AXEMANSHIP FOR SCOUTS

Taranaki Daily News, 12 October 1929, Page 25 (Supplement)

AXEMANSHIP FOR SCOUTS

CHOOSE A GOOD AXE. (By Lord Robert Baden-Powell.) (No. 3. —Copyright.) Of course a backwoodsman has to be pretty useful with his axe; and to become a good axeman a fellow must know, first' how the thing ought to be .done, and secondly he must have lota of practice in doing it before he can be considered any good. Bad workmen complain about their tools, but before starting to work be sure that your tool is a good one.

Your axe should be a “felling” axe, of which the head will weigh nearly three pounds. See that the handle or “helve” is perfectly straight and true in line with the head and the edge. To do this look along the helve with the edge of ‘ the head turned upwards. If the edge is not true to the helve your cuts will go all astray. TAKE. CARE OF YOUR AXE. Then see that your axe is sharp—really sharp, not merely with a good edge on it. A slightly blunt axe is no more good for cutting down a tree than is a blunt knife for cutting a pencil. You should learn how to sharpen it on a grindstone. (Learn this now, while you are in civilisation, where grindstones can be found and people are about to show you how to use them), When out in camp in India for “pigsticking” (that is hunting wild board with spears) we found how very necessary it was to keep one’s spear as sharp as a razor, and every time we killed a boar we would sharpen qp our spearheads again ready for the next fight. - We would not carry grindstones about with us but we carried a small fine file, with which we were able to touch up the edge; and that is what many an old backwoodsman does for, his axe—he carries a small file with him. There is an old saying with these (men that “you may lend your last dollar to a friend, but never lend him your axe—unless you know that he is a good axeman and will not blunt it.” The tenderfoot ■will go banging about with an axe, chopping at roots and

branches on the ground, and blunting the axe at every stroke on earth and stones; and when his arms tire—if he has not meantime chopped his own foot —he will throw the axe away, leaving it lying all anyhow on the ground—probably where it will catch and cut the toe of someone moving about after dark.

When . you want to leave your, axe strike straight down with it into a tree-stump, and leave it sticking there till required again. • USING TtiE AXE.

In using the axe, the tenderfoot generally tries to cover his bad aim by the extra strength of his blows. If an old hand is looking on he is smiling to himself and thinking how blown and what a backache he got himself the first time that he did it.

Don’t try to put force into the blow; merely be careful about aiming it; so that it falls where you want it to. The swing and the weight of the axe itself does the rest.

A good axeman uses his axe equally well left-handed or right. It is all a matter of practice and most valuable. FELLING A TREE. The way to. cut down a tree is to cut first a big chunk out of th© side you want the tree to fall on, and then to cut into the opposite side to fell it. Before starting to fell your tree, first clear away all small branches and bushes which might interfere with the swing of your axe, and therefore spoil your aim. Also clear .away any brambles or undergrowth that" might trip you at the critical moment. Cut out real chunks while you are at it, not a lot of little chips which are signs to anyone coming there later that a tenderfoot has been at work. It is all a matter of aiming your stroke well. Aim so that the tree will fall clear of other trees and not get hung up in their branches; When the tree falls, look out for the butt. This often jumps back from the stump, so never stand directly behind it. Many a tenderfoot has been killed that way. When the stem cracks and the tree begins to topple over, move forward in the direction of the fall, and at the same time outwards away from the butt. The great Victorian statesman, Mr. Gladstone, found his favourite recreation in cutting down trees. He used to explain that the great good that he got from it was due to his attention bein<r taken up with each stroke of the axe.° Every stroke had to be made carefully so that each blow should, fell in the proper place. Mind, eye, and hand beirm thus busily engaged, there was no room for troubling thoughts to come into his head. In this way he obtained complete rest for his mind, while the action of ’ raising and extending his arms, performed in the open air, gave him the beet possible bodily exercise.