2.25 lb Boy's Axe, 28" Curved Handle, Made in USA

Council Tool Boys Ax came. Its tremendous value at just $64 is due to what you both get AND don’t get. No unnecessary cost goes into this, keeping its price point low. (Why pay for steps you prefer to do yourself?) All I wanted for my $64 was the famous, Council Tool, hand-selected hickory handle and a metal head of traditonal design with sufficient hardness to keep an edge but be easy to sharpen and maintain. I got all of that and much more than I expected, considering the quality of materials, manufacture and fit. All are well beyond my requirements. Keep in mind mine is stamped as being manufactured in '23. A number of changes distinguish this ax from the older versions, like the ones with red paint back in the day. It's unusal for a budget ax to come sharp enough to use right from the box. And no one would say this came with a "perfect" edge. But they sure give you a good headstart while leaving you maximum material to shape and sharpen suited to your own preferences or needs -- as there is great variety of situations and opinions on it. This one came sharp enough to be safe to use right off the line out of the box. See the photos -- that edge has not been touched yet. Not a pretty edge, by far. But what hardware ax would come this sharp? Most hardware store axes are dangerous because they're too dull to bite. The glance off the wood. This CT boys ax had no trouble taking big, deep bites into seasoned ash. It doesn't comes with a sheath, but that would add maybe another $20, plus be someone other than you picking the sheath/mask style and materials. Choose your own from all the sheath and mask styles availabe for this ax. (And so many of us like to make our own sheath, as I did from scrap leather). So, lack of a sheath is actually added value, again, to my way of thinking. It's “Utility” finish is a single coat of boiled linseed oil (to quote one of their videos) -- which probably added next to nothing to the cost. Again, that's something I very much appreciate. I gave it a sanding and it's drunk in four more boiled linseed oil applications so far that I've given it, spaced out a few hours apart, each one drying nicely and leaving a deeper, richer amber tint, giving definition to the hickory's characteristicly beautiful grain. Awesome). Speaking of grain, orientation is perfect. Grain orientation's not real important to me. I don't hear about many twisted grain or horizontal grain handles breaking. More of a "web culture" thing, I think. Just gets repeated a lot. So that adds value in the eyes of those who might inherit or buy this ax from me, it is just anoither superlative bonus. See in the photos how the grain is perfectly oriented all along the haft, from eye to knob, no twist/runnout. As for hang, its magnificently well mated to the eye, maximum wood-to-metal contact. And then, it's not only proud of the head (just as I would hang it, giving it additional reassurance it won't work loose), but Council Tool says it shapes the eye with an internal taper, added mechanical advantage. Yet another confidence-inspiring feature! *Manufacturer’s grinding error: One complaint. The blade's primary bevel was carelessly ground. I imagine demand is so high for these newest Council Tool versions of the Boy's Ax, the employees are probably rushing these things or get tired out while maximizing product availability. My heart sank when I first saw how unevenly the edge profile was. I thought, “Oh no. No no no. This has got to go back. Damn it!" Such a beautiful ax, ruined by a botched grinding job. But when I assessed the issue more closely, I could see the setup person had ground just the end of one side too far, had only biffed the toe. Checking from the heel was a whole different picture. I was relieved to see the blade was ortherwise symmetrically ground. The bit line was actually centered all along the blade in spite of error at the toe. This wouldn't take much filing to correct and, really, I'd be able to do that during my own sharpening work when I got to that point. I knew I could do it without altering the sweet curve of its classic "Dayton" profile. That changed my mind. Definitely keeping it. One small defect (though significant). But the rest of this ax's features are absolutely astounding. If my $64 ax I got yesterday is the "new standard" for their budget boys ax line (in contrast to their Velvicut, premium boys axes), demand, and consequently price, are surely only to keep rising. I'm buying three more in the next week to personalize and give as Christmas presents just in case my prediction comes true. *Performance out of the box: Before I did anything to it myself, I wanted to see how it performed straight from the factory's line. It was definitely sharp enough out of the box to work well. I accidentally bumped my thump against it while moving it aside. Not a slicing motion, a slight "encounter with." Deep incision without even realizing it and profusely flowing blood. Ouch. (It's me. If I have any tool near me, and I'm not dripping blood somewhere, I'm not trying). But any jagged metal thing can cut you. How would this work at its intended applications? I took the ax outside for a quick test. True, no ax needs a "razor edge" to work sufficiently well. It does need enough edge not to be dangerous, biting into rather than glancing off the wood. See the photos. This one's edge was meant to be sharpened by the customer. But I could use it just as it was. With its thin, flat cheeks and its ½- to ¾” ground blade at a 20-22 degree primary bevel, it didn't just bite the wood -- it sank effortlessly deep into the 2-year-cured ash logs I presented it. Right out of the box, it was a pleasure to split with. I meant to just try one or two splits, but it was ... fun. I had to do another and another. A half dozen splits later I remembered I wanted to try bucking and limbing, hewing and one-hand carving. Straight from the box, with no touch up, it was an effective chopper and slicer. The gnarly wire left by the quick factory grind snapped off in a few swings and its edge just went to work. True, in thick logs, when I swung with both hands, its long, narrow blade profile with its flat, near-zero rise in the cheek, definitely wanted to stick. Whenever I swung it hard to buck a 8-inch cured ash log, I had to brace a foot and lever it up and down to get it out. Don't know it green wood would have eleased it easier or not. Of course, I hadn’t expected it to perform as a felling ax, but I believe I certainly could use it for that purpose if I wanted to. *For me vs for another: Back inside, I tidied up the ever so slight “shelf” left around the shoulder during hanging, which on this budget line, the site says, is done hydraulically. I’d do that no matter who the ax was for. But when it came to addressing the edge grinding error, I decided not to do too much about it. Just a little. I did want to fix the unsymmetrical grind at the toe, which now had just the tiniest fold-over at the very tip from the splitting and chopping session. That’s directly a result of the thin, lop-sided grind at the toe. That part of the bit just didn't have enough material behind it. The edge folded toward the weaker side. So, if this was someone else’s ax, I’d take the time to correct the grinding error, making the blade angles symmetrical and consistent heel to toe. And I'd polish out the coarse grinder marks. That's the only think that might make me wonder if it would be better off to send it back and ask for one without that defect. That's because the blade as comes from the factory has an incidental hollow grind. Meaning, it would take quite a bit of work – and would remove quite a bit of nicely tempered edge material – to get the hollow out. Being a budget ax, what are the chances my replacement ax would be fault-free? And what exactly would those defects be? Quandry. Fix this one, or roll the dice on another? No problem. Since it is for me, I prefer to accept it as it is. I'll do just enough to hone the bit but leave the hollow grind in. That way I'm saving every bit of useful life as possible. In fact, I don’t actually mind a hollow grind, myself, and even used to prefer them. I only went back to "Scandi grind," which I didn't even know had a name, when I saw a guy with a cheap ax and profound preference for hollow grind leave a big chunk of his blade in a log on his very first swing after "sharpening" it. WAY too much hollow in that grind! But I also saw the tell-tale blue-black signs of heat amage he'd inflicted on it at the grinding wheel. The hollow grind on this Boys Ax head isn’t likely to be a problem, though, since it’s so shallow and doesn't look to have any heat damage, so no loss of temper. Then, too, from experience, I know even this slight of a hollow grind just makes it that much easier to put a keen edge on it. Of course, in time, it will eventually disappear, after sufficient re-sharpening sessions but why remove it right now, when it's just for me to use? I see no good reason to throw all that useful service life away right at the very beginning of this ax’s life? Therefore, I’m leaving the hollow grind in. (In the picture, you see it more profoundly than it actually is now, since I took the snapshot after a few passes of the file defined it... I kept going). Didn't really take that many passes to fix. Now the blade is a consistent 20 degrees throughout, not just "mostly." And I worked out the tiny rolled over corner. A bit of stitching and its new custom sheath I made for it will be done. *In conclusion: I had hoped only to get a good boys ax, whose traditiaon American-style head (actually I guess English, if someone who corrected me is right) mounted on a gorgeous piece of world-renown Council Tool hickory. That would already have been a bargain all by itseld at a total cost of $70 (after sales tax, with free Prime shipping). I was prepared to do so much more to it – but am pleased to say i didn’t have to. For all this, I am grateful for this manufacturer. Please, Council Tool, keep up this bargain line for other guys like me, those who don't WANT you "improving" this model any further. It's exactly what we want. This ax looks and performs now, after very little effort on my part, like axes that cost 3-5 times what this one did. I am very happy with this purchase.

This should be the standard for bushcraft axes! American made, very reasonable priced! Easy to customize and make your own. No reason to spend 2-4x as much when this axe is available.

Please be advised that I bought this axe for throwing at my local league, not for chopping or splitting, so I don't know how it performs under those circumstances but I'm sure it excels at that too! If you're throwing IATF matches and you're around 5-4 to 5-10 this is the Big Axe for you. I got sick of losing tie breakers with super long, heavy big axes they have at my league venue. I read that this was a great throwing axe and indeed it is, especially for smaller throwers like me, I'm about 5-8. As the name implies, it's a "Boy's Axe" so if you're 6-3 it may feel a bit small, but I've seen tall guys throw 1 handed bulls with it! The axe is very well made. The head / handle interface has no gaps at all...a good tight fit. Head is perfectly aligned with the 28" long handle. I did cut the handle to exactly 25", IATF regs, and I've thrown numerous bulls and even a few clutches. My Big Axe throwing abilities improved dramatically within the first few throws. Since buying it a couple weeks ago, I've not needed to settle a tie breaker yet, but I know that day is coming, and when it does, I may not win, but at least I won't humiliate myself by bouncing the axe off the boards!! It comes pretty sharp out of the box, but remember it's made for felling and splitting not throwing, so I used a belt sander to taper the blade back a bit more and now I can slice sheets of paper with it. They've actually just started carrying these axes where I throw so I guess the secret is out!

The actual length of handle is 20.5”. Probably would make for a good camp axe. Short enough to fit in a backpack and climb a tree with, but not long enough to take full swings driving wedges or felling a decent size tree.

Poor handle quality. Mine broke during first real use. I was happy with the size, but, it is a small axe. The handle snapped off just under the head with a slight twist in a tree I was cutting up. Disappointed.

I picked this one reluctantly, since the 28” version was out of stock. I was worried it would be a little too short. I’m 5’8” with longer arms. This turns out to be the perfect size for most every felling, bucking, and splitting task I’ve encountered so far. I live on thirty acres and have no central heat. All the warmth in my house comes from burning wood. This axe has proven up to the task. Granted, I also use a chainsaw for processing wood, but I am very happy with this axe. Handle is finished well and the factory edge got really sharp after a few passes with file and stone. The edge has proven easy to maintain and it has taken a beating.

Great axe. 10/10 will purchase Council Tools again.

This is my third Council Tool axe. I have a 5 lb and 4 lb bit and wanted this 2.25 lb for easy splitting of kindling. It works great for this purpose—especially when paired with a pickaroon in the other hand. Very ergonomic and easy to use; I essentially view it as a large hatchet. Recommend oiling the handle in boiled linseed oil before using and always maintaining a coat.