This section is from the book "The Book Of Camp-Lore And Woodcraft", by Dan Beard. Also available from Amazon: The Book of Camp-Lore and Woodcraft.
Our Greatest Axeman Importance Of The Axe What Kind Of Axe To Use How To Swing An Axe
How To Remove A Broken Axe Handle How To Tighten The Handle In The Head Accidents
The Brains Of An Axe Etiquette Of The Axe How To Sharpen An Axe How To "Fall" A Tree How To Swamp
How To Make A Beetle Or Mall How To Harden Green Wood
How To Make A Firewood Hod How To Make A Chopping Block The Proper Way To Chop How To Make Sawbucks For Logs How To Use A Parbuckle How To Split A Log How To Use A Sawpit
To all good, loyal Americans, the axe is almost a sacred tool, for our greatest American, Abraham Lincoln, was one of our greatest axemen. When he was President of the United States he used to exercise by chopping wood, then laughingly extended his arm holding the axe in a horizontal position by the extreme end of the handle. This he would do without a tremor of the muscle or movement of the axe—some stunt! Try it and see if you can do it!
The American Indians, and practically all savages, used stone and bone implements, and with such implements the Redmen were wont to build the most beautiful of all crafts, the birch bark canoe. If an American Indian produced such wonders with implements made of stones, flint and bones, a good red-blooded American boy should be able to do the same with a sharp axe; therefore it should not only be his pleasure but his duty to learn to be a skillful axeman.
Brother Jonathan, the imaginary character who represented the American people, was almost invariably pictured with a jack-knife whittling a stick, because all early Americans were skillful in the use of the jack-knife, but they were also skilled in the use of the axe, and every boy of twelve years of age knew how to handle an axe.
 
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