A blacksmith who forges axes
Blacksmith Vitaly Tsui shows how his axes and hammers are made: forging, finishing, paint tests, real chopping and learning to airbrush designs onto steel.
What it is
The TikTok of blacksmith Vitaly Tsui. His bio keeps it short: he forges axes, hammers and anything that heats up to 1000 °C. That's exactly what you get: a glowing blank becomes an axe, and then the axe goes off to chop wood. Beyond the forging itself there's a lot you normally don't see: a test of hard-wearing paint meant to keep the steel from rusting, a planishing hammer of his own design, an attempt to recreate a discontinued axe you can no longer simply buy. Lately he has picked up an airbrush and wants to learn to paint rowan berries onto his axe heads.
Why we picked it
Craft TikTok often boils down to a slick "sparks, then finished product" edit. This is different: you see someone thinking about a tool, doubting, trying things. On his Telegram he even asks followers whether a hammer still needs a nail puller these days. His first talking video came out in September 2026; before that the clips were almost wordless, so you can watch most of them with the sound off, even if you don't speak Russian.
It's a small, personal account with about twelve thousand followers, and that's part of the charm: no hard selling, a real workshop and genuine love for the craft.
Where to start
- His first talking video, where he shows what he does.
- The test of the painted axe, to see how the coating holds up.
- The video about the planishing and texturing hammer.
- The story of recreating a rare, discontinued axe.
- The latest airbrush experiments with rowan berries.
Who it's for
Anyone who enjoys watching work done with hands and fire. People who split firewood, go camping or just appreciate a good tool. And anyone thinking of trying blacksmithing, since you see how much trial goes into every piece.
Quick answers
Do I need to understand Russian? Not really: most videos have almost no speech, and the talking ones are in Russian.
Is it a shop? No, it's a workshop blog about the process, not a catalog.
Where else can I find him? His Telegram channel owl_axe is linked in the profile; on Instagram he's owl.axe.
