Originally Posted by jpb
Originally Posted by sns2
Hey fellas. Gonna get me a quality axe. Small forest size. Have been trying to decide between Hultasfor or Gransfors Bruk. However, I am certainly open to a premium axe made in the USA.

Axe will be in my truck on hunting and fishing trips primarily as a fire starter if I’m being brutally honest. I just don’t want anymore disposable stuff. Only buying stuff my son will use after I croak.

Any suggestions? I’m all ears.
Hi

I too have grown to prefer fewer, but higher, quality goods over the years - just a bit more satisfying! grin

I've toured the Gränfors bruks factory here in Sweden, and met nothing but friendly people who seemed very passionate about what they were doing!

The company offers courses (in Swedish and English) in basic forging, forging axes, forging knives, timber framing, log building, etc - if I hadn't been just passing through the area, I would have signed up right then and there!

Every ax/hatchet head is stamped with the initials of the smith who made it and if one ever comes back cracked, they get razzed by all the other smiths. I saw the last returned hatchet still hanging on the "Vägg av skam" (Wall of Shame), with the blacksmith maker being so humiliated until another axe or hatchet was returned and took its place. smile

Husqvarna and Hultafors hatchets & axes are very good too, but after seeing MANY of both in the local hardware stores here (I'm in Sweden), I've become rather certain that the quality control regarding grain flow is more strict at Granfors Bruks so I imagine that they break less.

I like my Gränsfors Hunters Axe. I have used the rounded flay poll to skin moose and it works. The rings machined in the handle (look closely below) really do improve grip with bloody hands, but they are not hard to clean like checkering is.

[Linked Image from gransforsbruk.com]

When a fellow hunter forgot the SawsAll, I have also used the blade of my Hunters' Axe to chop down the spine lengthwise to split a bull moose carcass. That is several FEET of bone ! However, the axe was still quite sharp at the end. To be honest, it was not shaving sharp any more, but it was still sharper than a north American axe would normally be. The edge on a Gränfors Bruks axe is quite hardened, and I've been assured by friends who have Hultafors and Husqvarna axes that the cutting edges of both brands are also harder than "hackspett läppar" (Woodpecker Lips) laugh

Every time I use my Hunters Axe, I think of the elderly friend who gave it to me. I enjoy killing a moose with one of my handloads more than store bought ammunition. I also find it satisfying that I met the blacksmith who made my axe head (there are only about fifteen of the smiths over the last several decades because the company has nearly zero employee turnover, apparently Gränfors Bruks AB is a nice place to work).

I seem to be getting old and sentimental... smile

Cheers from Sweden,
John
I have one likes this that stays in my truck. Well made axe.

Coyotes shot no waiting.