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If you spend any time in vintage axe communities, you will hear Norlund axes described in terms that get applied to very few American-made tools. "The Cadillac of axes" is the phrase that comes up most often. It is not marketing. It is the consensus of the people who have owned and used them, and it reflects something real about the quality that went into these heads during their production years. Norlund axes were made in Pennsylvania. They were made by skilled workers in a factory with over a century of axe-making behind it. They were sold through mainstream retail...

Creosote: What It Is and How to Keep It Under Control If you heat your home with wood, creosote is not something you can opt out of. It forms every time you burn, in every stove, in every chimney. The question is not whether you have it. The question is how much you have, what stage it is at, and whether you are doing the things that keep it from becoming a serious problem. The guys who have chimney fires are almost never surprised by bad luck. They are surprised by the logical conclusion of burning wet wood, running smoldering...

A good axe is not a disposable tool. The head in your hand right now could still be swinging a hundred years from now if somebody along the way bothers to take care of it. That is not an exaggeration. There are working axes in regular use today that were forged before the First World War. The steel is sound, the geometry is intact, somebody put a new handle on it somewhere along the way, and the thing just keeps working. Whether your axe is a brand new Council Tool or a vintage head you just re-hung, the maintenance is...

There is a version of American manhood that drives forty-five minutes into the backcountry on a logging road, hits a blowdown across the trail, and sits there until someone comes along or turns around and drives home. That version does not keep an axe in the truck. Then there is the other version. The one that gets out, handles the problem, and keeps moving. An axe in the truck is not tactical cosplay. It is not a prepper fantasy. It is a practical tool for a man who spends real time outdoors, drives roads that are not always maintained, and...

Most people who heat with wood are burning last year's wood this year. A smaller number are burning this year's wood this year, which means they are burning wet wood, which means they are working harder to get less heat and packing their chimney with creosote at the same time. The guys who have it figured out are burning wood they split two years ago, or three. They cut in the spring, split through the summer, stack before fall, and by the time the cold comes they are reaching into a pile that has been sitting since before anyone was...