Restomod hatchets

[Aristotle]

Whilst sorting out the Scout group hatchets, I found two with heads that had potential. A HB 1 1/4lb and an unbranded one of ~1 1/2lb.

They both had terrible handles of around 13-14". The HB had a butchered/home-made effort and the unbranded one was damaged glass fibre.

The handles were removed and binned.

The heads were soaked in vinegar to remove the rust, then cleaned up and re-profiled and sharpened to smooth convex bevels. I left the HB head with a bit more patina.

I lacquered the heads for a bit of rust-resistance as they will take a bit of abuse from Scouts.

I fitted the heads to 16" beech handles that I stained and linseed oiled.

They cut nicely and the longer handles make them more versatile.

 

[matarius777]

Chukmuk
Sorry, I was meant to be doing a search, can’t work out how to delete this!

 

[Aristotle]

The smaller (1 1/4lb) HB axe was given a bit of a test today.

Lopping the branches off boughs that had been cut down. It made such easy work if it that I then chopped the boughs with it too


I was very pleased with the performance. it does have a good edge, but the longer handle with the light head makes for a very useful tool that is very portable.

The typical hatchet probably has too short a handle.

 

[TLM]

The typical hatchet probably has too short a handle.

I kind of agree, in fact I definitely agree. I once talked with Fiskars people about that, the answer was typical "it has to look good to sell". A light weight head with longish handle would be quite useful but it would look a bit strange.

 

[MrEd]

I have a bruks axe with a light head and longish handle and it’s nice to use, feels nicer than the same weight with a shorter handle, only thing it isn’t great at it splitting bigger logs, but that’s more to
Do with the head shape rather than the weight tbh.

The handles look nice, especially stained, they look original

 

[Aristotle]

I kind of agree, in fact I definitely agree. I once talked with Fiskars people about that, the answer was typical "it has to look good to sell". A light weight head with longish handle would be quite useful but it would look a bit strange.

It is interesting how aesthetics can be seen as important for something as functional as a fairly cheap wood chopping/splitting tool.

I can only assume that few people actually use their small hatchets at all, and not for anything more than a Mora knife could easily deal with.

The handle doesn't not need to be really long, but the performance difference with 16" is
marked.

*Very few* people will sharpen the blade either, let alone improve on the standard edge profile of a mass-produced, non-fancy axe, which can also make a huge difference

 

[Aristotle]

These axes have had some good use for lopping small branches, clearing etc. They work well

The Explorer Scouts made good use of these axes for making kindling and tinder with these axes recently.

They thought that they looked good too.