William Coperthwaite is a
teacher, builder, designer and writer who for many years has explored the
possibilities of true simplicity on a homestead on the north coast of Maine. In the spirit of
Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, and Helen and Scott Nearing, Coperthwaite
has fashioned a livelihood of integrity and completeness — buying almost nothing,
providing for his own needs, and serving as a guide and companion to hundreds
of apprentices drawn to his unique way of being. A Handmade Life(Chelsea
Green Publishing, 2007) carries Coperthwaite’s ongoing experiments with hand
tools, hand-grown and gathered food, and handmade shelter, clothing, and
furnishings out into the world to challenge and inspire. The following excerpt from
chapter 1, “Society by Design/Design by Society,” solves the problem of finding
a simple, broad hatchet by teaching you the basics of forging one.
“When love and skill work
together, expect a masterpiece.”
— John Ruskin
A
Democratic Axe
It is hard to find a good
broad hatchet — a small, broad axe with a wide cutting edge beveled on only one
side, like a chisel; this special bevel makes it easier to hew to a line.
After forty years of hunting
in antiques shops and flea markets, I have found only two broad hatchets that
passed muster. To friends who sought one of their own, the outlook was discouraging.
They could get one made — if they happened to know a good blacksmith, if
they had a good design, and if they could afford the price.
Or you could forge one
yourself, but by the time you had learned to make a fine one, you would have become
a blacksmith yourself. This is an elite tool. In Japan,
in the Tosa region of the island
of Shikoku, I was
surprised by the number of blacksmiths. Each village had its smith, and all
could make excellent edge tools. It was delightful to see the grace and skill
of those smiths. I became friends with one who made a broad hatchet to my specifications.
Twenty years went by, and in the interim I had studied many axes and was
blending what I had learned into my ideal of a broad hatchet.
A few years ago I carved a
pine model and sent it off to my blacksmith friend in Shikoku.
Yes, he would make it for me. Two years passed and it did not appear. I assumed
the project was forgotten.
While visiting Italy, I came
upon an elderly smith who had made axes years ago. I carved another pattern,
and he forged the axe. Now, these are far from democratic tools. To get one you
first have to design it and then know a smith in Japan
or Italy
or wherever who can — and is willing to — make an axe from your design.
It was doubtful that the axe
from Japan
would materialize, and the Italian smith was very old and sick and would
probably not make another. A good broad hatchet for students and friends who
wanted one was as elusive as ever. And though this axe adventure was exciting,
and I had acquired some fine ones, we badly needed to have some inexpensive
ones available.
While studying in Switzerland
the breakthrough came. The tiny fellow who lives upstairs above my right ear
(and works mostly at night) shouted “Eureka!”
He presented me with a full-blown design for a democratic axe.
I could hardly wait to get
back to my bench. For steel there was an ancient plow point of about the right thickness
lying behind the barn. Into the bonfire it went and when glowing red, we heaped
ashes over it and let it remain until morning, cooling slowly and releasing its
hardness. Next day I reheated and hammered it flat using a handy ledge for an
anvil. When it cooled, I drew the pattern on it. Three hours of work at the
vise was needed to cut it to shape with a hacksaw and another hour to dress it
with files.
For us amateurs in axe
making, there are two major difficulties. One of these is forging the eye of
the axe — the hole into which the handle is inserted in a conventional axe. This
democratic design eliminates the eye. The other difficulty is tempering, or
bringing the steel to the correct hardness. Smiths have long been respected for
their skill at this magical process of tempering steel, which requires good
judgment and much experience to be able to do dependably.
After a good deal of
pondering, experimenting, and reading all that I could find on tempering, some
of the mystery began to fade. Before tempering, the steel must be hardened by
being brought to red heat and then plunged in water. Then it seemed that
tempering was merely a matter of temperature control. So we put the axe in an oven
set at 475°F for half an hour and let it cool slowly. This worked!
Now, you smiths may object,
reminding us that a tool like an axe that gets a blow needs to be soft in the
eye to resist breaking. To this charge I plead nolo contendere. However,
a broad hatchet is made with a short handle for use on a block, and such
hatchets do not undergo the same severity of blows.
For the first time, we now
have a democratic axe — an axe that most anyone who wants one can have. (You say you
never knew you needed an axe, and I say, very well. Even so, here we have
another example of one more democratic tool, which will make design of the next
one a little easier, whatever its purpose.)
This experience with the
broad hatchet is important for me on several levels. First it has been an exciting adventure all along the way, from learning to appreciate the
variations in different forms of such a basic tool, to designing my own which
others made, to ultimately making my own. Another level of the adventure is to
be able to help others make their own hand axes and in the process gain the confidence
that comes from making a tool. This process demonstrates how we can have
adventure in a variety of ways: designing, working with the hands, and working
with the mind as we carry the concept of democratic things further.
Another value this
experience has had for me is the breaking of mental and social barriers, which
we need to be able to do if we are to solve our problems and create a decent
society that works for all people.
At times the outlook appears
very dark. It would seem our problems are insurmountable. As with this little
hand axe, I was quite sure
that I would never make my own. And yet, without consciously focusing on the
problem directly, unconscious forces were at work and discovered a solution. This
gives me hope that if we can continue searching and caring and supporting one
another — we may be able to find the solution to even our worst problems.
P.S. The broad hatchet from Shikoku finally arrived. It is a veritable gem. Actually,
two came — a left- and a right-handed one — polished to a mirror finish and gently wrapped
in small white towels.
How to Make a Broad Hatchet
1. Trace the pattern in the Image Gallery on annealed (temperable) steel, 5/16-thick.
2. Cut out the axe head with
a hacksaw.
3. Smooth all edges with a
file, and file the bevel to make the cutting edge. (For a right-hander, the
bevel should be on the right, for a lefty on the left.)
4. Drill two rivet holes.
5. The face should be
slightly hollowed, like a shallow gouge. To do this, carve a hollow (6 inches
long and 1/4 inch deep) in a chopping block. Heat the axe head until it is
glowing red, then hammer it into the hollow with the bevel side up.
6. To harden the steel, heat
it to glowing red and plunge it immediately into cold water.
7. To temper the steel, put
the axe head in an oven at 475°F for about twenty
minutes and allow to cool slowly.
8. Carve a handle of
hardwood in the form shown in the photograph in the Image Gallery and rivet it to the axe head. You
can customize the handle’s curve and weight to your own preferences.
“If
one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live
the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common
hours.”
— Henry David Thoreau
This excerpt has been
reprinted with permission from A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity, published by Chelsea
Green Publishing, 2007.
