When out in camp in India, for "pig sticking" (that is hunting wild
boar with spears) we found how very necessary it was to keep our
spears as sharp as a razor, and every time we killed a boar we would
sharpen up our spear-heads again ready for the next fight.
We could not carry grindstones about with us, but we carried a small
fine file, with which we were able to touch up the edge; and that is
what many an old backwoodsman does for his axe, he carries a small
file with him.
There is a saying with these men that "you may lend your last dollar
to a friend, but never lend him your axe--unless you know that he is a
good axeman and will not blunt it."
The tenderfoot will go banging about with an axe, chopping at roots
and branches on the ground, and blunting the axe at every stroke on
earth and stones; and when his arms tire, if he has not meanwhile
chopped his own foot, he will throw the axe down, leaving it lying all
anyhow on the ground, probably where it will catch and cut the toe of
someone moving about after dark.
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