>>2770509Design. Can't speak to the quality, since I never bought one, but when you compare them with actual tools from a century ago, there's a few things that are immediately obvious:
>lengthA felling axe should be long enough that if you glance on a strike, the head will hit the soil rather than your leg or foot. For the average european man of 175cm, that means that the handle needs to be 85-90 cm long at the very least, with the exact minimum length depending on the head's shape. However, most manufacturers instead pick their handle lengths based on the maximum length a postal package can be in their countries, giving you lengths in the 60-80cm range. Using those is just plain unsafe.
>weight distributionWhen you're felling (or splitting, for that matter), your hands should be relaxed, letting the inertia of the axe do it's job. For that to be possible, you need the axe to be balanced around the center line of the handle. On a double bit, that's a nobrainer, and every single doublebit I've handled was balanced. But on a singlebit, it means that you need extra weight at the back of the eye. Forged axes generally have that, but those modern "fold sheet metal and weld it together" axes don't. As a result, when swinging them, they have a risk of twisting in your grip, which will cause glancing blows.
>handleThis one is a bit unfair, to be honest, since a good handle will break if you use it wrong. But the handles you get on literally every mass-produced axe nowadays are way too thick. A well-mad handle will flex on impact, dispersing the force before it reaches your hands and joints, while a thick, solid handle will transfer it all straight to your wrists.
>inb4 shillI'm not saying Ochsenkopf is great. Mine was shipped blunt, and covering a blade in varnish is idiotic. But at least it can be turned into a good axe with some work.
