Helko Werk Hatchet

[Danceswithhelicopters]

Pottering about Istanbul and spotted Helko Werk Axes and Hatchets in a backstreet outdoor tool store.

Helko Werk Hatchet

The ultra modern appearance appealed to me and the handle looked as though it could just be stripped back and oiled.

Anyone tried one or seen them in the UK? Do I need to smuggle one back home?

 

[punkrockcaveman]

Helko werk - the bushcraft store

 

[Erbswurst]

That are top quality products.
I am unsure if the modern pattern that you show us is a good idea though.

 

[Danceswithhelicopters]

Nice stuff but the VARIO hatchet isn't in stock. It strikes me like a cross between a cast plastic Fiskars and a trad style.

 

[Erbswurst]

Don't they send directly from the factory to Britain?
I know for north America they have one main partner.

One can call them and ask. Surely not at Sundays, but generally they pick up the phone if you call them.

They surely speak fluently English. Every west German is able to speak English if he sits in an office.

 

[demographic]

Dictum in Germany used to sell em, dunno if they still do.
Simillar to Douglas hammers in that the shaft is designed to be easily replaced when somone Knack's it.

 

[Nice65]

You need to smuggle two back home

 

[C_Claycomb]

If you want it, buy it.

All variations of the Vario being "sold out" on the Helko web site could mean one of two things. That they were incredibly popular and they couldn't keep up with demand, or they were not popular and have not made more having sold out. I lean towards the second. Some are still available in the US and they appear to be priced at a point that approaches Gransfors there, despite what appears to me to be a much more production friendly construction method, that logically would translate into a lower cost.

I am dubious about the durability of the construction method. When I first looked, I assumed that the handle would be mortice cut and that the steel would fit into the wood, but from the better pictures on the US Helko site, it is clear that the blade and wood meet with a flat surface, two threaded holes in the steel and two holes drilled through the wood to take bolts. Stronger for the wood, sure, but not good for resisting any sort of shear or torsion between steel and handle. I know you are not meant to torque on the handle of an axe to pop wood apart when splitting, but embedding an axe in a log, picking it up, reversing and bringing the whole log down so the poll of the axe hits the chopping blow and the log is split by its own weight seems like it would impart all sorts of forces on the axe head.

Chris

 

[Herman30]

And if the original construction with an eye in the axehead for the handle were not good enough, don´t you think they would have changed the construction many decades ago?
Instead all the new ways of attaching head to handle have appeared only during this last decade or so.

 

[TLM]

Split shaft construction's return in Fiskar's axes depended on glass reinforced polyamide material and from what I have heard it took some while to get it right.

 

[Jared]

It is described as a hatchet for light cutting and splitting so at least accurately described.
With them out of stock, don't know how much of a pain getting replacement parts would be.

@TLM Are you talking the newish Fiskar's Norden axes (hickory handle with some fibreglass wrap for overstrike protection), or the all synthetic handle?

 

[TLM]

Are you talking the newish Fiskar's Norden axes (hickory handle with some fibreglass wrap for overstrike protection), or the all synthetic handle?

The all synthetic ones. The material is quite tough so it can probably be used for wood protection too.