A Good Hatchet

[Onomea]

Swedish hand forged axes. Refurbished vintage US axe heads. Axes in general.

Hatchets specifically.

I recently bought a place with a fireplace. Haven't had a fireplace since I was a kid. Haven't used an axe or a hatchet since I was a kid either, though did use an axe a lot in the winter in northern Virginia, as a kid, as one of my chores was keeping enough firewood on hand. (Still got a complete set of toes, too, thank goodness! )

I'll buy the firewood, as the new place is in a city, but I want a hatchet to make kindling. (I thought about batoning with a cane knife, but the hatchet seems more fun.)

I like nice, well made, hand tools. So I am thinking of dropping some bucks on a nice hatchet rather than just picking up something at the local hatdware store.

Opinions, recommendations, anyone?

 

[Faulkner]

I have two of these, one at deer camp that I've had for decades, and another at home that I've only had a few years. I like 'em as they are well made and balanced. Seem to hold an edge too.

 

[Texas Star]

Mine are from Buck and by Gerber, actually made in Finland by Fiskars. I like the way the fiberglass (?) handles surround the heads, so they can't fly off and injure someone.


If I had the money, I'd try a Gransfors Bruks or similar Swedish hand-forged brand. If it was specifically for splitting firewood, I'd get more than a small hunter's carcass and survival hatchet.


I understand that the only difference between Fiskars and Gerber in what appear to be virtually identical models are just the name on them and handle colors. Fiskars is more marketed to consumer stores like those for homeowners and gardeners. Gerber costs a bit more, because the target market is hunters and campers, apt to spend a little more than others.


I expect that Guy-Harold will be along with good ideas and photos. He seems to be the main axe authority here, as well as a moderator.

 

[Owly]

I have two of these, one at deer camp that I've had for decades, and another at home that I've only had a few years. I like 'em as they are well made and balanced. Seem to hold an edge too.

^^^^ This is my recommendation as well. I've used an Estwing for years around the camp fire.

 

[30-30remchester]

I have two of these, one at deer camp that I've had for decades, and another at home that I've only had a few years. I like 'em as they are well made and balanced. Seem to hold an edge too.

[/QUO

Having heated my house for 22 years with nothing but firewood, and the fact my front porch sits at an elevation of 9050', I have wrapped my hand around a fair number of axes and hatchets. I have several of these small hatches tucked away. I like them a lot as well as this brand of Hudson Bay hand axes. These are great for limbing and falling small trees but I do not care for them for kindling manufacture for 2 reasons. The weight is to slight and any knot or course grain stops the penetration. Next a good falling axe does not make a good kindling makers. The "cheek" of the bit is too narrow and it often sticks rather than splits. I use a riggers hatchet that was my father-in-laws and his father before him. It has a broad cheek that forces apart the wood and it has a 1 1/2# head for extra weight. My daughter use one of my Estwings like above and has fair luck with it. When I swing a hatchet I want kindling at every swing.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I have a couple of the Easting hatchets in sizes up to a full length axe. the are well made and hold an edge!

But over the years, the hatchet and pole axe (or topping axe) I kept hidden from the teenaged boys were my Plumb brand!!! I bought a hatchet new in the mid 70's (just out of school) and the pole axe head I found at a yard sale and fit a new 24" handle to it.

A hatchet is 2 pounds, a single bit axe is 4 pounds and the pole axe is around 2 1/2 or 2 3/4 pounds.

A good kindling splitter is a 4 pound hand maul with a 18" handle. I also made one from a 6 pound maul, with a defective (crunched) handle, but I personally preferred the 4 pounder.

I heated solely with firewood for 36 years, but the condo doesn't even have a real fireplace. The nicest thing about a woodstove is; there is always a very warm and nice spot, no matter how cool the rest of the house is. The worst thing is the house was dusty from ash powder from late October through mid April.

My oldest son has a series of horizontal lines branded across his back and legs. These are from being the biggest and pushing all 3 of the other kids out of his way and taking the premium spot, then the other kids would push each other and somebody would "accidentally" fall into him. The brands are from then bumping into an almost red hot steel stove. When I bring this up at family gatherings, the only people that feel sorry for him are people that didn't grow up with him! I have a few permanent scars myself, from loading a very hot stove and touching the edge. You don't do that more than once a year!

Ivan

 

[Nightowl]

I finally retired my Boy Scout Plumb hatchet that is more than 50 years old as it needs a new handle. I bought a Fiskars at Lowes and found that the steel was soft, and had nicks and gouges in it after the first use. Never had that with the Plumb. I've bought and Estwing like above, but have not used it yet.

 

[k22fan]

Here's the basics. The more the weight is in the head rather than the handle the more effective a hatchet is. I've seen hatchet handles left out so much they got dry rot but never seen one that broke while being used. Unlike axes that are swung with two hands it is super easy to hit where you want with a hatchet so over swinging and striking the fire wood with the handle just does not happen. Steel and solid fiber glass handles distribute the weight more into the handle so they make you work harder for no offsetting benefit. Hatchets made buy cutting or stamping a piece of flat metal to form both the handle and head are so badly balance that I would not accept one as a gift.

Forged steel is stronger than cast steel so blades can be forged thinner than they can be cast. That was important for a falling axe or a hatchet that you are actually going to chop through something with. However, those jobs were taken over by the chainsaw a long time ago. Thick cast headed hatchets can be just fine for splitting. If you want it to hold a more knife like sharp edge a forged head is still better.

Out of my hatchet collection my favorites have a 2 1/4 pound head on a 17 inch wood handle. They were $25 in local stores but might be $35 now. One is a forged head House Axe and the other a cast head Sears Rig Builder. Rig Builder heads are supposed to be 1 3/4 pounds but had to be thickened when cast. I tried heavier hatchets but eventually left them aside and just grabbed the old 36" axe. My expensive fancy ones just proved spending too much on a hatchet does not only waste money, it gets you an inferior tool.

By the way, the Estwing hatchet Faulkner posted a picture of has been very common in stores for at least 50 years. I bought mine from a hardware store's going out of business sale on 1st Ave downtown Seattle for $7 in 1974. Rather than being clear coated they were painted a light blueish gray back then. A sky scrapper stands in that location now.

 

[Texas Star]

K-22 Fan may have just seen an Estwing with a painted handle, but some of those blue-gray handles are rubber, which takes up much of the shock in chopping. Tru-Temper has used some rubber ones and I think Estwing has.


My experience with my Gerber hatchet was different than that described above for a Fiskars. I haven't had any burrs on the edge from chopping wood. But some production lots may be softer, or some woods may just cause more damage to the axe head. Maybe someone hit knots in the wood or old nails, etc. if they chipped or nicked a hatchet head. How the edge is honed also matters, the edge bevels.

 

[Frank46]

Have the same Estwing axe and have had it so long I forget where I bought it. Use a file to get a decent edge and a coarse stone to refine the edge. Use a cane knife on brush and small tree limbs, and with that thin steel and a decent edge will work almost like an axe. Quite a few years back someone was selling Chinese machetes. $5 each so got two. Neither could be sharpened with a file which suprised me. Had a cheap stone with one side coarse and the other fine. Each weighs about 3 pounds and let me tell you that these $5 machetes will take an edge with a stone that will shave the hair on your arm. Neither one has the same dimensions as the other so probably hand made or just banged out and handles slapped on. I hate dull tools especially axes or small ones. We had a red oak tree come down when hurricane Andrew came through here. Got most of it cut with an old homelite chainsaw. Main trunk was so tough an axe wouldn't even cut it and just dulled a freshly sharpened chain. Dragged it out away from where it fell and used to save my old motor oil and pour it on the oak. Took over two years before it was all burned away, tough stuff. Frank

 

[k22fan]

Texas,

I'm sorry that I did not describe my old small Estwing more clearly. It has a leather washer handle just like the one pictured. The steel you see in Faulkner's picture is clear coated to keep it silver while on display in the store. In use the paint wears off the sides of the blade quickly, the steel losses its shine, then turns brown. Except for the butt cap, all the otherwise exposed steel on my old Estwing was pained blueish gray when new.

My newer larger Estwings all have blue hand grips and their exposed steel was originally clear coated. The Estwing Camp Axe I bought in the early 1980s has a blue nylon hand grip covering part of its tubular steel handle extension. The steel tube is painted blue on all the Camp Axes I've seen. The tube extends Estwing's larger hatchet into a Camp Axe. The rest of the exposed metal is bare and probably was clear coated when new. Estwing swictced from nylon to a softer rubbery material but stuck with blue for a color. More recently Estwing has used metallic blue paint instead of clear coat on some of their hatchets with rubber hand grips.

While steel handled hammers and hatchets are not my favorites Estwing does use good steel. They hold and edge well.

 

[harleyvato]

Another option!

I don't know if your heart is set on a hatchet but I saw a product called the kindling cutter the other day. I saw a video and I liked the way it worked, all you need is a hammer or even another piece of wood. It seemed very safe, especially since I haven't had to chop wood since I was a kid either. With my eyes being not as good as they were etc if I was making kindling I would try it, but no wood stoves in my future though. Hopefully this may help.

 

[Alpo]

Have not used this particular one - don't need no more axes - but I have had excellent experience with both Swedish steel and Swedish surplus.

New Swedish Military Hand Hatchet - 202289, Hand Tools at Sportsman's Guide

 

[Qball]

I bought me one of these at a surplus store, then cut of the pike.
Used it for splitting wood, heavy.. sturdy.. sharp.. and most of all
CHEAP.. ($5)

 

[30-30remchester]

K22 , made some interesting observations from what sounds like experience. I as well have a small collection of axes and hatchets. He stated that he never saw a hatchet used for kindling with a broken handle. He has never seen me chop. I have depth prospection problem. I haft several axes and hatchets a year for friends, but I do not know how they got broken. Other here praise the Estwing for their keen edge holding ability and I have found the opposite to be true with my 4 or 5. I find the steel soft but easy to sharpen. I also dislike the short handle for kindling. You just cant get any real swing with such a short handle. But if you are going to have a fire once a week anything will do. When you have a fire burning continually for 4 months it is another thing all together. For 22 years I cut all my own wood, about 4 cords a year. I still fall the occasional tree with a New Jersey pattern falling axe made by Bluegrass. When I was younger I used an old Sagar chemical axe to do my falling but it got too heavy for continual work. When I was escorting elk hunters I used a 2 1/2# Winchester axe with a 20" handle to do the quartering. Then I switched to the little Estwing's because they were lighter to carry. They will quarter an elk but it is slower, or maybe it is me getting slower. I have replaced it with an old Norlund Hudson Bay hatchet I bough at a yard sale. Neat little thing but has a short handle as well and all it has been used for is head lopping of 3 antelope. Sure a lot more work than my old Winchester.

 

[Rintimtin]

Look at wetterlings and Gransfor Bruks. Or Council Tool Council is still made in the USA.

 

[Scrapper]

I've been using an old Plumb that's been handed down in the family. I started using it 43 years ago. I have 2 of these, one with a hardened head and the other with a softer head. The softer one I can hit with a file a few times and it's as sharp as a razor the other I have to use a stone to sharpen it.

I used them for everything from butchering small to large game to kindling, falling small trees, roofing, plumbing. There's a bunch of things a simple thing like a hatchet can do.

I've also got one of those Estwing's like Faulkner posted. This is the one my dad gave me when I was a little guy. I think he got it in Maine. I still have it and it works great. It's much lighter than my Plumbs. Every tool has it's place. The most important things is finding the tool and the place for it. Only experience can do that.

Now a good Tomahawk is another story

 

[Jack Flash]

If you visit yard sales / estate sales you will often find axe heads for give-away prices. Usually these are from the old days when they were actually made right. Then just buy a hardwood handle of the length you prefer.


I have three or four I got from yard sales. Plus a couple of old hatchets to boot.

 

[Texas Star]

I bought me one of these at a surplus store, then cut of the pike.
Used it for splitting wood, heavy.. sturdy.. sharp.. and most of all
CHEAP.. ($5)

Was there a legal requirement to cut off the pike end?

 

[charlie sherrill]

I have several old axes left from my father and grandfather but I mostly use my Estwing camp ax, and I use it a lot. They still make them here in the U.S.