James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
Fiskars doesn’t claim that the Pro Chopping Axe is unbreakable, but it does give the axe a limited lifetime warranty against defects in worksmanship, covering both head and handle. Most owners of the Fiskars Pro will not take it past its limits, which are set pretty high anyway. In one demonstration, the Fiskars axe is run over by a truck but emerges undamaged.
Axe craft focuses damage in other ways than a truck would, but the Fiskars still holds up well in most cases. The handle — built of composite nylon and fiberglass — extends completely around the solid steel axe head and eliminates problems with loose fits and fly-away steel. The balance is totally different from either a wooden or steel-handled axe, since the Nyglass composite is so light, but it’s easy to adapt to the lighter load. The handle is more comfortable to use than steel — the Nyglass absorbs much of the shock.
Part of the axe’s efficiency comes from the narrow profile of the axe head itself — a thinner wedge cuts with less resistance than a heavier axe head with a wider build. That thinner edge may sometimes fail when working on the hardest woods. If that happens, rather than make things worse by trying to power on with a dull bit, owners should stop and fix the problem. A little work with a diamond hone should put the Fiskars Pro back to rights.
In carpentry or timber framing, the bulge of handle material around the axe head would be a real problem and make accurate trimming awkward, but few homeowners need an axe for that sort of work today. Those who do will own something else — probably an axe from Gransfors Bruks.
James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
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Fiskars doesn’t claim that the Pro Chopping Axe is unbreakable, but it does give the axe a limited lifetime warranty against defects in worksmanship, covering both head and handle. Most owners of the Fiskars Pro will not take it past its limits, which are set pretty high anyway. In one demonstration, the Fiskars axe is run over by a truck but emerges undamaged.
