Show off your Axes/Hatchets

Clearing things on the less traveled bike trails was actually my inspiration for restoring a hatchet in the first place. How do you haul that thing on your MTB?!

 

The old and the new. The bakelite handled hatchet is one I grew up with and used as a kid while hiking and camping. It now lives in the house near the wood stove.

My Estwing has since replaced the hatchet and rides in the passenger side storage compartment in my truck bed box.

 

not Bakelite... stacked leather ‘washers’ on ‘full shank’ handle, then dipped in varnish... pretty sure it’s an Estwing too.

 

Thank you. I originally wrote leather but doubted myself. Bakelite was on everything back then...so...oh well should have trusted my gut. Either way it’s been a great tool though and has held up well over the years.

 

I watched one of those ‘how it’s made’ shows once... The ‘Sportsman’. They still make it. 12.5” or 13.5” handle:

 

I’ve watched those shows a time or two. That would have been a good one to watch...I am not sure if I remember it ever looking that new though...hahaha

 

My wife got me a Hardcore Hammers Naturalist for Christmas a few years ago and I have been very happy with it. It has been used quite a bit clearing brush at our property and camping and has done very well for me. It lives in my truck alongside a Helko Werk maintenance kit that I use for it and my Kershaw Camp 18" machete (which also lives in my truck).

I also have my great grandfather's hatchet that he used while building the stone house that he lived in. The handle on it was made out of a hickory limb by my dad as a HS shop class project. It's not in useable condition but given its history I can't bring myself to restore it.

 

Helko Works Black Forest woodworker
Next to the krazy beaver of course

 

It's handle is around 25inchs, so I usually just strap it head down onto the side of an old Mountain Smith pack I have along with a folding saw. I have to be mindful of catching the handle but it works.

 

Photos!!

I love stories like that

 

Overstrike protection. That's smart!

 

That's awesome. Do you know the official specs on the head? Like I said, I restored the hatchet with the intent to take it on rides, but it is a little small for most of the stuff I come across. Although it probably still beats the time I took a small hand saw out to do some trail clearing. And by hand saw, I mean one meant for 2x4's and trim, not rough cuts in the woods.

 

I'd be embarrassed to show the edge of my Fiskars axe. Might as well be a rusty saw at this point haha.

But that's because I don't use it anymore. I split firewood with my LT Wright Gen 5 Saber and if I need to cut anything thicker I use one of my two saws, the Silky Ultra Accel, their best saw for bushcraft in my opinion, or the

$82 Agawa Canyon BOREAL21 -> 21" Folding Bow Saw - Black Frame, Green Handle, 21" All Purpose Blade

Agawa Canyon BOREAL21 if I'd rather push than pull.

Haven't used an axe much since converting to a knife and saw.

 

I think it has a somewhere around a 2lb head on it. It's big enough to handle most tasks, otherwise I will just pack in a chainsaw which is honestly a PITA. The folding saw I carry almost all the time while biking is a Bahco Laplander.

 

Nice! I have a folding saw, but it's a cheap one from Walmart so I don't anticipate it working well for very long when I do have to use it.

 

As requested. This is my great grandfather's hatchet with handle made by my dad from a hickory tree at his childhood home.







It's flat on one side of the cutting edge and beveled on the other which was apparently common for the time it was made. While taking pictures I noticed this stamp which I hadn't seen before:







Apparently these hatchets were manufactured in Birmingham Alabama by the Moore-Handley Hardware Company which was founded in 1880, incorporated in 1888 and is still in operation. My dad's family is from Alabama and I called to let him know it was made not too far from where his grandfather lived. It led to an interesting conversation about the history of Birmingham's steel industry and my great grandfather fighting in the Spanish-American War.



Since I was taking pictures anyway I went ahead and snapped one of my Hardcore Survivalist (not naturalist) and my Helko Werk maintenance kit. If there are any staunch Helko Werk fans here this photo may be nauseating so don't look:






They were both a little more spendy than I usually am but they've both been well worth the money. Maybe one day I'll get a Helko Werk axe and play with the big boys.

 

Nice! That is a hewing hatchet, just like the one I have. It was used to turn logs into lumber. They function more like a chisel than a splitting or felling axe, thus the one sided blade and flat edge.

That looks easily usable to me. Just throw some boiled linseed oil or watco oil on the handle to rejuvenate it (I'm not sure what the eye looks like) and sharpen up the edge and you have a working piece of your heritage! You'd probably only need some light sanding to remove the rust too. It looks to be in great shape! I also love the history. I'm still working on finding the manufacturer of mine, but I haven't started cleaning it up yet.

That second one looks like a modern variation of a roofer's hatchet. Note the hammer on the back and the notch on the front. Normally the backs of axes and hatchets aren't hardened for pounding, but people use them for that anyway. In this case, I believe the back was hardened for such use.

 

The head is loose to the extent that the handle would likely have to be replaced which I do not want to do. Although my Helko Werk kit did come with extra rings. The edge is damaged but could pretty easily be repaired. The only thing I've really done to it at this point is apply a healthy coat of CLP to the head.

The manufacturer of that one actually got their start making hammers so it is indeed hardened for hammering and has been used accordingly for installing fencing H braces at our property. Also very handy when camping.

 

Had a Fiskars for for almost 10 years, never sharpened it since it's just for splitting small pieces.

 

Those things are a work of art.