I live in a forested area and have just started using bill hooks. I’ve bought several sizes and have attached them to various sized handles. If you can sharpen them well, they can be more effective( and less work) than power tools. I like that they run on multiple fuels like ; beans, sausage and rice, oatmeal, multiple grains, fresh vegetables...ect, with me as the self healing engine. They are extremely useful as a small log trimming and handling tool. A “hookeroon” or “pickeroon” that cuts too. They don’t replace axes and chainsaws, but they definitely have their niche. For the uninitiated, be mindful of the the hook when doing the initial sharpening. They generally come dull (blunt).You have to establish your edge bevel by grinding or filing. Both are dangerous. Hand filling is less so . I strongly recommend using a longer file (10”)with a handle to establish the primary edge bevel. (Wear gloves, you can thank me later). This will help train you to easily touch up the edge afield. The smart thing to do for the initial sharpening, is to clamp it to a board or use a vise. I didn’t. (My finger is healing nicely though) File an even plane , at the angle you desire, along both sides of the blade until a burr forms on one side of the blade. Once an even burr is established along the entire length of one side of the blade , change to a finer file or stone. (I like a double sided diamond sharpening stick ,with a leather sheath treated with fine automotive polishing compound ). Follow the plane you’ve established with the coarse file ,evenly , on both sides of the blade with the finer abrasive stone or tool. The burr will move back and forth, from side to side ,until it falls off. Use the treated leather sheath (with the tool inside) to polish the edge further and remove any remaining loose burr. If you did your part well, it will literally shave now and touch up easily when working. When using the leather, use slightly less of an angle. The leather deflects slightly when pressed against the edge ,and if pressed in too deeply, it can ride over the edge actually dulling it slightly.

In India we use longer hooks in general for farm/bushcraft work (as opposed to coconut cutting and general home use), but the reason you rarely see a back axe on our hooks is because we like to snap cut that's more dangerous with the back blade. Hooks come in so many shapes, lengths and weights, I like longer handled ones ranging between 700g to 900g that allow me to choke up for fine work and snap cut/chop upto 6-7 inches, no problem. (heavier and longer ones for thicker, seasoned wood, lighter and long ones for brush, and intermediate ones for bushcraft and camping). But anything over 6 inches I'd use an axe if I was only chopping large dia wood, but as a one main snap cutting, brush clearing, chopping tool it's really hard to beat in the tropical, sub tropical and semi temperate climes that are my stomping grounds :) plus they're so ubiquitous here as tools that nobody cares/raises an eyebrow if one is seen with them.

@RikthDcruze

2 жыл бұрын

I've seen billhooks being sold in India... Those things are heavy like axes. That i guess will go through trees easily.

My dad had a billhook for laying hedges but unfrtunately my brother used it at school at night to break into the school and smash it up . but back to the reviews it all boils down to right tool for right job and its in the hands of the users I've used both and found them useful when needed IE jungle or forest .good luck and god bless you and your family ... Lee

Billyhooks are a surprisingly effective tool to *prune* fruit trees, I tried it (their name in my local dialect means 'pruning tool'). I suspect their continuous existence is due to that use, and their use as brush clearing tools (which they would do much better with a longer handle, so that you do not break your back bending to use it) is a modern development -- because people still had them around when they started using pruning shears.

@benscottwoodchopper

5 жыл бұрын

Here in the UK billhooks have been used traditionally for hedge laying but also pruning, cutting small sticks for fire and gathering weaving materials. I have bigger handled tools with a similar shape for heavy brush clearing but the smaller billhook is easier to carry and something you could realistically take camping

My Great Grandmothers Billhook is a Pontypool pattern which thickens at the nose end so she used it for kindling apparently and I found it with a duct taped handle and that was the first new tool handle I made with some Ash that grew at my nans house in a Coppice/pollard. Suprisingly the grind remained pretty good for cutting and clearance.

Here's something i learned in Belize. Cut a long branch with a branch near the bottom. Cut the branch about 4 foot. And the bottom branch cut off about 8". You then use that branch as a hook to pull over growth to the side then you cut base with the machete. You can clear the ground very quickly!

@anemone104

2 жыл бұрын

My Grandad used to do the same thing (in the UK) when cutting bramble with a sickle or bagging hook. His prog was only about 2 1/2' long. You don't get your hands snagged by brambles when you pull your material over for the sickle and you keep your left hand from getting cut. Pulling material over keeps the hand winging the tool from getting cut by stray bramble ends.

@barkershill

5 ай бұрын

I have seen old photos of these being used to cut wheat along with a sickle . They were called banding sticks or bandy sticks . I can also remember seeing council road men using them when trimming the roadside banks in summer . No road signs or cones back then just a red flag about the size of a tea towel attached to a small Hazel stick .

I have one that is 3mm thick and is it definitely heavy for a machete, but it works pretty good on small hardwood trees up to about 2-3 inches thick.

I live in the nearest major town near the Danube Delta. a machete would be very usefull for amateur fishermen to cut reed (thatch). it can be found even on a small lake inside the town. sadly most people are cheap and improvise. not because they are very poor but because they save for more drink. i have tools (flashlights and knifes) for 15 fishermen but im not interested in fishing anymore. today i just ordered a Cold Steel Slang 21just to add in my collection. its 60 euros in my country. (another reason ppl dont buy good tools, everything cost alot more then in USA, at alot less income) nice honest review, Happy Hollydays!

Since I am no longer allowed a conventional machete after The Accident, I have a Cold Steel two-handed machete. No longer made but still available, it's a short wide blade on a fiberglass reinforced nylon fawnsfoot handle. Used like an axe it's fantastic for cutting saplings and small limbing.

Cuzanga sickle blade on a pole are great for banana trees, and a billhook brush axe is great for cleaving down bushes ☝️ I use katanaboy saws to slice down large trees, and I use Aranyik Etoh and Condor Viking Machete to fell down small to medium trees ☝️

@benscottwoodchopper

8 ай бұрын

ive used the large silky says before but the price is so incredibly high for what they do. any reason you don't use axes?

Hello! I've watched quite a few of your videos and I find myself getting a lot of enjoyment and value out of them. You've reinvigorated my love for axes and I really like seeing the enthusiasm and passion that you have for simple, but innately useful skills and tools. It is also a delight to see someone with an honest, scientific mindset that strives to learn and discover. I actually own the 18" Tramontina Latin, but I prefer my 22" vintage Latin that is somewhat lighter and thinner. I've used both of them for delimbing trees that fell over in storms and I actually did out-pace a chainsaw when working with 2" branches and smaller. I've also used them for cutting overgrown lawns with brambles and 5' tall grass and I think they are fantastic tools for those tasks. More recently though, I've also been using an American scythe with a weed blade for clearing light brush. The machete is great but I find it difficult to cut some kinds of brush without leaving a few inches of stem sticking up. The scythe however cuts brush similar to the kinds seen at both 2:45 and 5:00, but it makes it easier to cut low to the ground and I find myself not having to stoop as much while using it. I was able to cheaply buy one where I live in Pennsylvania, but I'd assume that unless you had an American scythe shipped over, you'd probably have to go with a continental European scythe. Another alternative that I've looked into is a grass whip and from what I've gathered, it does a similar job, but I haven't used one personally so I wouldn't know for sure how effective it is. Btw, I know exactly which person you hinted towards that made the ignorant comment about machetes and how they were only "good for genocide." Is it the same guy that, for five minutes, swung a machete slower than a feeble elderly man and then concludes from his misuse of the tool that they must be primitive and ineffective? Yeah, he pissed me off too lol. Anyways, I was thinking of getting two axes to complement my Chinese boy's axe that I've been using for a while. The Müller Biber Canada greatly interests me and I'm not sure whether I should get the 1000g or the 1300g, but I'm leaning towards the 1300g. I've been having trouble delimbing dead spruce trees and think that either would be good for that task, as well as bucking smaller logs. The second axe I'd like would be one similar to a Berlin-type and I'd like to use it for knotty softwoods. The most similar alternatives I've seen so far were the turpentine patterns and mortise axes, but I guess I could also find a Husqvarna splitting maul owner with buyer's remorse and just use that lol. Would you happen to have any recommendations for a Berlin pattern alternative that can be bought in the United States? I apologize for the length, but if you also have any input and/or recommendations then I'd really appreciate it. Thank you and keep up the good work!

@benscottwoodchopper

2 жыл бұрын

Glad you like the videos. Id say either 1kg or 1.3kg is up to you, both are good weights. Berlin patterns are rare as. Grinding down one of those swedish slpitters would take days

@timbertigox

2 жыл бұрын

@@benscottwoodchopper Ah that’s unfortunate. Perhaps I’ll try to forge one sometime if I can get around to it. Regardless though, I’m looking forward to participating in some future wood challenges with the Biber Canada. Thanks again.

When rummaging through a skip last weekend.i discovered a Hertford pat billhook ..I'm going to restore it and give it a sharpen then put it back into use as the garden needs a damn good tidy

I have two billhooks that I use for gardening, one of them is mounted on a pole. The ground in my backyard is too unstable for me to use a ladder safely so I use the billhooks instead.

My grandfather owns a land has alot of coconut trees. Theres a guy we know who harvests the coconuts on seasonal for us. So my grandfather has a collection of billhooks that looks way more bigger than the one in this video and more deadly to be honest. So he uses those billhooks to cut coconuts, roots, branches etc. The are really effective for such uses.

I got one from my grandfather, i guess its even older than him. It works very nice for delimbing 1 m - 2 m spruce or larch.

I have to clear wild honeysuckle more than anything (mostly green/living plants), and the most effective tool for it is a 29" Fiskars "machete axe". I've tried almost every cutting tool imaginable, from loppers to Latin machtes to parangs to long knives to a katana sword. The Fiskars is light enough to get a decent "whip" action with one hand if you choke up, and stout enough to cut through stuff as big as your arm with a two-handed swing. I haven't tried it on hardwood because I have axes for that. I'm not a Fiskars fan boy, but a lot of their stuff just gets the job done. The machete axe didn't really come with an edge, and it lost its Teflon coating straight away when I put it on the belt sander and buffer before first use. I only wish I had bought it before some of the other tools I tried (but I probably would have bought them anyway; it's an affliction).

is the kukri a good alternative to the bill hook in this case?

Don't forget there are lots of different types/styles of machete also including heavy machete designed for cutting wood. Good video enjoyed it, thanks.

@benscottwoodchopper

5 жыл бұрын

I think in general if you are choosing a machete your primary concern should be clearing smaller wood and brush, not felling trees. Generally the traditional machetes I've seen are either thin and long for clearing or shorter and thicker for heavier work and share many traits with the billhook making them pretty much the same tool. There seems to be some modern very thick but also large machetes on the market but I don't think they are very good. I imagine they would transfer a lot of shock to the hand, be very heavy and tiring to use for machete work, and still not hold a candle to an axe.

I love the bill hook. I use mine a lot for vines and thorny briers when clearing shooting lanes for deer hunting. It’s really hard to find bill hooks though. Don’t seem to be a lot of people making them.

@benscottwoodchopper

5 жыл бұрын

You can get really good Italian made billhooks by Rinaldi, they are available in the USA from this site www.baryonyxknife.com/rinaldi.html

@ajaxtelamonian5134

5 жыл бұрын

Morris of Dunsford make them in the UK down in Devon. They sell a fair bit online or can find them in most hardware shops on Dartmoor.

@mauromartani6821

3 ай бұрын

In Italia ci sono molti produttori inoltre esiste un attrezzo usato nel nord italia che è una via di mezzo tra la roncola e il machete . Si chiama manerasso .

Spot on Ben. I'm a massive Machete/Panga/Gollock fan. I've been lucky enough to have spent time in Central America and West Africa and seen the pure volume of of work they can do in skilled hands. But only a fool would compare them to an Axe for that log. But was I in the Woods/Forrest as much as you I'd for be packing one. I think a lot of KZread advice is just recycled bullshit. Some of the guys/girls need to spend more time getting dirty in the woods then remaking other youtubers videos for their channel. Great points well made Ben.

@benscottwoodchopper

4 жыл бұрын

Yeah i agree, horses for courses

are 2 handed machetes or billhooks good tools in this situation?

How does the thickness of the blades compare? The billhooks I've seen are always a little thicker than machetes. Glad to see them compared side by side. Tried to use a machete to clear some bamboo in the back yard, and anything above thumb thickness a trial. Blade really loved to deflect in the material unless you hit it perfectly. No such problems with an axe.

@benscottwoodchopper

4 жыл бұрын

Billhooks in general are a lot thicker, but vary greatly

There are many aspects which have to be considered, e.g. also safety, multifunctionality etc. I've grown up with axes and billhooks, and the billhooks were always - and still are - my favourite tool. We used the billhook mainly for processing brushwood and sometimes for some work in the garden (usually with apple trees), and the axe mainly for splitting logs. For cutting thicker logs we used, of course, not the axe but a saw. A machete wasn't there and would also not have made any sense for us. Now I am living in India, and machetes are only used, afaik, for cutting sugarcane - but even that is mostly done with any billhook of the right size. Billhooks are considered to be the favourite multitool for whatever purpose, every farmer and every household in general has at least one billhook. There are different billhooks, means different in size and shape, same as in England or elsewhere in Europe, and there are also bigger ones which are used to trim or cut trees, so one has always to keep in mind that billhook isn't billhook. Billhooks are multifunctional and often much safer than using an axe. An axe is good for cutting a standing tree or for splitting logs placed on a safe stand, but you cannot safely use them on any flexible items or in difficult environments (e.g. in the crown of a tree). It is simply too dangerous, there is high probability that you wound yourself if using them in the wrong scenario. Machetes are great for flexible items and softer ones (and especially the softer and fibrous ones), but they are usually poor in cutting through hard items. Billhooks are good for flexible items (sugar cane, millet, thin branches, brushwoood etc.) and can also cut hard items (if used the right way), and also their shape (hawk nose) helps to work (you can pull things with the nose to your side) and to increase safety (you do not slide or slip of a branch like it could happen with an axe). Billhooks are also used as openers for coconuts or for general household tasks, e.g. for getting and processing brushwood/firewood or cutting vegetables or opening up and cleaning fish. Such kitchen tasks are usually done by keeping the billhook with the edge up between the feet and pulling or pushing the veggies etc. over the edge. The thinner and lighter machetes are definitely not useful for harder items or stems, but they can cut through sugar cane, bamboo If you would use a bigger billhook there would have been absolutely no problem to cut through your stem in the video, and it would have taken not more time than what you showed with the axe. Here is a link to one of my videos where a guy cuts, standing in a tree, even branches with a bigger diameter with no big effort and much safer than he would have tried to do the task with an axe (but ok, nobody here would get the idea to use an axe in such a scenario): kzread.info/dash/bejne/g3Zhwc2wodmThpM.html I didn't ask him to try it also with my machete but I guess he would have simply laughed if I would have done ... So, I think, concerning general useabiity and multifunctionality and safety and possible use in a bushcrafter scenario in northern forests, I would - and that is my opinion based on my experience - always prefer one of my billhooks over any machete. And instead of carrying a heavy axe I would always prefer to carry a small folding saw. Especially this combination of billhook and folding saw gives you in general bushcrafting or any survival situation as per my experience definitely better and more options than carrying a machete and an axe. And if you would ask me what would be my third tool if I could carry three items, I would of course use the axe ... nothing against axes, of course ;-) But the machete would be not even considered to carry ... for me that is a great tools for some situations, but usually I don't cut sugarcane or millet, and if I would have to do so, I would simply use my billhook ;-) Rgds, Robert

Got an old Czech machete for £5.00 and its a bit of a monster as its about a yard long. It cuts up hawthorn as if it was an afterthought.

@benscottwoodchopper

5 жыл бұрын

Nice! I like the tramontinas, cheap and very good quality. They are a very effective tool

@ajaxtelamonian5134

5 жыл бұрын

Cool ive got one of their Bolos its also pretty effective.

Could you split kindling or small firewood with the straight edge of the billhook?

@benscottwoodchopper

2 жыл бұрын

yes it works decently

@sylvanstrength7520

2 жыл бұрын

@@benscottwoodchopper Thanks! Was just curious as I want to be able to carry a few different tools without carrying too much weight. I have a long and short machete, a belt knife, and a cold steel trail axe. Do you think it would be helpful to eventually replace the short machete with a billhook in the future? Or just keep what I have for now?

For being in the woods and general bushcraft can’t got wrong with a boys axe for weight and use it’s top but for craft work etc billhooks are ace

Try a Scandinavian scythe with a bush blade from Simon Fairlie. Save your back! =:D

good informative video, but the quality looks like it was recorded in late 1990s

@benscottwoodchopper

Жыл бұрын

Its an old video recorded on a old phone. Sorry bogdanoff

@lefunnyN1

Жыл бұрын

@@benscottwoodchopper remake ze video, oui?

@benscottwoodchopper

Жыл бұрын

@@lefunnyN1 doomp eit

I think alot of opinion comes from prior experience, if you come into this from survival and used to 7 inch survival knives then of course a machete seems very impressive, especially if your used to spending all day slapping a 6 inch bit of wood then spending the same amount of time to take down something bigger must seem amazing, a bit like going from a pedal bike to a moped but still doing 20 mile journeys and that's all they ever do, the moped will feel brilliant, they'll probably tell me how great the moped is because they're use to doing 20 miles and it's not that bad doing it in either car or moped and both are a step up from a pushbike, I'd be arguing the point from my perspective of someone that lives in Lincoln and works 300 miles away in Plymouth 😆

I think the Coppice is where the billhook is king and coppice would have been the mainstay of woods in old times especially in England not sure about Scotland but probably at least the same idea. People dont give enough credit to these older tools it seems to me and are just like "just use a chainsaw innit" even for tiny limbs. A friend of mine was doing a felling course and there was a tree only about 5-6 inches diameter and they said he wouldnt be able to cut it down and he said they were shocked when he proceeded to chop it down in less than a minute XD

@benscottwoodchopper

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah there used to be a unique type of billhook for every major town it seems, back in the day forests were far more managed than they are today and even tiny sticks were gathered for firewood, with billhooks used to gather them. Definitely this idea in most modern people that they need a power tool for everything, ends up taking longer with it most cases when you are only doing a small amount of work and the hassle with extension cables or getting a 2 stroke running that has been sitting in a shed for 6 months

I find i funny that people always have 1 machete in mind. There are literally more different patterns of machete than axe patterns. Stiff and heavy, light and nimble, recurved or with big belly, flex or no flex. To all sum them up under the tramontina latin machete is not a good way to come to a solid conclusion. And you are right that people use axes in jungles, but thats close to home. I have never seen any guide carry an axe, because they can whip up a shelter and fire real quick with a machete. Also the notion that a jungle consists of softer wood is a myth. In my experience, the further you venture into the jungle, the harder the wood. Also the size of tree you are tackling there has nothing to do with what we actually use in the jungle. Up to 5 inches is the absolute max in cross cutting. We do not need a fire for warmth. We need a couple of smaller ones that smoulder to keep the moskitos at bay and a small cooking fire. A log the size you were tackling with the axe is still burnable. Just drag it into the middle of your fire and let the fire cut it. Then slide in the ends as needed.

@benscottwoodchopper

4 жыл бұрын

Yes the tramontina is not the only machete on the market, i have others and a lot of billhooks, but in my experience thier chopping is all terrible compared to any axe. The don't concentrate the force as well, fail to lift chips and don't have a 'heel'. When you learn how to use an axe properly by chopping with the heel you can cut twice as deep

@michaelschwarz5907

4 жыл бұрын

@@benscottwoodchopper i am not going to argue the effectiveness of an axe when chopping. I just want to mention that there are a lot of stiff and heavy machetes that work rather well, especially with green, springy wood in lesser diameter. Also the method commonly used to split even gnarly pieces of wood is to get it to bite at one end(doesnt matter if chopped or sawed off) and slam the piece onto a hard surface like a big root or a rock. People dont baton, that is a western product. The trick using a rock is to pull the blade up before it hits the rock. A tramontina is too thin to do that. Even a condor parang will have issues without some serious slimming of the convex. But it can be done and most people use that instead of an axe because many axes here have a metal pipe as an handle and get beat to hell and back on the really nasty stuff, or are simply not available. The biggest point for a machete is not neccessarily its multi functionality, but the ability to work with bamboo(even thinner walled bamboo less than 5mm strength), without smashing it to pieces. And of bamboo is available, it is the go to resource to make everything from a rice cooker, cooking pot, fire and shelter. It is ingrained in these cultures. Now, if it can still split wood, thats a plus but then it needs to be bulkier and heavier, or its longer and thinner and can clear rattan and other thorny things out of the trail. That tramontina is thin, long and flexible for trail clearing and hence really not the best comparison to an axe. You need a stiff machete with 4mm on the spine and a decent grind and you will see it will outperform that brushhook relatively easy when it comes to chopping. However, there is just a mechanical advantage to an axe, when you focus solely on the chopping task almost any axe of quality will outperform a machete in that regard. Ok, that was very long. Sorry for that😀

Hi Ben, not sure if you have seen Terry Hale’s video on using machetes but I found it to be very informative. He lives in upstate NY in a heavily forested area. I recently moved to a heavily forested area in Vermont so I’m soaking up all sorts of forestry and bush craft related content on KZread. Here is a link to Terry’s video in case you are interested. kzread.info/dash/bejne/eWhmpc9pkdjPnNo.html

@benscottwoodchopper

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah his videos are the best

Is this your own land?

@benscottwoodchopper

4 жыл бұрын

No its an estate I work at

bills and machetes are much easier to carry when compared to the axe.

@seppukusushi2848

10 ай бұрын

Tomahawks are easy to carry.

Calling an Italian “pennato” a “machete” is sacrilegious, especially since Italians invented that tool and were the first to defeat Ceasar when he tried to invade Liguria (from there even Ceasar started to issue “pennati” and “roncole” to the military since they were the first actual multitools, from wood working to fighting)

@benscottwoodchopper

2 жыл бұрын

I dunno man just calling it what it says in the catalogue 🧐

Just a point n safety don't ever chop with heavy blade like that its an accident waiting to happen .just a point to note remember your responsible for your viewers who may copy you mate . Lee

@benscottwoodchopper

3 жыл бұрын

What do you mean? What was dangerous about what i was doing?

@leemichel8199

3 жыл бұрын

@@benscottwoodchopper swinging a machete or bill hook towards you .if it had glanced off the wood it could potentially hit you leg that was in the line of fire .just saying if your ok with that then that's ok too . God bless . Lee

@benscottwoodchopper

3 жыл бұрын

@@leemichel8199 i see, there is quite a lot more too it than just not swinging towards yourself, i explain it here kzread.info/dash/bejne/aqCrr8WelKmfmqw.html

@leemichel8199

3 жыл бұрын

@@benscottwoodchopper I totally understand where your comming from mate . But a newbe may just have a bill hook lying around and not have the experience and hit the wood and get hurt if not shown at the time he or she watched your videos bud .I'm not saying you were not safe for you .I'm saying there are a lot of people she don't watch all the vids and are not as strong in their grip etc .look I'm not here to put you down bud or get into arguments . I think your content is great .I was worried about some young or old inexperienced person going out with one of those types of blade .. sorry if I came across as an idiot . Thanks .Lee

Would you please move your leg from where your cutting

@benscottwoodchopper

Жыл бұрын

Would you please read the axe book and learn how to chop before lecturing more experienced people online

Well pardon me , but you don’t seem to have any idea what a billhook was designed and still widely used for . There are many patterns but they were all designed for hedge laying and coppicing . And like most tools they are superb when used for the purpose for which they were designed . I and most other professional hedge layers in Britain would use it on upright stems up to about three inches thick and for anything bigger use an axe .

@benscottwoodchopper

5 ай бұрын

I am perfectly aware of what a billhook is used for thank you. Seems like you've just gotten the wrong end of the stick

Your video quality is very poor

@benscottwoodchopper

4 жыл бұрын

yes, I upgraded to a better camera, watch one of my newer videos