I'd like to pick up a GOOD hatchet. Something better than the normal stuff found at Lowes and other hardware stores. Will be using it for camping and for when I am splitting firewood. I figure someone here can recommend a few good ones and tell me what to look for.

Gransfors makes some nice ones.

Find a vintage USA made Plumb , it's just as good as any made.


Mike

Wetterlings makes a really good ax and it isn't as expensive as a gransfors. A fiskars ax is ok not as good as the others but better than wally world speacials. I have a fiskars that has served me well for about 4 years and it sharpens really good. I can shave my arm with it. I use it to build duck blinds out of brush. The only con is the back side isn't a good hammer but it does the job.

http://www.smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/products/Gransfors+Bruks/Gransfors+Bruks%26%23153%3B+Wildlife+Hatchet/GB415.html

I was looking at this one, this and similar ones advertise that they use Swedish Steel, is that really something better than other steel?

Go with the plumb,I have three of them from I was doing hand scribe log structures.Take the cheeks off and you can shave with it.Cheap and they do the job,most will be lost before they are wore out.

Gransfors, Wetterlings/Husqy, Norlund, all the high dollar Swedish ones are good+.

If you want a great hatchet that will chop as good as the high dollar ones and won't break the bank, this one is by FAR the best IMO. Fiskars made in Finland. There is no hatchet made even close to as good at this price point and YOU CAN buy it at Lowes/Home Depot. Here is one the many great reviews you will find on it:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/837501-REVIEW-The-new-Fiskars-X7-14-quot-Hatchet

If you search, you can find lots of reviews on it comparing it very favorably to the high dollar Swedish models.............

Lotta guys hoard the old ones they find at garage sales and the like. Imagine that, hoarding?!

For an equivalent to many of today's stainless/synthetic rifles in the hatchet department, look at those which Fiskars offers. They have quite a good selection of sizes and they are very handy and packable. I have used one of them for the past two decades, mostly for cutting, not splitting, but the number of alders and willows it has cut would make a tremendous pile. The high quality steel head holds a good cutting edge well, while the polymer handle is very much tougher than it feels. I have used mine into deep cold (-20/-30� F) without failure.

I love the handmade quality of Gransfors, and perhaps they would be the hatchet equivalent of wood/blued rifles. In either case, Scandinavia won't steer you wrong for wood cutting purposes.

The used Plumbs on Ebay and such are much cheaper than the Gransfors and Wetterlings.

WHO me yes any old ones that I find ,hatchets axes froes adz draw knives spoke shaves bridge slicks.

Matt, Sorry but I do not have any good hatchet heads in my collection at this time or there would be in a brown truck on the way. I recommend you look around at garage or estate sales, junk or antique stores , and ask around where ever you see an old barn. As mentioned above Plumb made good great heads.

I will keep my eyes open this week as the wife and I take a week to mosey around spending five days to drive the normal 235 mile drive home. We will not travel any four lane and will see lots of real country. If I can find a good head I will clean it up, hang it and get it to you for shipping.

Been slumming this Gransfor for about 9 years




Before that I used the [bleep] out of a Gerber, mostly seeing use running a trapline.

Yep - what I bought - Hatchet

American made choices. Nothing wrong with the Gransfors but more coin and a little too hard for my liking in an axe. I have used both the Peavey and Snow and Neally. The Peavey is the best buy and use a Hudson Bay pattern for the last several years splitting fire wood before it comes into the house. The S&N have been inconsistent in quality. I have one that is really good and couple others that weren't worth the money. I have heard good things about Council, but not used one as yet.

http://store.peaveymfg.com/cart/category/2021/Axe_Line/1/

http://www.counciltool.com/product.asp?pg=product&item=17HB18

http://cspoutdoors.com/snowneallyaxes.html

I've got the Keen Cutter my Grandfather carried on the trapline through the depression. Much thicker through the blade leading up to the cutting edge than my S-I-Ls Gransfor, doesn't chop as well, but splits fairly well.

A man after my own heart, a Marlin sporting XS Sights.


A great review on that Fiskars, but for this one I am going to go a bit old school with wood handle and all.



Scott, I am not in a hurry and one hand picked by you would be very nice. Just let me know when you find something good and tell me how much $ to send. I very much like the idea of putting new life in an old tool.

We leave on our trip up the coast tomorrow. I may not be on the fire for several days but I will let you know what I find.

Thank you Scott!

If I remember right I owe you several favors and this is one I will have fun trying to return.

I have several Estwing hatchets and axes.
American made, affordable, and every bit as good as their hammers.

And it is darn hard to break a handle.

Kind of hard to carve a new handle too!

Most bang for the buck.. from Sweden.

Husky

Can be had for around $35..

http://www.gransforsbruk.com/en/products/forest-axes/gransfors-wildlife-hatchet/

That one is hard to beat. I have it and the small version of it.

I have two Wetterlings. One a 12 inch handle, the other 19. They are Swedish, hand forged and priced right. For a number of years, they have done anything asked of them.

Snow & Neally are absoulte JUNK now. Made in China.........

How about a good hatchet INJURY story?

I have seen many inept or inexperienced outdoorsman chop and whack themselves with the short axe!!!

Mike

The Fiskars/Gerber ones are great. Stay sharp for a long time and the handle seems robust. I've chopped a lot of campfire wood with mine.

funny you brought that up.

Yesterday, while camping in the Ocala NF, I was using the 19 inch ax to cut up some kindling. A piece flew up, and smacked me in the face. Thank goodness I was at least wearing my safety goggles.
Hit me in the eye, then skidded off the goggles to gouge my forehead.
Since I take blood thinners for the ticker, I bled like a damn stuck pig for half an hour until I could get that under control.
Wore a large compress the rest of the day. Now, it's just a lump with a huge scab.

And they sharpen easily as well. I know they are drop-forged stainless. Maybe Swedish Sandvik steel........

There are some great U tube videos on how to use an ax properly.

How about this one:

It must have been around 1978. I was hunting to the western foothills of the Cascades in search of a nice blacktail buck and I had a bear tag in my pocket just in case. The trees were still big back in those days and the brush was thick but I kept on walking in the deep forest toward a brighter looking place ahead of me. Suddenly I found myself in a natural meadow where the grass was over knee high and there were ancient apple and pear trees loaded with fall fruit.

Knowing deer and bears both cannot resist a good apple I stood and watched the meadow for wildlife for an hour of more before cautiously working my way into the old orchard.

I marveled at the fortitude of the early western settlers and wondered who had homestead this meadow and planted these trees. I found the fallen remains of an old cabin and barn. Then I saw it, my heart was broken, there laying partially under a huge hand hewn beam from the barn was an old hatchet, it's handle broken and mostly rotted away. An injured hatchet, laying under that huge beam for untold years with no one to help it. I was snapped into action and began digging with my hands to see if I could rescue it and perhaps with modern hatchet medical care it might live once again but when I got it uncovered I saw the eye had been split and there was no life left in the old tool.

It is buried in an unmarked grave there among the apple and pear trees. I hope it finds peace.

That's a cool story Scott. Thanks.

+1

have been carrying these same axes for about 6 years now......damn good steel for the money!

Unfortunatly S&N are no longer US made:( I'd look at Counsel.

+1 on the old Plumb if you can find one.

Another favorite of mine (especially for camping) is the traditional leather handled Estwing.
They're cheap enough, US made, and NEVER wear out.
Heck,,,, if ya look around No NV enough ya might even find one of several I've misplaced over the years.

http://www.amazon.com/Estwing-E24A-Sportsmans-Hatchet-Handle/dp/B0002JT0BO/ref=pd_sim_lg_3

I just use a bastard file for the bad spots and clean it up with a tool stone. And that's not often I do even that...

Kept a 18" Estwing in my pickup's about 40 years now. I think the ones sold now are 16"
It'll cut wood or split a elk's brisket, kinda noisy when you drive stakes, but I would buy another in a NY minute.

Still using my boy scout Plumb hatchet that I have had almost forever! "Be Prepared"!

I have one of these on order. double-bit-trapper-hatchet

While not a hatchet, I've been happy with the Velvicut Hudson Bay Ax http://www.counciltool.com

the American-made Marbles are hella good tools.....



The G-B's even better...

I've been very happy with my Bahco 19'' Rucksack Axe from Ben's Backwoods.

Bahco Rucksack Axe

The loggers around here speak highly of Bahco's
I'm told they make Husky's stuff.

Gransfors in action

If I were buying a new axe or hatchet, I'd buy a Council Tools Velvicut Hudson Bay also. My neighbor and one of my hunting buds have them, use them hard in hunting and fishing camps and they really like them. They're made here in the USA, oddly enough.

I have an old Plumb Victory model axe, a very old Mann Tool Co. axe, an old 26" boy's axe of unknown make, two old Plumb hatchets (newest from 1965), and an Estwing 14" leather handled hatchet I bought new in 1988 at a hardware store in Grangeville, Idaho. All work fine for me.

L.W.

so do these...

I think you need one more of them Vaughn rigger's hatchets:) Do they take and hold a decent edge?

3 Vaughns and 2 plumbs. The Vaughns trump Plumb for both balance, driving, AND edge holding.

This.

I have a Gransfors, have had the opportunity to use custom axes with steel tempered by Bavarian elves and handles cannibalized from clapped out Stradivarius necks--haven't found anything better than Fiskars.

Fiskars mauls work darn good too.......


Casey

For something smaller & more handy for backpacking, this guy hand builds some very nice hatchets. I saw him set up at the big Tulsa Gun Show, last year, & the quality looked really really good!

http://www.2hawks.net/tomahawks/

Thanks for this thread. Few years back when my grandfather died and we were going through his things, I saw an old beat up axe in the corner, split handle, head pretty scratched up. Thought about throwing it away a few times but couldn't do it, always thought someday I'll clean it up and put a new handle on it.

This thread peaked my curiosity so I went out to the garage and found it, took a Brillo pad to it, and sure enough there is the crown and GBA logo, made in Sweden.

Looks like the axe head was once painted blue. I guess I found myself a new camp axe as soon as I get her sharpened and a new handle put on it. 3 1/2 head, so I'm thinking maybe a 24" handle would be a good size. Lot of sap on the handle, but it just looks too unsafe at this point.

I found one of my grandfathers old hatchets and had planned to send it to Scott to have it rehung and refurbished but upon closer examination I noticed a corner of the blade had at one time been chipped. The chip would have taken maybe 3/4" off the blade length.
I hated that..

G

I've had great results with the small hatchet from Bark River. They say it's starts as a Swedish military ax..I'm assuming they mean Granforth... that they modify to their specs.

http://www.dlttrading.com/bark-river-custom-axe.html

Good luck with whichver you chose.

Here are two hatchets I worked on myself, the lighter unit (top) is a cut down Norlund and the darker is a cut down Plumb BSA. The handles I made myself, same with the leatherwork.

Interesting enough that the Norlund will chip out if used on hard Gidgee or black box, but is generally fine with red gum...the Plumb handles all with no problems what so ever, and looks like [bleep] because I used it for grubbing out tree roots last week when I laid a storm water pipe through the nature strip.

They are both due for a 24 hour soak in linseed oil, which is not a problem as I picked up 60 litres for $300 from a local fellow...I am pleased with that purchase.

The new Plumb hatchets are softer and are nowhere near as good as this one, Both of these axes pictured are pre 70.


Ebay is your friend (gasp).

Good thread-didn't realize there are so many hatchet/axe aficionados around here. I think the $20-30 Fiskars is the best bang for the buck by a long ways. I have some older Finnish Gerbers that are similar and great too. Have a Wetterlings and a few Gransfors also. A Gransfor mini is an essential part of my hunting kit-the handle grooves are my modification for a more secure grip.

I'd be very surprised if the Swedish military use Granforth as they hand forged and are essentially hand built. If I had to guess, I'd venture something its something like Husky ie factory head but still very good quality...

I visited Granf�rs Bruk, and each smith stamps his initials on each axe head so if one ever cracks and the head comes back, everybody at the plant knows who let a head get out without proper tempering.

On the Swedish web page there is a list of all the 'smiths and their corresponding initials but I don't think their English-language page has this info.

Your (now customized) Gransf�rs Bruk Mini was made by Lennert Pettersson.

If by chance anybody else wants to know the name of the guy who made their Granf�rs Bruk axe, you can read the list HERE.

Trivial, yeah, I know! But then again, there seems to be some axe fanatics here and one of them might be interested...

John

Jeddi Swagger,

Its seems there is an odd coincidence here..On the strength of this thread I went out into the shed to look at the factory made Swedish hatchet I use for chopping morning sticks..The head is marked "HB" so I googled it and find out it stands for a "Hult Bruk" and they mass produced axes, often for other company's, but also for the Swedish Military.

Mine is a fairly recent axe, and I suspect that older military axes may be better steel / better made..They should be marked with three crowns plus "KB" and two digits which I assume is the year of production..In your case, this stamping may have been lost when then axe head was re ground..

Regards,

Peter

+1
Spend all the money you like on fancy Marbles hatchets and schit, but those Estwings are hard to beat for any amount of money. I have the shorter version of this one with the leather handle - 35 yrs old and still good.

A couple Buds use the Gransfors Bruks neck knives too, very cool little stickers.

Gunner

I spent a few hours yesterday splitting a load of Pecan wood to take to my dad, and the smaller stuff to keep for my smoker.






I need a good hatchet for general camping and hunting use, but also for when I split wood. Scott F is going to set me straight on that. I go through a bunch of wood year round using my large offset smoker. I have a good maul and a good ax. Sometimes when you bust a piece, the two split pieces will be stuck together by one smaller strand like a set of nun-chucks. A smaller hatchet would be very handy to break them apart rather than using the longer handled maul or ax.

Anyone use the Husky stuff? I have a hankering now to try out their maul.

Several years ago I bought a cheap no name Maul with a Fibreglass handle, and it worked fine for a while, in fact until the cold weather set in..then one frosty morning the handle shattered near the head..obviously it had gone brittle with the cold..

After that, I bought a fibreglass handled Bancho maul..It was about three times the price, but its worked great regardless of the temperature and I have since split a lot of wood with it...

I have a fiberglass handled maul that works well, its a generic one I got from Lowes. However I am moving more traditional in my hand tools.

Scott is going to set me up good for a small hatchet. Figure I'll end up with either a Gransfors or Wetterlings 20" model and then a longer maul, 30-32".


This has been an awesome thread, learned some stuff and got to see a bunch of very cool tools.

Those Estwings are pretty soft steel, and that shaft can and will bend. I ain't never seen a piece of hickory bend and deform. Estwing hammers suck and blow.

spoken like a man who has actually used them.....

If by Maul you mean sledge on one side taper to sharp-ish on other then we call them a Canadian splitter, and they are useless for our hard woods but absolutely marvellous when taking a piece out of the cement guttering to lay stormwater pipe to the road, they cut through the cement just like a axe going through hardwood.

split stone purty fair, too....

Already had a picture so I thought I'd post
Keen Kutter trap tool I have used 30 years
Gransfors small axe
Jigged the handles

JSTUART;
Top of the morning to you sir - er or whatever time of day this finds you in - I trust this finds you and yours acceptably well.

Your leather work looks "skookum" as we'd say up here - I like it and the hatchets you've chosen.

When we were kids my elder brother had a Norlund Hudson Bay hatchet that in my memory looked sort of like the top one you've got - but my memory could be wrong on that detail I can't say for sure.

Some day I plan to drag all the axes, mauls and hatchets together for a photo like Don - huntsman22 - did.

We've got an eclectic mix that I've mostly picked up at flea markets really - a late '70's Granfors Bruks which is before they went into boutique axes, a couple Hultafors Bruks, a Frost of Sweden and then a mix of old/very old US made axes too. Oh, my main wood splitters, "Canadian splitters" I believe you'd call them are Chinese, an 8lb and a 6lb.

Some years back I decided to make up a lightweight hunting hatchet of tomahawk weight and began to buy up all the old sheet rock and roofing hammers I could.

The bottom four in the photo are ones that I've reshaped by cold grinding.


The next one up is an old US made light ax head that I reshaped and then the blue one is the Frost of Sweden.

The top construction hatchet is a bit of a mystery to me, but I've been told it was a grain elevator construction hammer. Grain elevators here in Canada contained a pile of lumber, so perhaps that's true but I can't say for sure.

Anyway sir, thanks for twigging the memory from my youth and for sharing your handiwork with us, it looks very serviceable indeed.

All the best to you and yours in the upcoming week JSTUART.

Regards,
Dwayne

BS,,,,, they're great for pulling nails out of concrete forms and digging trenches with the claws.

Can't imagine actually driving nails with one though.

Rick, any chance you could post some more pictures of the trap tool...I have not seen one before as we don't use the heavy traps.

Thank you.

James.

Hello Dwayne, we have a few of those around this locale but I believe they were used as a boxing hatchet for repair when everything came in wooden boxes...I see you (like myself) are a sucker for old tools as well.

This is one of my favorite threads in quite some time. I've been looking for a nice axe head on ebay off and on, but they get expensive there. Maybe sometime I'll get lucky at a flea market or garage sale.

Thanks to everyone who's posted pictures and reviews. More, please!

That is how I bent the shaft on an Estwing hammer. I finally learned to just go to the truck for a cats' paw and a crowbar to pull nails. Far fewer ortho visits required with that approach.

Nice job on those covers JS!

I like my little leather handled Estwing for camping and lite duty stuff but my fav is this old Plumb Cruiser I found in an old shed on a piece of property I bought.
She was pretty beat up but with a little TLC and a new handle it now cuts better than any axe I've laid hands on.


Not a purdy as yours but I even made a horse-hide cover for it so's I could take it camping with out chopping up the rest of my gear on the way there.

nice work, Cholly

LOVE my GB small forest axe. Buy once...

Old tools are habit forming, aren't they.

Thanks

I'd like to get one of those little branding irons for my leather and wood stuff though.
Did you make yours or buy them?

Nice work and two great looking tools.

Has anyone here ever considered carrying a cruiser double bit axe. Bigger and harder to carry a lot better axe when you have to use it for cutting.

OOPS! i should have read a little further down.

I like you little cruiser. They are hard to find but worth the effort.

No doubt they suck for driving nails but I kept one around for form work for years. Worked fine for duplex nails and digging. Still have it as a matter of fact but the claws are about gone from the digging part.

Made the little irons outta stiff wire and 1/16 inch stainless welding rod....

Agreed,,,,, at 5'7" they're the perfect length and weight for me.

Anything the cruiser won't handle,,, I get out the maul and/or wedges.

If I lived in the States or Canada I would carry a 3/4 axe for splitting carcases and general work...something with a 2 1/2-3 lb head, but only because a chainsaw gets too heavy when idling about on two legs.

Thanks,,,, I'll definitely try my hand at that this winter.

Probably take about 100#'s of rod before I get one right though:(

Wife wanted the cruiser for splitting up cook stove size wood but switched to my axe. She can make the wood fly.

Nothing straps flat to the side of a snowmachine quite like an Estwing however. And I can't say I wasn't impressed with the one that split and flaked the boulder we had bent so many skis and trailing arms on over the years in one crooked creek crossing. That "boulder" turned out to be a big lump of tundra muck which, when frozen, seemed nothing less than a big rock capped with a bit of soil and grass. Pretty hard to fault those Estwings based on the use I've seen them put to in Alaska. Show me an ax that cracks frozen beaver better (or salmon, mutton, etc.)

Scott, I have had a couple of 6 lb axes come back from gidgee and give me a whack on the forehead, not really sure I would like that to happen with one of your double bits.

JSTUART;
Wood is such a regional thing I've found and I can't even imagine what you folks' requirements for cutting equipment would look like.

Back in Saskatchewan we cut white poplar, scrub oak, box elder and the very odd white birch for firewood.

The scrub oak and some of the birch was best split at -35� if possible as it really didn't want to part company with itself otherwise.

Here in BC even our western larch or Douglas Fir is soft compared to that and akin to butter compared to what you'd be handling.

Anyway it is discussions such as these that make our cyber 'Fire fun for me as I get a small glimpse into life in places I can't otherwise imagine.

Thanks for sharing your life with us here JSTUART, it's been interesting for me and I do appreciate it.

All the best to you and yours in the upcoming week.

Regards,
Dwayne

It is always a pleasure dealing with you Dwayne.

All the best.

Dwayne, James

Some very nice work there from both of you..

With regards your comments, I was thinking the same thing after James said a maul would not touch their local hard woods.

By choice, for firework we tend to use hedgerow hard woods such as birch, ash, beech ect and a maul will split those fine. However I can only imagine how hard some of those tropical hard woods must be..

About the hardest woods I have come across over here are the old "bog hardwoods" but that stuff is worth too much to split for fire wood..

Before I used a maul, I had a fancy splitting wedge called a "grenade" which worked, but I find maul just easier to use..

Regards,

Peter

Guy can bend crow bar too, it really ain't all that hard to do. Any hand tool can be damaged if it's not used correctly or abused.

Once I picked up one of these Torpedo wedge my pile of "un-splitables" went away with ease.

dont think we have much in the states that compares to some of the tropical hardwoods though, they literally are hard wood....some of them are more like a type of stone than most woods here in the states are familiar with.....hell they are tougher than a fair number of types of stone....

True enough - I tried using one of the exotics to make some inlay once and the smell and small bb like chunks flying off the table saw blade told me "never again".

Consider that wedge simply good advice for anyone who splits by hand.

That torpedo wedge is basically the same as the "grenade" I mentioned..it works well, but I don't have much cause to use it any more..

BTW who needs a stinking hatchet.....if it works for splitting skulls, must work fine for splitting wood

I have a Kukuri that I had sent over from Nepal a couple of years ago, it sitting on the desk in front of me and is used for reaching over and turning the external sound button on and off...one of these days I shall give it to one of the local young fellows for pigs or for doing other boy things.

It is an interesting thing but not much use to me.

it showed up Friday, actually its a Christmas present for my younger brother who is fascinated with the Gurkhas....its the real deal from one of the supliers they currently use, #2 pattern, the Training/Jungle pattern with a bit thicker blade....can be used for clearing brush and such but as you say not overly practical for much....

when i saw this thread i knew i had to get a pic posted though

I agree with your decision to wait for an old one but thought I would share the axes I use the most. Just about every thing around the house is ponderosa pine so it's easy going.



A little Soligen ax I rehandled with the handle I broke off the hammer my father gave me.

Gransfors Bruks small forest ax I recently purchased for splitting kindling.

Snow and Nealley #4

True

40+ yrs of Carpentering and my Estwing ain't bent.
Can't say the same for my crow bar.

The jungle Panawal...


I get most use from my 1967 issue golok manufactured at Lithgow Small Arms Factory, it is what I use to split the spine of any sheep or goats that I hang, push a length of high tensile fencing wire down the spinal cord and chop the golok down it's length.
But I generally do not bother with the wire.


Good luck locating a golok, they are another item that must be liberated from the Australian Army, although they do turn up on ebay now and then.

Can you tell me on that top axe, is that a 24" or 18" handle?

Took the old handle off the axe, I'll take it to work and buff on it a little bit then take the file to it. Now to find a handle, I think I'll write Gransfors and see if I can buy one with their logo on it.

Hi Scott when you guys are talking cruiser it looks like the same thing we called a grubbing axe that was largely used for prepping tailhold stumps for highlead or wooden tower operations,
what you are calling your axe is closer to what we called a falling axe with that size head or a little narrower but longer blade.
Are there any other double bitted axes out there with different names uses?

norm

DUDE! That Estwing IS bent, I can see it in the picture! Not quite as bad as that crowbar though. Care to say how you did that one?

Dwayne some nice work you have done there I never thought of reshaping like that ,but I may give it a try.
I should be able to fine a few more old ones to play with .I'll also have to dig out all the ones I have see whats left as some have gone to my sons.

norm

Funnily enough I have a British made Martindale No2 identical to that one which I still use now and again..

On some of the British blade/bushcraft forums those goloks seem to be taking on almost a cult status, where as we used to refer to them as "tree beaters"

While I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for the Gurkha's, I could never warm to the Kukri as a practical all round large knife. I have seen a Gurkha slaughter a goat with one and there is no doubt they use it with tremendous skill, but I would much prefer a short parang with say a 10" to 12" blade if I could lay my hands on one at a reasonable price..

Regards

Peter

Just who da fawk buys a hatchet to pull nails with anyway. I thought they were for cutting wood.
Next thing you'll tell us is that one should use a 28 gauge Citori barrel for a double leather punch....

The Martindale has a 3/4 tang from memory, the Australian issue has a full tang, and thumping great big alloy rivets holding it together.

And I am not sure why the things have been canonised either, they are useful but they are not the do-all or end-all.


Regards.

handling this one for my brother, its a hell of a chopping tool but not going to be a very versatile tool....guessing most of its mystique is going to be because of the Gurkhas themselves, but you could arm them with a butter knife and they would be killing machines ild much rather have one of sharpsguy's bowie knives if i was going to be carrying a knife of this size thats gonna work well for alot of things....

Just checked mine, and your are correct: the tang stops just at the "beak" of the handle and it has two rivets holding it on..

And talking of items being "canonised" I also had the older version of the MOD survival knife, similar to the one below:



Again it worked, but without re shaping, the handle was damned uncomfortable for prolonged use..

I eventually bought a USA made Coldsteel SRK and found it did 90% of the field chores I needed but at a fraction of the weight..

As I keep telling Sam, you need a parang for your chopping tasks!

I prefer a "westernised" version like the one below, but there are a lot of variations on the theme

maybe.....but after handling Bill's bowies at the hog hunt this spring, im fascinated with them

But look at the curves on that parang and the obvious fine, old fashioned craftsmanship: You know you want one!

I have one of the Wilkinson Sword knives that was issued prior to the one you have pictured, I use it for gardening, specifically for getting out khaki burr...I shove it into the ground next to the main root then push the knife sideways with my boot, there is no hope in hell of damaging the knife as it is obscenely thick and heavy.


The axe may interest you as it is a 6 lbs Wilkinson Sword that my wife purchased for me when we first met.

I bet that axe could tell a story or two!

In the summer there is a car boot sale up the road from me every weekend and there are usually dozens of old axes in various states of repair for sale..I really should try to pick up an older British made axe, plus a decent bill hook..

You are fortunate, there is rarely anything worth grabbing around here as tools are either used to destruction or destroyed through sheer negligence.
I am currently keeping my eye out for an old post holing shovel as the old English and Australian models were lighter and of very good steel, unlike the thick, clumsy, clubs they pass off as post holing shovels now.

Chinese junk.

Are you talking about the sort with the long narrow blade?

Narrow, curved at sides, straight edge, and not very long, just right for digging post holes. Old trenching shovels are like hens teeth as well.

Now that you mention it,,,, it does appear to be bent.
Like I said, I seldom used it for driving nails. Just digging, pulling nails, pounding stakes, and general mayhem.
Might just be an optical, but if not,,,, no telling?????

Edit;,,, The corrigation's beat smooth, claws are at least 1/2" shorter than when new, and now it appears to be bent. If I didn't own it for so long it would be fun to send it back to Estwing and see just how good their warranty is. LOL

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.

Cheaper than dirt had these while ago:

http://www.army-surplus.cz/detail/2275950-Sekera-zenijni-AcR-zanovni

it was made for the Czechoslovakia army pioneers. Much better than anything you can find in a store in USA.