When I left Best Made in 2019 I had just signed a book contract to write the story of Best Made. My leaving the company meant that we had to pivot, and so I proposed a new book idea about axes. And this became my homage to the oldest tool known to humankind.
Buchanan-Smith's Axe Handbook was published two years ago, at the height of the pandemic, and I wasn't with Best Made back then. In terms of promotion, I was quite hamstrung.
And then I got the company back. And so, at long last, this book is home, right where it belongs.
There haven't been many books written about axes, and of them all I will stake the modest claim that Buchanan-Smith's is one of the best. On the one hand, it's all-encompassing, and on the other, it transcends the tool itself. This book is a celebration of a certain type of beauty that's found in things that are useful.
You don't have to be an "axepert" to appreciate this book. It's a beautiful object, with lots of information, stories and photographs, and I have to say it would make a terrific gift.
Pick up a copy at your local bookshop. And tell them I sent you.
You don't have to be an "axepert" to appreciate this book. It's a beautiful object, with lots of information, stories and photographs, and I have to say it would make a terrific gift.
Pick up a copy at your local bookshop. And tell them I sent you.