexible handle. Rattan is something he could find easily in the jungle around the lake. He told me the flexible wood handle lessens the vibration to the hands and arm when in use. This would allow them to work longer hours. If he expects to be chopping down big trees, he would soak the wood overnight as it would allow the wood to be more 'springy'.

Initially, I thought Stem was the only one using the wood. But when I visited another village where Jamri (the fire piston maker) is staying and casually asks him what kind of wood he uses for his axe, he too brought out a piece of Mempulut wood. Jamri was demonstrating his mempulut wood towards the end of the video.

[HillBill]

I can see the handle has a few benefits, but it also lessens impact force. Less force = more blows = more work. They may be able to work longer hours with that axe, but i wonder if they will be working longer hours "because" of that axe.

Good vid though, i expect the axe is pretty lightweight too.