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Who still brings axes?

What it be like Mem. I could buy one cheaper with my US saw bucks than you can with your loonies. What's up with that.
Heikki be rolling in the clover eh.
 
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Maybe Heikki, the inventor, could use the same technology and invent a "J-stroke" paddle that turns in your hand. It would improve my lousy J-stroke and be more efficient.
 
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Ya, Rippy, the US dollar is crushing us Canucks right now, payback for the hockey I guess. You know if that axe was cheaper, I would consider it for my school club. It has some pretty good safety claims, but at 300 bucks, well, that's a lot of Canadian Prime Ministers.
 
Now, trying to be serious just for a minute: back in post #59 Heikki the inventor sent a page of what looks to be axes for sale. The second axe shown has some kind of man-made handle along with a good looking head. Has anyone ever used a full sized axe with a fibreglass (or something) handle like that? I wonder how different it feels to your hands as you chop. Granted it would be hard to break such a handle, but I wonder if you did could it be replaced or do you need to throw it out?

Now Brad: As our leading Canadian expert on things Finish; On that same page with the axes, is that Justen Biber in the upper left hand corner? Or maybe just some Finn who lost his comb.

Best Wishes, Rob

P.S. That page of axes, is that just for people in Finland or could somebody order an axe from them? Brad would know; he reads and writes in Finnish!
 
I believe the largest Finnish community outside of Finland is in Thunder Bay, ON with a rich Finnish culture and many many culturally significant sites. The Finnish Labour Hall is a designated historical building and also the site of the Hoito Restaurant which seems to have notoriety. For anybody passing through the area I most certainly recommend a stop there on Bay Street to experience the unique Finnish culture in Thunder Bay.

That's my useless knowledge for the day.
 
Rob, you made me spill my coffee. I haven't had to change my shirt all week till now.(My wife's due back from a business trip, so I was gonna start looking after myself better this morning anyway, right after my coffee).
Okay, fresh shirt (smelled fresh from my clothing pile) and I'm ready to answer all questions Finn related. No fishing jokes please.
1) Yes. That is Justin Beiber. You better beleib it. Hey, the kids got some fines to pay, what with drugs and driving infractions and all; don't forget his foray into exterior decorating with toilet paper (but does he canoe trip responsibly?), so endorsements will go a long way. Speaking of endorsements, I endorse the good people of America enjoying his company and irresponsible antics; maybe you can help him to grow up a little while you're at it.
2) Yes, there's nordic history in northwestern Ontario (Finland), as well as Manitoba (Iceland). I remember being recommended a certain restaurant in Thunder Bay for breakfast, so we went. We had the most delicious kinda waffles or crepes, I don't remember exactly what they were or where they originated, but they were really good. Next time we're back, I'll try to remember to visit some of those cultural sites you mentioned Red. I like stuff like that.
That useful knowledge of the day Red, highlights the cultural fabric of our great countries. Thanks for that.

ps My grasp of the Finnish language is still a little shaky. I'm still learning swear words. I have a Finnish "friend" helping me.
Okay, everybody back to work.
 
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The Hoito is the Finnish restaurant in T. Bay. It went upscale about 20 years ago. Before that, it was a large open space in a basement with picnic tables. You would go stand at a counter and order your food. Think I had beef Moiuka or something. The thing that I remember the most is that you got an enormous amount of soup in a bowl the size of a bucket, along with a huge chunk of fresh bread that had been ripped off the loaf. All of this for about 3 bucks. I'm not a fan of it anymore. It's purpose used to be to serve working men large quantities of food for cheap prices. The purpose now seems to be to sell an image to tourists.

Here's a comparison.....my 8 pound maul, 26 bucks at the hardware store. The fancy smancy axe...300 bucks. Both will get the job done.

Rob, those axes with fiberglass handles come in a coupe of different qualities. The good ones are actually pretty good. I've been using one as a splitting axe and bush axe for around 15 years now, same handle, no splippage. It will jar you a bit when splitting if you bounce the handle off the wood. However, this axe has been used by dozens of students over it's life, and I've probably personally split 20 or 30 cords and it's still going strong. Plus the bright orange handle makes it hard to lose in the bush.

However, the cheap ones are abominations. Floppy handles and poor quality heads, not even good enough for chopping ice of the sidewalk.
 
I wonder if the Hoito was the place we enjoyed breakfast? I wouldn't have gone upscale at the time (family car camping) , and 20+ years ago sounds about right.
re: axe $$$. I can't get my head around the high end price tag. Maybe it's a high end product, but I don't know. What I do know is, picking up split wood is one of the chores my 10 year old grandson likes to do. He's also a good wood stacker. While we do these kinds of chores together, we catch up with schoolyard news. A couple more reasons to take things a little slower I guess. He helped me rebuild a section of backyard fence last summer. Well, he told me how to do it, while he lowered the levels of lemonade and cookies. We have a good management-labour relationship.
The only funny handle in my shed is on a sledgehammer. I loaned my original, passed down to me from my Dad, to a good friend in need. I shouldn't have told him my sentimental connection to it. He was mortified when he put an almighty crack in the handle. I told him not to worry, it's a tool, not a museum piece. I'm too endeared to the handle to replace it, so I bought a new hammer. It's got a plastic handle with rubber sleeve up near the head. I was thinking it might be a wise purchase, just in case my friend needed to borrow another sledgehammer. I've used it, and kinda like it. Holding a plastic handle in place of a wooden one is something to get used to though.
 
Huh? We were at Hoito's maybe four years ago. Still in the basement. Now the picnic tables weren't there, but the bar was. We always ate at the bar as the lines for tables were insane. The counter..never a line. Probably been there some eight or nine times.

The issue is parking.. You needed coins to get OUT of their lot. So we always parked on the street and walked a bit
 
Brad, About the handle with the crack: I've had good luck vacuuming glue into just about imposible places using a shop vac. Masking tape is used to attach the suction end to the wood and close off any gaps. Apply the glue on the side opposite the vacuum attaching point. A waterproof but slow setting glue would be best (maybe Lee Valley?) Once you've got as much glue in the crack as you can, close off the crack with masking tape again and with the handle on something solid, whack the crack "closed" with a mallet. Now, this may well be wishful thinking but I'd guess that under the blow some of the glue will be squirted further into the crack. Can't hurt anyway. Fill the gap back up again with glue.
Now, how to clamp it closed: You will need some fine braided nylon line, maybe fishing line? Again, Lee Valley has some nylon cord in three sizes. (great stuff) What we are going to do is neatly wrap the handle with the line all the while pulling tension on the line. What works for me is to tie one end of the line to a work bench leg, and I'm out in the yard, start the line around the handle by catching the free end under the first three or four wraps. Holding the handle in both hands puuullllll tension on the line. Let's say that it's fifty pound test, maybe you pull forty. Each wrap contributes it's own forty pounds of squeeze. 40, 80, 120, 160 and so on. Each wrap of line is neatly next to the one before. That kind of squeezin' would shame a boa constrictor!

I'd think that if you used fine enough line you might want to just leave it in place, there's a way to tuck the free end of the wrap back under the in-place wraps and once secured cut it off. I think we had a thread about wrapping a paddle shaft where this process was shown. Anyway it's called "frapping the end of a rope". You might want to practice doing this a little bit, the biggie is to keep the tension on the line all the time.

One kind of finish could be that thin super glue floated into the line or maybe a varnish.

Best Wishes, Rob
 
Rob, that handle repair method has the potential to save my sledge. I'll see about retrieving it from the corner of my shed in spring. That rope binding way of wrapping is something I used with some success on a canoe trip. Sealing the final result is also a good tip. It would be far more satisfying repairing my hand me down tool, than leaving it looking sorry for itself and useless in the dusty corner. Thanks Rob.
Memequay, I must respectfully disagree with you. I can't imagine any wood splitting phenom besting your abilities. But, I wouldn't want to complicate your life with any international "hands across the sea" competition type of thing. It would only interfere with your stripper project, and that would really upset a lot of people - including me. I'm learning and loving your project.
Finn food lovers, my better half is home now, and remembers the fancy waffles, but not the restaurant's name in T Bay. It definitely wasn't in a basement. I remember blue and white decor. My memory is not to be trusted though. The shirt I'm wearing has a big coffee stain down the front. I thought I changed it? Do I have a matching pair of shirts? Do they even come in pairs? Thank goodness my goddess is back. She even bought groceries! I won't be eating out of cans anymore. Must remember to unload the dishwasher. I've heard of people washing ball caps in their dishwasher. Does it do shirts? Thank goodness we don't heat with wood here, no telling the trouble I'd get up to...go out to fetch wood, and come in with another cat instead.
(Note to self: Empty dishwasher. Do a load of laundry. Count the cats. Welcome my much missed missus home.)
 
Brad, the way Mem backed down makes me think some money may have changed hands. In other words he may have be paid to throw the fight. I've seen this sort of thing before where the odds on favorite can't seem to fight their way out of a wet paper bag. Now I know we are talking about chopping not fighting but the same principle applies here.
About getting that cat washed out of your shirt before eating fancy waffles, good luck. I think you're stuck with a coffee drinking cat in a shirt. I'm Finn-ished now.
 
Hi YC, I showed my better half, and no, that photo is definitely not the place. It looks way nicer than where we went. My wife is now wondering why I didn't take her to a nicer place for breakfast.
Rippy, if in fact there was a cash flow across the waters, then I'd expect our friend Rob to be flush with extra funds right about now. That only seems right. Our man from Gtown has better things to do than round dancing with wood. (YC - "Dances with Wood." LOL! You cost me another shirt and cup of coffee)
Speaking of kitty, I've counted ours and we have the correct number of 3 (though 0 sounds like a nicer number). Oops, my lovely lady just started the dishwasher before I had a chance to throw my shirt in. Gotta go.
 
Ok Brad, yur love struck, so we don't count your recollection. Last time I was there, there was a smoked salmon sandwich that cost four times the beef moiuka, and was 1/10 the size. There is a good canoe store just in the area, Wilderness supply depot, with is on Pearl street, as far as I'm concerned the only place to get canoe stuff in T Bay.
 
Mmmm, smoked salmon. I sometimes meet a good friend for lunch at a little cafe near his store. We're regulars, so the usual bottle of white and a couple cream cheese and lox on bagels shows up soon after we arrive. We often blow off the afternoon just talking and laughing, and planning future fun. What we never blow off is very much money. Not sure if I'd be a happy camper in T Bay, unless I could find a good old mom & pop kinda restaurant. Good food, no frills, reasonable prices. They're getting harder to find. My one and only restaurant splurge is an authentic Italian place in a small town not far from home. A lovely young lady of Italian background is the chef. She puts amore in her food. That's where I take my wife when I want (and can afford) to spoil her. Next time in T Bay, we'll drive around looking for a small diner to feed our hunger, go to that Wilderness Supply to feed our fun, and find some quiet places to feed our souls. Or maybe I'll spoil my partner, and take us to Hoito. We'll see. Thanks for the info Memequay.
 
Poor Brad, and Memaquay isn't much better; all this coffee flying everywhere, up the nose, in the computer, all over the shirt! Maybe that's the reason you all never thought much of my cowboy coffee, I never brewed it with wearability propterties in mind. Foolish old me, I just drink the stuff.

Now, as far as computer skill go, I'll willing concede the field to just about anyone here. Really, I ought to stick to painting on the walls of my cave.
But what with all the assembled brain power here on site, can't someone unlock that page of axes that Heikki the inventor posted up in #59?
Looking at the pictures it sure looks like it's from a catalog.

Setting by myself here, looking at the wall, trying to decide if I should make that animal a wooly mammoth or maybe a rhinoceros.
Awaiting enlightenment from a finer mind........
Rob
 
Ok Brad, yur love struck, so we don't count your recollection. Last time I was there, there was a smoked salmon sandwich that cost four times the beef moiuka, and was 1/10 the size. There is a good canoe store just in the area, Wilderness supply depot, with is on Pearl street, as far as I'm concerned the only place to get canoe stuff in T Bay.


Whaa? Wildeness Supply has gotten some of my money as well as Chaltrek
http://www.chaltrek.com/store.shtml

In the food dept of Thunder Bay, I am thinking buns.. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...ospector_Steak_House-Thunder_Bay_Ontario.html

dang that smoked salmon thread..reminiscing of how good it was at Serendipity Gardens in Rossport..now have to make the sandwich we had there at home next week..

And I thought this thread was about...used to be about axes..
 
Chaltrek is a good store too, but not close to any diners, unless you count McDonalds in your culinary line up. Now Serendipity Gardens………holy cow, that's a relatively unknown treasure. I ordered prime rib there, and I swear I had five pounds of succulent meat on my plate. Couldn't eat everything, which was a first for me. That Rossport is quite a place, sleepy little town of beauty. Too many kayaks for my liking though. You probably can't even carry an axe in a kayak, it's probably against the Hippy kayak laws or something.
 
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