Billhooks!

F

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Sat at home bored looking at silky Nata videos on YouTube got me thinking.

Why buy something foreign when there's a local alternative with a bit of history?

It's a want item as opposed to a need... something for kindling and general camp chopping.

What should I be looking for? Ill scour marketplace!

I'd rather go used than new.
 
Quarterstaff

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Don’t think you can far wrong with any old vintage hooks, Ewell, Brades, Gilpin, etc;
Normally theres quite a few on eBay. Unless your into a bit of fettleing, just make sure the handle is secure & worm free!
 
MaC

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Billhooks are excellent tools :) They need a bit of effort though, they're not 'whippy' like a machete.
They can be one tool to do it all though. I know someone who carves trees with them.
I can't use mine now, so passed them along (wrists and elbows won't take the effort) but I found I used two. One was a 'beater' that got used near the ground, taking out brambles, bracken, etc., and if the edge hit something, then, well it wasn't the end of the world. The other I kept really sharp and that's the one I used for coppicing, for taking off willow wands, etc.,

Incidentally, put a 4 or 5 yard pole on in place of the handle, and there's the medieval 'Pole Arms' that took knights in armour down in Scottish Shiltrons. Much used by English peasantry too though :)
 
F

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MaC said:
Billhooks are excellent tools :) They need a bit of effort though, they're not 'whippy' like a machete.
They can be one tool to do it all though. I know someone who carves trees with them.
I can't use mine now, so passed them along (wrists and elbows won't take the effort) but I found I used two. One was a 'beater' that got used near the ground, taking out brambles, bracken, etc., and if the edge hit something, then, well it wasn't the end of the world. The other I kept really sharp and that's the one I used for coppicing, for taking off willow wands, etc.,

Incidentally, put a 4 or 5 yard pole on in place of the handle, and there's the medieval 'Pole Arms' that took knights in armour down in Scottish Shiltrons. Much used by English peasantry too though :)
Click to expand...
I've got a pole mounted modern "slasher" from when I was a landscaper.

I'm after something a bit more nimble.
 
noddy

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Knighton is the straighter one. Feels light in the hand. Can't recall where I got mine but it is this Morris, and they had loads in stock

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5teep

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I have two billhooks, one that I bought locally that weighs a ton and has a wicked hook at the back, the other is a Fiskars which imo is much more useful, being lighter and very sharp.

That said I use neither of them :nod:
 
Saint-Just

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I must say I don't really like them. They are heavy with a usually short handle, so not much leverage and your arm/wrist gets to absorb a lot of shock. Also, the hook part doesn't have ironically much weight behind it on a pull swing, so again your arm gets the brunt of the impact.
 
Stew

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Saint-Just said:
I must say I don't really like them. They are heavy with a usually short handle, so not much leverage and your arm/wrist gets to absorb a lot of shock. Also, the hook part doesn't have ironically much weight behind it on a pull swing, so again your arm gets the brunt of the impact.
Click to expand...
I would suggest trying a different one. I have had bad experience of big chunky types but the Newton/Newtown is fairly light and fast. No complaints from me and I would have no hesitation to ditch a bad tool.
 
MaC

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There's a definite knack/craft/ability in using one well. In using one for a day's work. It becomes an extension of your arm. I passed mine along, but I still use a sickle which Jojo made for me. It has a curved blade about four/five inches long. A lot lighter, and it's not quite so handy at the slashing, but it's an awfully useful tool.

I think, especially since so few people really do spend day after day after day using hand held agricultural tools, that it needs forethought about what would actually be useful.

OP said for kindling and general camp chopping....I don't think the billhook's the tool for the job, tbh. A wee hand axe would be a better fit for that.
 
Saint-Just

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Am I wrong in thinking that the sickle is more for non lignified plants, and the billhook for wooden ones? with brambles the one in between?

In any case I entirely agree that a tool that has gone through the centuries must be good at doing what it was designed to do, and that my non-liking it is a reflection of my inability to use one properly. But I never had a regular use for one so no occasion to improve. It's therefore likely it will remain lost on me.
 
MaC

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A long sickle is really a grass hook, we call it a grass heuk, but a short bladed sickle was, and is, used as a pruning tool. It's the traditional one for removing mistletoe from trees, for debudding apples, taking down hops, and mine is awfully useful for cutting back ivy, honeysuckle, brambles, nettles, etc., anything I have to 'reach' for and would prefer not to get my hands in among.
I find mine handy for dealing with the reeds in the pond too and taking fungi like piptoporus off trees.

I don't think there are many people who can/will/do use a billhook all day long now. It's a brilliant hedging tool, the right ones are brilliant thatching tools, we used them at the crannog to cut down bracken which we carried like mobile haystacks down the hill to recover the floor of the roundhouse. Not the ideal tool for that, but it worked, and those were beaters so it didn't matter so much that we were taking out the bracken from very stoney ground.

I know a greengrocer who used one to split turnips :) People wanted a bit, not a whole big one, so he'd break it up and sell the pieces to suit.
I think it really is horses for courses with them, but sometimes you just need a solid fuss free tool that'll get the job done.
 
MaC

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It's not a bad idea for the camper van.....seriously, it can be as useful as an axe, and without the raised eyebrows thing. It's sturdy, doesn't need to be coddled, does fine with a wash off and a wipe of oil/WD40.
It's not a precious edge, iimmc ? it's a practical useful tool. Bit on the muckle side for cutting grasses around a campsite though....that's where the small machete type parang things are really handy....there's a British made Martindale that's excellent for that sort of stuff, but ye gods it screams BIG KNIFE to anyone catching sight of it.
The billhook you'll get away with much more easily.
 
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