Wetterling Axe Woes

I returned my soft Large Hunter's Axe back to the good folks at Crystal Falls Trading Company this week. Dave offered either a refund or an exchange--my choice. One look at the nicks on the axe and he said, "No, it's not supposed to do that!" I'd replaced the LHA with a Gransfors SFA some time ago. Looking over his fresh shipment of Wetterlings, I spied a beautifully finished Wildlife Hatchet. Didn't really need it, but the thing was so nice, I walked away with it. Haven't put it to much use, but I've given it some time on stones and this one is properly treated. Just wanted to let folks know that CFTC stands by what they sell.

PC
 
i disagree on the mentions of a knot being softer than steel - it depends up on how big the knot is, angle of chop, edge geometry, and how frozen the knot is (as other brethren mentioned) - in other words - a lot of factors.

these hatchets are designed for softwoods too, i reckon. they are more like flying knives than splitting mauls.

i like to put a scandi edge on mine, and then "break it" with a very steep angle grind on the leading edge, which stays sharp and durable wiht soft steel and is good in general for everything from butchering elk to chopping camp wood with very little attention. - a lot of these things occur from not monitoring your edge too, including heads loosening, from resistance.

vec
 
I don,t care how old the knot is ,,, wood is wood ,,, I,ve Never damaged my hatchets on any wood. Ever.
 
I bought a new Large Hunting Axe last month and major issues with the edge too, which included the first time folding over when chopping a non-knotted area of a dead soft Ponderosa Pine, the second time folding over again and a big chunk of the blade coming out on another dead Ponderosa tree. My Fiskars Axe was used to finish the job and it has really soft steel and it had no problem.

I emailed Wetterlings the pictures of the axe and they admitted right away that it was a heat treat problem and sent me a brand new one. Great customer service by them, but it looks like this is happening to others as well. As to knots, etc, yes, a really bad knot can possibly chip or roll your edge, but not to the degree these recent Wetterlings are doing (and I didn't even hit a knot). A good axe should be able handle anything wood related as it's usually rocks and gravel which can cause this kind of damage when limbing.
 
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michaelmcgo said:
I laughed so hard when I heard this, a fart squeezed out. I'm enjoying it's bouquet while I write this :rolleyes:

I have done one worse than the drunken stone chop: the sober hatchet lend... This resulted in several sober stone chops and some belligerent moments on my part...

As for the OP, I've never chipped/bent an axe on a knot, but I have on a nail that was embedded in the tree. If somebody put a sign on it years ago, the nail will get absorbed into the trunk only return years later and destroy your toys.
Click to expand...

On a fishing trip last year I did sort of a combination of those two. I'll call it a sober hatchet lend to my drunken Dad. The result was a split open shin with arterial bleeding and a 3 hour drive to the closest emergency room arriving there at about 2 AM. Ahhhhh good times!! :D
 
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