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There are a lot of axe brands in the world right now. Some of them are Swedish. Some of them are Finnish. Some of them are made in Asia and sold under American-sounding names with enough marketing budget to make you forget to ask where the thing was actually made. And some of them, a small and shrinking number, are made right here in the United States by people who have been doing it for generations. Council Tool is in that last group. Has been since 1886. That is not a marketing line. That is just the history. We carry...

Yes, that is really what it is called. No, it is not a joke. The bastard file is a legitimate tool classification with a century of use behind it, and if you sharpen axes by hand, it is probably the most important file you own or should own. Here is what it is, where it fits in the sharpening sequence, and how to use one on an axe without destroying the edge or burning out the file. What a Bastard File Actually Is Files are classified by their cut, which describes the coarseness of the teeth and how aggressively they...

Most guys come across a double bit axe one of two ways. Either they find one in a barn or an estate sale and wonder what the heck they are looking at, or they see one hanging on somebody's wall and start asking questions. Either way, they want to know the same thing: what is this tool actually for, and is it worth keeping? The answer is yes. And if the handle is shot, here is how to fix that. A Brief History Worth Knowing The double bit axe is one of the more distinctly American tools ever made. It...

Every fall, somebody figures out they need to split a serious pile of wood and starts asking around. Splitting axe or splitting maul? Which one should I get? Forum guys argue about it like it's a religious debate. YouTube guys make fourteen-minute videos that eventually land on "it depends." Here is the honest answer: if you are heating your home with wood and you are doing it right, you own both. They are not the same tool. They do not do the same job. Picking one and white-knuckling it through every round in the pile is like deciding you only...

You pulled your hatchet out of the shed, gave it a good look, and the handle is shot. Maybe it cracked along the grain. Maybe it rotted at the eye from sitting head-down in the corner for three years like some kind of animal. Maybe it broke on a knotty piece of elm and left you standing there holding a naked axe head like a confused caveman. Whatever happened, you've got two choices: grab whatever's hanging on the peg hook at the hardware store, or do this right. We're going to walk you through doing it right. Why Most Replacement...