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My first post in this thread was from April 2008. You joined the Forum in 2011, and your first post in this thread is from January 2012. I think the misunderstanding was regarding facts rather than intentions, so no apology is necessary. Let me repeat, I do respect your work and the experience...

Santaman2000, pray, how does all this disprove or is even relevant to what I have posted in my two previous posts? The facts are that - there is indeed a distinction, both in botany and in the lumber trade, between the true hickories and the pecan hickories. Wikipedia is not confused, you are...

On your first point: I have never said that pecans are not hickories. Botanically North American hickories are grouped into the so called ’true or typical hickories’ and the ‘pecan hickories’: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hickory...

Oetzi, I am in no way an axe expert, but I believe that those authors promote the traditional view based on the experience with old growth hickory and the grading practices of the lumber industry of their time. Old, thicker, slowly growing trees would have weaker heartwood. Nowadays rarely is a...

Paul, Just to add to the confusion, it seems that Wetterlings changed several times over the last years the stampings on the handles, the handle treatment (varnished vs. soaked in linseed oil), the shape of the handles, the shape of the heads and even the stamping on the blades. I have...

Paul, This grind is pretty much typical for all Wetterlings axes, except for the smallest ones.

Paul, I don't see anything even on your new pictures, but that doesn't men anything. Maybe Cegga can help you, after all he is a pro + a master! Is there any stamp or mark on the underside of the poll by any chance? Other than the unusual smoothness, the head looks like a hand forged to me...

I also don't like the knob too much and prefer the old style Wetterlings handle design. The end curve sure makes comfortable to hold onto longer axe handles, but from purely functional perspective any curved handle is inferior to true straight handles (for details see Cook's book)...

TheGreenMan, Wetterlings has both a hand forged and a drop-forged line. Your head might be either a drop-forged one or they have reground extensively a handforged head and in the process removed the stamping. Is there some kind of indentation in the steel where the stamping might have been (or...

I agree with Mr. Wood that these axes are not too bad. If one reads carefully Old Jimbo's tutorials or other sources, it is clear, that grain orientation is not the only or even the major factor when choosing a good handle. I would be concerned with the crack on No. 2, but even that...

Hickories (Carya) are not native to Europe. They were introduced in the last few hundred years, but I am not aware of European hickory being used as commercial timber. Hickories are quite a common in the Central and Southern USA, West from the Rockies, and they are native to the South-Eastern...

Very nice work!

Great suggestions, and great post, Eric! Let me add a few minor points: Most modern leather sheaths are tanned quickly, so they retain quite a bit of the acids or chromium used in the process. The moisture condensed in the sheath solubilises this corrosive stuff. I don't know if treating...