Before industrialism, axes were forged at many small smith’s shops. The form and structure of the axes were decided by the function of the axe, the demands of the user and the craftmanship of the smith. Up until the middle of the 19th century axes were used in small-scale activities, the self-subsistent peasant society.
With the booming forest industry and professional logging in the 19th century, there came entirely new and bigger clients for axes: specialized forest workers and forestry companies. The increased demand for axes made the commercial interest in the axe business increase and the production was concentrated to big axe factories. Mass production and rationalizations of the production lowered the production costs. Little by little the for and structure of axes changed, often at the expense of quality. Axes became standardized mass produced industry products.
Great amounts of energy were used in order to make the axes conform to the current demands on an industry product: every axe of a certain model should look exactly alike. In order to hide the structure of the axe head forged by hand, the surface of the forging was stoned, ground, buffed, painted, japanned and stove varnished. Colourful brand labels became a must.
In a certain way we are back at the time before the entry of the booming forest industry. There are no axe-using forest workers any longer. The millions of cubic feet of pulpwood and timber that arrive today at forest industries have never been grazed by an axe. Chain saws, harvesters and logging machines have taken over completely.
Today most axes are used in smallscale activities by people like home owners, firewood cutters, campers, hunters, joiners, woodworkers, log builders. One of the goals for Gränsfors Bruks is to make high quality durable products. As proof of this goal, and to show that we have a responsibility for the product, Gränsfors Bruks gives a 20 Year Product Guarantee.