WOODS TOOLS AWARD GUIDE Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln
REQUIREMENTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 Identify the parts of a knife, ax, and saw. Name each part and know the importance of each piece of the tool. Show how to prepare your work area for use of woods tools. Inspect tools, use any required safety gear, check your radius, set up an ax yard when appropriate, and look for nearby hazards. Demonstrate safe use of a knife, ax, and saw. Explain what each tool is used for and explain how to safely store tools when not in use at camp and at home. Demonstrate proper sharpening techniques and care of woods tools. Show how to sharpen a knife and ax, as well as how to store tools to protect them. Explain the importance of good blade maintenance. Show safe carrying methods of woods tools. Demonstrate safe carrying and safe hand-off of tools from one person to another. Demonstrate uses of woods tools around camp. Show that you can use woods tools in a variety of ways to create things such as kindling, feather sticks, tent stakes, and other useful items. 7 Explain your duties as a guardian of the woods or backcountry. Show an understanding of what it means to be a good steward of nature and guardian of the woods. Explain what to do before you take wood from nature, and when it is appropriate to do so. Upon satisfactory completion of these requirements in the presence of a Leader, a Scout may be issued a Woods Tools Award card showing that they are permitted to carry and use woods tools during scouting activities. Failure to live up to any of these requirements may result in the Woods Tools Award card being revoked.
1. Parts of an Knife, Axe, & Saw Knowing what to call things is an important part of mastery. You will notice that these tools have some common terms, and some that are unique to each. This is a HANDLE BLADE Spine Cheek Point Butt Lanyard Hole Guard Bevel Edge Belly Tang Poll/Back Eye Cheek HANDLE Knob HEAD Grip Bit Back BLADE HANDLE Heel Front (Teeth) Toe
S H A R P SAFE HANDLING AWARE RESPONSIBLE PURPOSE Clear work area appropriate for the size and nature of your tool and work area. Blood circle established for carving. Background hazards monitored/ eliminated Wear proper protective gear Keep fingers out of blade/cutting area Pass knives properly when open/ unsheathed. Closed or sheathed is best. Sheath/close knives before standing Carry tools in a safe manner Examine tools before use Clean tools after use Sharpen edges and teeth when needed Store properly in sheath or case Dress axe face for protection/safety Appropriate time and place Permission granted Never damage a tree Only carve what is yours Know your goal Have a reason to use knives and tools; they are not toys
KNIFE Batoning Wood Batoning is a safer and more controlled method of splitting wood compared to traditional use of a hatchet or axe. And a good knife is also a lot lighter and is more easily brought into the backcountry for people watching their pack weights more closely. Why baton? When talking about wilderness survival, one is unlikely to have a relatively heavy hatchet or axe in their pack just in case. Having a knife capable of batoning (and knowing how to do it; which is a good reason to practice often) opens up more possibilities and can improve the chance of success when making a fire in an emergency. For this reason, consider a survival knife; the type of knife I need for my regular camp chores, but somewhat overbuilt and tough enough to take the abuse that might be needed if you find yourself in a true survival situation - which includes being able to stand up to batoning.
AXE Because of its size and the way in which it is used, an ax can be more dangerous than other wood tools. Remove the sheath only when you are prepared to use your ax correctly. Give it your full attention. Safe tool. An ax must be sharp and in top condition. If the head is loose, soak the ax for a few hours in a stream or a bucket of Linseed oil (Tip thanks to Jeff Starks, Troop 24 ). The wood in the head will swell, and the handle will be tight for a while. Safe shoes. Always wear sturdy leather boots when you are chopping with an ax. Leather won t stop a blade from hitting your foot, but good boots may limit the extent of an injury. Safe working area. You must have plenty of room in which to swing an ax. Check your clearance by holding your ax by the head. Slowly swing the handle at arm s length all around you and over your head. Remove any brush or branches that the handle touches. While you are cutting, be certain other people stay at least 10 feet away. Establish a woods tools area. In a long-term camp using lots of firewood, rope off an ax/saw yard large enough to provide the clearance you need to work. Enter the yard only to chop and saw wood. Allow just one person at a time in the ax yard. Clean up the chips, bark, and other debris of cutting. Safe technique. Chopping branches off a downed log is called limbing. Stand on the right side of the log opposite a branch. Chop close to the base of the branch, driving the ax into the underside of the limb. Keep the log between you and your cuts. If the ax misses a branch, the blade will hit the log rather than your leg. Bucking a log means cutting through it. Stand beside the log with your feet shoulders - width apart. Hold the ax with one hand near the head and then slide your hands together as you swing the bit into the log. Let the falling weight of the ax do most of the work. Slide your hand back down the handle to the head. Lift it and swing again. Aim your strokes so that you cut a V shaped notch twice as wide at the top as the log is thick. Learn to switch-hit with your ax. As you cut on the right side of a notch let you right hand slide on the ax handle. Switch your grip and slide your left hand up the handle as you work from the left side of a notch. Develop a relaxing easy rhythm, switching hands after each blow. Cutting small sticks and splitting large chunks of wood known as rounds are best done on a chopping block, which is a piece of log that has been sawed and turned upright to provide a flat surface. It should be about 2 feet high so that you won t have to lean down much as you work. A chopping block is important for safety too. If you swing your ax badly, the bit will probably hit the block instead of flying on toward your feet. To split a
large round of wood, stand it upright on a chopping block. Swing the ax as you would to buck a log, driving the bit into the end of the round. If the wood doesn t split, remove the ax before swinging it again. Do not swing an ax with a piece of wood wedged on the bit. Safe carrying. Safe Axe Carrying TechniquePlace a sheath over an ax blade whenever it is not in use. Carry an ax at your side with one hand, the blade turned out from your body. If you stumble, toss the ax away from you as you fall. Never carry an ax over your shoulder. Safe storage. Sheathe your ax and store it under the dining fly or in a tent. On the trail, a sheathed ax can be tied or strapped to the outside of your pack. Safe handling. To pass an ax to another person, hold the handle near the knob with the head down. Pass the ax with the bit facing out at right angles between you and the other person. When your partner has a grip on the handle, he should say, Thank you. That s your signal to release your hold. Sharpening an Ax Keep your ax sharp with a mill bastard file 8 or 10 inches long. The lines across the face of the file are the teeth. They angle away from the point, or tang. A sharp file will be a drab gray color. A silvery shine means a file has broken teeth that won t sharpen very well. Whenever you sharpen with a file, wear leather gloves to protect your hands. Brace the ax head on the ground between a small log and two wooden pegs or tent stakes. Another Scout can help hold the ax handle steady. Place the file on the edge of the blade and push it into the bit. Use enough pressure so that you feel the file cutting the ax metal. Lift the file as you draw it back for another stroke. A file sharpens only when you push it away from the tang. Dragging the file across the blade on the return will break off the teeth and ruin the file. Sharpen with firm, even strokes. After you have filed one side of the bit from heel to toe, turn the ax around and do the other side. Under bright light a dull edge reflects light. Continue to file until the edge seems to disappear. Filing can leave a tiny curl of metal called a burr on the edge of the bit. Remove the burr by honing the bit with a whetstone just as you would the blade of a pocketknife.
SAW Preparing Make sure that the wood you are cutting is firmly held in place; brace the wood against some solid support. A sawbuck is a specialized sawhorse for cutting wood with a saw. If the wood must be held in place by hand, make sure your hand is as far away from the cutting point as possible. Other ways to keep the wood in place are a clamp, or lashing. Sawbuck: a sawbuck is a special sawhorse for cutting wood. A sawbuck has large x-shaped ends so that wood or lumber can firmly rest in the upper part of the X. This is especially useful for rounded wood. Kerf: a kerf is the width of a cut; it is the groove left by a saw. When sawing, make sure the kerf is on the waste side of the wood. (include an illustration) Use eye and hand protection as suits the situation. Set the wood in the sawbuck so that the weight of the discarded piece naturally opens the cut, rather than the cut closing on the blade. Using a Saw Start by lightly pulling the blade toward you until it cuts into the wood. This does two things. One, it sets a groove for the blade. Two, it lets you know on which stroke your saw cuts does the saw cut on the push or pull stroke? (Both?) Use smooth, long strokes that let the weight of the saw do the cutting. Push and pull in a steady rhythm using as much of the saw blade as you can. Many of the saws you will use cut in one direction; be aware of what type of saw you have so that you can put energy into the cutting stroke. Avoid forcing the saw as that could lead to buckling the saw blade, or damage the cutting edge of the teeth. Keep the saw straight and level when cutting; avoid rocking the saw back-and-forth. When done, cover the teeth of the saw with a sheath, or place the saw in a safe location. When cutting a branch, first cut an undercut (a cut that is on the underside of the branch going about halfway up) that is just a tad closer to the trunk than where you plan to cut down. An undercut prevents the falling branch from stripping bark off of the trunk; it makes a clean cut and keeps the tree healthy. Avoid making hat racks out of branch cuts, and don t leave stumps on which people may trip.
6. Demonstrate Use of Woods Tools You will be required to demonstrate the following skills with knife, axe and saw to earn your Woods Tools Award A. Split Firewood with an Axe or hatchet B. Baton Kindling with a suitable fixed blade knife. C. Craft a Feather Stick with your knife. D. Craft a Tent Stake using approrpriate Woods Tools. E. Saw a log (4 min)