THE YOUXG FARMER'S MANUAL. 277 



large, nor too small, at the hilt, nor midway between the hilt 

 and the end that holds the axe. It should be made with a good 

 hang or, as some call it, with a good deal of crook from the 

 hilt to the other end. A helve should always be made so that 

 the Jiang will be in the direction of the grain of the wood from 

 the bark towards the heart. If a helve is made "slab fashion," 

 or as our backwoodsmen call it, "bastard fashion," with one 

 sidt of the helve towards the heart, and one side towards the 

 bark, it will soon spring so as to be a worthless thing to chop 

 with. If the hilt be too large, or too small, or of an improper 

 shape, it will surely cramp and blister the hand. It should not 

 be made round, but of an oval or elliptical shape. Without a 

 good hang and an oval shape, it will be impossible to strike true. 

 (See HANG, in next vol.) Some men, who know nothing 

 about chopping, contend that if a man is accustomed to chop 

 with a straight stick, he could chop as well as he could with a 

 helve having a good hang. But no good chopper will ever make 

 such an assertion. When a helve is round, an axe may turn 

 half way round in the hands, and not be perceived by the chop 

 per ; but when it is of an oval shape, and has a good hang in 

 chopping, an axe will adjust itself; and a little deviation will 

 readily be perceived by the accustomed hand. (See Par. 331.) 

 One who chops much with a straight helve, or with one that has 

 a hilt too large or too small for his hand, is very liable to com 

 plain of lame hands and of lame wrists ; and that he is not able 

 to strike twice in one place. If a man has a very small hand, 

 his axe helve should be correspondingly small ; and vice versa. 



372. Helves that are made by machinery, when they are made 

 of good timber, with straight grain, and the right way of the 

 grain, are usually superior to those which are made by hand ; 

 unless those made by hand are made by one who understands 

 the business extremely well. It is a very difficult task for some 

 good mechanics to make a good axe helve until they have prac 

 tised by making a number of helves ; and some never can, with 

 ever so much practice, succeed in giving a helve the most correct 

 hang and shape at the hilt, and at other parts, of it. But if the 



