Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

i66CAxVIPING AND WOODCRAFTshould have the edge and temper of a good axe. Itmust be light enough to carry in. or on one's knapsack,yet ft should bite deep in timber. The besthatchet I have used (and it has been vi^ith me in themountains for seven or eight years) is one shown inFig. 103, except that the handle is a straight one,17-inch, that I made myself. Its w^eight, withleather sheath, is i lb. 10 oz. With this keen littleFig.103.— Hatchettool I have cut many a cord of the hardest woods —hickory, oak, dogwood, beech, etc.— up to youngtrees eight or more inches thick, often laying in awinter night's wood with it. (The way to learnchopping is to go slow, give all your attention tomaking every blow tell just where it is needed, anddon't strike too hard.)Sheath Knife.— On the subject of huntingknives I am tempted to be diffuse. In my greenand callow days I tried nearly everything in theknife line from a shoemaker's skiver to a machete,and I had knives made to order. The conventionalhunting knife is, or was until recently, of the familiardime-novel pattern invented by Colonel Bowie. Itis too thick and clumsy to whittle with, much toothick for a good skinning knife, and too sharplypointed to cook and eat with. It is always temperedtoo hard. When put to the rough service for whichit is supposed to be intended, as in cutting throughthe ossified false ribs of an old buck, it is an evenbet that out will come a nick as big as a saw-tooth— and Sheridan forty miles from a grindstone!Siirh a knife, ^s 4iaped ^xpresslv for stabbing, which