Most dedicated carving axes follow a similar pattern: bearded head, upswept toe, flat/hollow grind, short and gently curved handle. I also miss the thumb indent the Little Viking has on the poll. The handle at the base of the head is quite thick, something I don't like so much, but nowhere near being an actual problem. Out of the box it cut aggressively and the smaller size made it feel nimble. It has a slight hollow grind and a shorter bevel. The shape of the head feels like a scaled down Little Viking: 40mm shorter and 100 grams lighter. It didn't take long to get used to it, and it wastes wood excellently. But it just wasn't the axe I was used to. It was a great chance to get some fantastic tools for my carving classes and the Karlsson is a fantastic axe. I added the Karlsson because I had the opportunity to get several of them at a discounted rate. I know exactly where it starts and stops, it's weight and heft are familiar and there's not much carving it can't do. Three years of work with that axe and it's become an extension of my body. I added the Little Viking because I wanted to try bowls and the longer edge and heavier head helps with that kind of work. The first axe I bought was the Gransfors Bruks Wildlife Hatchet back in 2009 when I first started carving. To be honest I wouldn't really recommend getting more than one dedicated carving axe. I've had that axe for three years and have carved hundreds of spoons and dozens of bowls with it. Thanks for looking folks, hope you enjoyed it.I've been using the Hans Karlsson axe, alongside my main carving axe, the Svante Djarv Little Viking axe, for a couple of months now.

Especially when it comes to thoughts about the new helve I'll carve. I'm must say that I am more that a little disappointed with the fairly large alignment problem, but carving a new helve will fix that problem, and other than that it is a wonderful tool.Īs always any thoughts, ideas, and suggestions are more than welcome. So, my first impressions of this axe are mixed. I probably won't change it too much though, since this handle seems to work very well with this head. Also, carving a new handle will allow me to customize it for my preferences.

Not something that I mind doing since carving is something I quite enjoy. The wait for this axe is not unsubstantial, so what I'm going to do is carve a new handle and rehang the head. The problem isn't so much that the head is hung off center, or that the edge if off from the eye, it's that the handle is pretty heavily warped. The pictures I have don't quite show how bad it is, but if you look down the edge it aligns about a quarter inch to the right of the handle, not good. So, what's the problem? Well on this particular axe, it's the alignment, it's just terrible. Wether or not this it true, and I assume it is, this axe really does seem to do exactly what you want it to do, wonderful. It was supposedly designed by swedish master carver, craftsman, and total badass Wille Sundqvist. Ain't she a looker? It really is a beautiful axe that has phenomenal balance. That being said, I really like this thing so far despite the one problem, that I'll talk about here in a minute. In a few conversations with Schwert and Adahy I had said that I was on the list at Country Workshops for a Karlsson axe and they both asked for a bit of a show and tell when I received it, so here goes.įirst off I want to say that this is really a first impression of this axe as I've only had it for a couple days now.

Hans karlsson adze