Hults Bruk Akka Forester's Axe (840772)

The Hults Bruk Akka Forester's Axe mates a 1.5 lbs. steel head with a 24" American hickory handle to create a lightweight axe that is eminently packable for the trail yet has enough power to clear forest trails. Akka is styled like a traditional Swedish axe with rustic presentation that the uninitiated may perceive as unfinished, but the knowledgeable will recognize as beautiful. Each Akka comes with a leather sheath, cardboard storage box, and detailed user's manual. This is an axe you will use for many years and will probably hand down as well.

The steel head weighs 1.5 lbs. and is hand-forged from Swedish steel in a forge that has been in operation since 1697. During the transformation from billet to head, the steel is hammered multiple times to increase its density and durability and reach its final shape. The iconic and unusual head shape of a Swedish axe has deep cheeks for maximum contact with the wood for resistance to loosening, but forward of the cheeks is a deep finger notch that lets the user grab very high on the handle (nearly to the centerline of the bit) for fine bushcraft work as well as general camp tasks. (Inferior axes have good wood contact or finger clearance, but not both.) After reaching its final shape, the head is differentially tempered with the bit hardened to hold a sharp edge, and the eye and poll left soft to remain resilient. In the proud Swedish style, the head is ground and polished only at the bit and the remainder of the head is left in its organic, forged state to showcase the great skill of the workers who were able to achieve such compound curves and complex shapes using only the forge. (When an axe head is ground all over, it is not a sign of quality but rather inferiority because the ground finish was applied to hide the crude forgings, imperfections, and general lack of skill of the workers.)

The American hickory handle is 24" long and has many subtle but complex shapes to maximize the axe's utility for various tasks. The handle is curved in an S shape to permit the user to choke up on the handle right under the head for fine carving control or hold the handle at the knob for full power during chops. The S shape lets the user generate more power and accelerate through the full swing by bending the wrist and snapping the last three fingers shut right before impact without ever having to bend the wrist in an awkward manner (as with a straight handle). The handle flares into a knob that is larger than the rest of the handle so that the user can maintain a light and lively grip without the axe wanting to escape from the user's hand at impact. Tight grips lead to less power rather than more, so the cross-section of the handle is oval rather than round to prevent the axe from turning in the hand during use (even with a light grip), and the sharp end of the oval is aligned with the bit so that the user can orient and index the head easily and intuitively during use. The knob area has a hole if you want to use Akka with a lanyard or hang it on a wall during storage.

The hickory handle is hung on the head using both wooden wedge and steel conical wedge to expand the wood in all directions to ensure many years of hard use without loosening. After hanging, the handle is treated with linseed oil, which penetrates deeply into the the hickory in a liquid state and then polymerizes into a solid over time to strengthen the wood and protect it against drying out and cracking. In contrast to a varnished finish, the protection with linseed oil is in the wood rather than on it. A linseed oil finish also does not affect the coefficient of friction of wood and cause blisters the way varnish does.

To maintain your Akka, clean off any sap or dirt. When the axe is dry, apply a treatment of a waterproof drying oil like tung oil to both wood and steel to seal them against the elements. To protect the leather sheath against drying out, treat it with Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP or Obenauf's Leather Oil. This is not difficult maintenance (in fact it will give you much pleasure) and it will ensure a lifetime of service from your Akka.

Keep your Akka nice and sharp. Not only will your Akka be more effective when it is sharp, it will actually be safer to use because it will cut with less force than with a dull bit and behave much more predictably on impact. There is no single or "best" way to sharpen your Akka, but excellent ways to sharpen it include:

• Edge Pro Sharpening System
• Hults Bruk Grinding Stone
• Opinel Manual Knife Sharpener
• Opinel Small Natural Sharpening Whetstone from Lombardia

Hults Bruk makes many different Swedish Axes in different sizes. If you fancy the Akka but want a different size, take a look at:

• Hults Bruk Kisa Felling Axe (2 lbs. head and 26" handle)
• Hults Bruk Almike Hatchet (1 lb. head and 16" handle)
• Hults Bruk Classic Hatchet Jonaker (1 lb. head and 9.4" handle)

Hults Bruk Part Number -  840772
Universal Product Code -  7391408407724