Do you get to keep the original?
If they should require you send it back - will they pay the postage?
Technically speaking the chipped axe is worthless. Maybe you can attempt a tempering yourself?
This can happen with handmade things. Humans are not perfect.
I agree, I would never pay for the return either....
The tempering is done at a fairly low temperature, somewhere around 200-300 C?
One of the resident metal bashers can give you advice there.
If it is around that temperature, you can temper it in your oven, minus the handle of course.
If I have to return the axe I hope they will as I certainly won't be paying postage, not only will it cost a fortune but also why should I? Its only extra inconvenience and cost for something I never asked to happen.
If I do get to keep it I might use it as a splitter (hoping the other edge holds up better). As for tempering it myself, could be an interesting project but I don't have the facilities to do it properly at the moment. Either way it will probably just end up sitting in the shed!
You can do an easy temper by making a outdoor fire then resting the axe in the ashes for an hour while keeping a small fire going on top of the ashes. Wrap the handle in tinfoil the best you can.
You don't pay postage for returns within the EU if the item is faulty, which has been graciously admitted, then if they want it back they have to pay the return. I'm getting a sense of a bit of sourness at your end with this. It's obviously a fault, it happens in individually hand forged items, you've been offered a replacement without any questions asked about how you were using it, you haven't been asked to return it, yet you're all indignant about a lack of apology and getting worked up about a scenario that is so far non existent.
I think Gransfors Bruks have behaved very professionally, and it's one of the reasons they have such a good reputation. Well, that and Mears saying they're good axes, they were pretty much unheard of prior to that. You now have two axes for the price of one, yet still appear to need a bit of a cuddle because you're "disappointed that they haven't apologised". Yet in your next post, when asked if you had to return the original, you said you wouldn't be raising the issue and added a wink smilie noting your pleasure at getting something for nothing.
Sorry, but I don't like whining posts like yours. You've got good service, very likely two for one, yet you're still on your soapbox expressing how hard done by you've been. Bear in mind the cost to them, not you, both financially and to their reputation.
Nice65, he just got frustrated. He expected top notch quality, but received a dud.
A small % of handmade stuff are like that.
Maybe he is used to factory made stuff.
You can do an easy temper by making a outdoor fire then resting the axe in the ashes for an hour while keeping a small fire going on top of the ashes. Wrap the handle in tinfoil the best you can.
This may be acceptable on a cheap piece of kit but I wouldn't dream of doing it on a decent piece of steel. On a tool steel, at a temperature of 200C you will get a hardness of near HRC60 and at 400C HRC50 after 1 hour assuming it had been properly heated and quenched - what temperature/hardness would you get in the embers? Getting the right hardness for a tool that's going to be belted into big bits of wood is vital.
All my current axes are 100 years old or older; I've never chipped one yet (touches wood quickly)
Cheers,
Broch