Howdy folks! And thank you for stopping by today. My name is Ike Bullington, and I’m an axe maker.
I clearly remember when I was 6 or 7, the day that a kindly gentleman (whom my family bought a milk cow from) handed me and my brother Lucas an old hatchet. Daddy had let us use his, but there’s something special about owning things yourself. With that hatchet and our knives, we set about making bows, arrows, spears and all manner of things every young boy needs.
One day when I set to fell a monstrous timber, which was actually a 5-inch India pine tree, I became quite tuckered out. As I stopped to rest awhile I thought about the early settlers. How in the world did they clear all those trees with something like this? I concluded they must have had axes better than what I was holding.
By the time I was 13, Lucas had already built a couple of charcoal forges. I took the same basic idea and made a small foundry. I had several different projects, but my favorite was making castings of a tomahawk head that I had. Since the little foundry would only get hot enough to melt Aluminum, and because there isn’t much use for Aluminum tomahawks, I gave up on casting and eventually turned to forging tomahawks and later axes.
By now because of my love for the outdoors, and because we still live on a working farm, I have spent hundreds of hours using axes for everything from cutting trees for firewood, clearing fences, building blinds, use along the trap line, primitive firemaking, camping, bushcrafting, and processing wild game.
I now know those early settlers weren’t so bad off. A sharp, well-designed axe in the hands of one who knows how to use it might not beat a chainsaw, but it will make it run for its money. Long after that saw stops running, the old axe will still be chopping wood and getting things done as it has for thousands of years.
I am honored to make this my business now, in working to provide USA-forged, rough and ready axes for the rugged outdoorsman, gentleman, or USA-made tool-collector. No doubt wood chips and steel are in my blood. If they are in yours too, you’ve come to the right place.
I hope you enjoy your visit to my site. “And may tall timber fall before you.”
–Ike
