I have to question an axe who's strength is in use with a baton.
So did I at first. Around here one has enough of a problem with a real axe, in the wetter times. Many many times we've gone out in summer for a few hours and I've abandonned my light axe for a big one. One only has so much time to spend getting a fire going! Many times, too - I'm hauling a big axe to clear deadfall off trails. Too many times, though, we go for a walk, on a whim, and then I don't take along heavy tools. So the quest for something really light that would perform has always been of interest. Even the 20 oz hatchets sometimes got left behind, were carried in a pack etc.
It wasn't until I saw just what the little Vaughan would split, that I really became enthused with hatchet and baton. You can split chunks that would be a real challenge for a light axe. I really did haul out just about everything to try against it, and the best advice for anyone doing the same would be to to have a saw along to cut out their blade.. I'm still learning about just what works, but I have extensively reground a Norlund which now works almost as well. There's more to making a head for splitting than meets the eye.
The biggest disappointment with the Vaughan, or even the Norlund for that matter, is the amount of work to put one into good shape. Unless a person has an enormous amount of time to spend with hand tools - or some power tools and the experience - it's not an easy task. It would have been neat to see a $20 solution. I think then, that we'd see a lot more interest in such hatchets. While I have a weakness for collecting all sorts of weird and wonderful axe and hatchet stuff, I like inexpensive, because a person is more apt to get honing on such stuff, and learning. And there is lots to be learned (or perhaps re-learned because people a century ago sure knew axes and hatchets..). I had pretty high hopes for the Fiskars, once I'd actually used and properly honed it. Despite trying all sorts of stuff (even concaving the faces) it simply doesn't work as well as a set up Vaughan for splitting. The bevels are simply too obtuse for easy use with a baton, though it does chop well. It's just such a pity because they're great value and putting them into shape with hand tools is easy.
I'd sort of guess that Reid may come into some flack for suggesting that many hatchets give a bouncy feel when chopping. That's just due to a secondary bevel, and even some of my GBs came with that. Hand honing will really work wonders with a GB, but power tools are often needed for really heavy duty secondary bevels on others. A stock vaughan will really show what bouncy is all about.
Leukus are great - or leuku in my case. I gave away my project blades because my quickly handled original is the one I use all the time. I didn't want it getting jealous and hurting me... Here's a good problem, though.. If a person wants to split out a bowstave, the wood really matters. With a lot of poles the grain is spiralled so you can't just tap through from the top. It still works by opening a split from the side, but a knife with a broad tip is needed for that - like a leuku. I wonder how much else about the development of the leuku in the northern forests isn't evident?