Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades Decent small axe: Estwing?

I have had a 12 inch Estwing hatchet since 1960 and used it hard. It has taken a lot of abuse over the years and is on its second handle. The 20 inch Gransfors Bruk (GB) is only about 10 years old. To me Estwing is more handy for a hatchet than the GB and it is the one I will most likely have when I need a hatchet.

Some comments were made about the Estwing hatchets being soft. I decided to check the Rockwell hardness of the 1960 Estwing and the GB. The Estwing measures 53 RC and the GB measures 60 RC. These measurements would pretty much back up my guesses about the two hatchets. The Estwing has held a good edge and never chipped in more than 50 years of use. The GB, on the other hand, holds a great edge, but I knocked a big chip out of the edge several years after I got it splitting some fat lighter wood. That chip represented a failure to me as far as a hatchet goes. I would rather have to touch up an edge than regrind one to get a notch out and make the edge usable again. I might be in a location that regrinding an edge isn't possible and a big notch would take the hatchet out of commission.

I can't say what newer Estwings would test or what someone else might find on their GB hatchet. I can only say what mine measured and my experience with the two hatchets backs it up. The Estwing has about the right heat treat for me and the GB is just too hard.