Broad Hatchet

[Wallace Brooks]

I am not eager to buy a lower end hatchet or axe that was made in the pacific rim for the big box stores. The QC on the heat treatment is suspect, and sometimes the edge is too soft, other times it is brittle like glass. If I was buying a new hatchet, I would spend about 2x more for this: https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/...d-hatchet.aspx The

Biber Classic Carpenter's Broad Hatchet

is sold for $90 at Highland Woodworking in Atlanta. That is $39.00 below the price on Amazon.
It is a forged, heat treated and finished in Germany. You can always grind the ears off.

[ernest dubois]

A lot of hatchets and axes are getting confused, un-equal parallels drawn, apples and oranges getting mixed together here. As far as I can make out the two hatchets originally posed are both in fact single beveled and if that is the specific intention of Lehnert then the Fiskars, Hults Bruk, Gransfors, etc... carpentry axes simply don't fit the bill. When Lehnert was in the mood to hunt down a suitable side-hatchet on the second-hand market there are undoubtedly good reliable versions to be found, produced at one time by honest brokers for an informed client base. Such conditions no longer exist which makes the choice between the two proposed hatchets a bit of a gamble.

[John Sanford]

This is something that may be worth considering:

http://wood-tools.co.uk/tools/the-robin-wood-axe/

[ernest dubois]

This is something that may be worth considering:

http://wood-tools.co.uk/tools/the-robin-wood-axe/

This is an interesting case, (it contradicts also the generalization I made above). Wood has made an honest effort at getting a reliable axe into the hands of the ones not wanting to spend the money for a really good axe. I also like it because it goes in the face of the common notion that made in China equates with crap. It exposes not China as the origins of low quality and deception but the retail production and management organizations with big brand names attached as responsible for all this hoodwinking going on. Wood has taken the responsibility of getting the axes made the way he wants them made, in China. Still, it's no side axe so cannot fill the desire of that one posing the original question.

[Jim Koepke]

For me the hunt is half the fun.

Hewing Hatchet Bevels.jpg

The one on the right is marked Stiletto and the one on the left is marked True Temper Kelly Works.

The Kelley Works hatchet came from an estate sale where two would have been bought, but at the time they both were priced at $18 and there wasn't enough cash in my wallet so only the True Temper Kelly Works model was able to come home with me.

The Stiletto was purchased recently on a trip along the Columbia River in Oregon. There is a building that is usually closed up. When we went by the door was open so we stopped for a look. The folks were loading up for a big antique show in Portland. There was a display rack of axes and hatchets. This one was spotted as being set up as a left hand hewing hatchet. He wanted $40, haggled him down to $27.50. This is the same place where a dividers was bought about a year ago.

The backs:

Hewing Hatchet Backs.jpg

There is a little bit of bevel on the back of the Stiletto. It shouldn't be too difficult to work it down to a surface good for hewing.

This was a good day since we were headed to a place that calls itself, "The Woodworkers Candy Store," CrossCut Hardwoods in Portland.

jtk

[Kevin Hampshire]

Dave, I went through the same process two-years ago. I chose the USA made Vaughan SB2 Broad Hatchet over the imported Plumb.

Vaughan USA quality is still "old school" and basically unchanged. Kind of like Estwing's USA production.

At price below, it's low risk and you're not out too much.

This link is for a lower price:

https://www.amazon.com/Vaughan-Bushn...=Broad+Hatchet


BTW, got to love a 1 star review for the blade only sharpened on one side! Then there are the complaints about having to sharpen the blade to use...

[Kevin Hampshire]

Bill, The Vaughan already has this very slight back bevel you’re describing.

Look at the user photos (not the OP link) in the Amazon link I posted.

[Patrick Chase]

BTW, got to love a 1 star review for the blade only sharpened on one side! Then there are the complaints about having to sharpen the blade to use...

Bill, The Vaughan already has this very slight back bevel you’re describing.

I particularly like the reviewer who complained about the amount of work required to make the back "perfectly flat". I'm sure he'll soon be posting an update complaining about how the corners seem to dig in a lot.

I don't see how you could go wrong at that price for a US-made broad hatchet with decent steel and a properly shaped back. It's not going to hold a candle to the Gransfors, but you could certainly do a lot worse.

[John Schtrumpf]

My Vaughan SB2 didn't come with a bevel on the flat side. But the flat side does have a convex curve to it from around the eye to the edge (more towards the edge), and a slight convex curve toe to heel. Along with a concavity on the front/bevel side. The factory bevel on mine, was a small 45 degree bevel that didn't fully remove the original forged edge.

I can't really say how good or bad the SB2 is, as I have no real experience. I have used it to knock the bark off a log, as well as some playing. The curve of the bit helps for hewing and slicing, but is not so good for other axe/hatchet work like chopping or splitting (the head is off balance to the edge for a straight hit).


eye to edge curve on flat side
flatsideeyetoedge.jpg

toe to heel curve on flat side
flatsidetoetoheel.jpg

concavity on bevel side
frontsideconcavity.jpg

[ernest dubois]

Now thanks for that information. It is the first time that I have seen this axe tuned for use and from what I see it looks decent. Of course the back has to be perfectly flattened in the same way a chisel or plane blade has to be if you want to get a good edge on there. The slope at the back-side just behind the edge helps counter act the tendency of the blade to cut inward by providing a pivot against the surface of the wood. It's something practice and good technique would just as well overcome when that slope was not there so I see this feature as a crutch and not really necessary and there to make the axe more friendly for the one who axes only occasionally. It is the second curve, toe to heel along the back side that is critical because absent this using the axe would truly be difficult in any kind of surfacing work. You don't show the edge in profile but it seems the toe and heel are rounded and the edge slightly arched. Again it makes it handy for all-around use and maybe that is the intention, separating it again from the carpentry axe with its straight profile, sharp toe and heel.