Adler 1400g Holzaxt -- A little testing.

[FortyTwoBlades]

I received this sample from Adler Tools of Germany a while ago but only just had need of an axe for gathering wood to prop up some fence posts in the pasture space I'm rewiring. Crummy cell phone pics since my full size camera would have gotten in the way. Sorry for the low quality--it's overcast here and was spitting rain by the time

Found this big gnarly branch just begging to be made useful.

It was propped up dangerously so I used my Silky Pocketboy to clear away all of the non-load-bearing branches in case in rolled. Didn't need to catch one to the face! I was then able to grab the side branch and wiggle it back and forth until it rocked free of the tree.

Chopped off the large side-shoot first.

Then it was time to take off a section of the main trunk. This was all I got to before the rain started hitting pretty badly.

You can actually see the ghosted temper line on the bit. It's about a full 2" back from the edge. The haft is ash.

 

[JayGoliath]

Thanks for taking the effort and time to review.
Reminds me of the Ochsenkopf.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Similar in both style and quality...but these are actually pretty budget friendly and that really excites me.

 

[Square_peg]

Reminds me of the Ochsenkopf.

Or a Helko.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Or a Helko.

Adler is most analogous to Helko, for sure. Should be priced a little lower. Most handles are ash, but they do have hickory on a few of their more select models. The quality of the heads is pretty decent. I received one of their Scandinavian-style splitting hatchets and while the beveling is a little shallower than I'd prefer, it's still more than enough for it to do its job effectively. Good working axes with nice deeply-hardened bits. I'm liking them so far.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

A couple more crappy cell phone photos.

It got another workout today helping me shape and drive wooden void wedges to prop up some fence posts.

 

[Joe L. Bachs]

Do you have Adler products available for purchase on you site? Or can you recommend a place to get them.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I've got an opening order placed, so I should have a few different examples in about a week, including this one. Also included will be some "Yankee pattern" axes and hatchets and Scandinavian-style splitting axes

 

[Square_peg]

Interesting. Helko also offers a 'Yankee' pattern axe. Do you think that Adler is re-marketing Helko products? Is it C45 steel?

If you can retail these at a price lower than Helko North America's products then this could be a good addition to your tool line.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

They're definitely different companies. Believe it or not, Adler is something like the second largest axe maker in Germany! They're just not well known outside of there because they haven't sold to the USA until now.

Helko doesn't produce some of the models Adler does, and Adler produces more variations of overall quality level. Adler also produces hoes, which are notably absent from Helko's product line.

Adler uses both C45 and C60 steel, with C60 being used for their more premium models.

ADLER was established in 1919 by blacksmith Josef Schmitt and is located in South Germany, Baden-Württemberg between Karlsruhe and Mannheim. Initially the company was specialized in semi-finished hoes and tools which were further processed in local forges. There were the respective local tool forms finished as these forms varied tremendously among the different regions. Over the next few years a handle production site was built as an extension to the plant and therefore the production chain consolidated the manufacturing of tool heads and the processing of appropriate tool handles.
Today our plant consists of three buildings and comprises a total area of 10.000 m2. In addition to the forge and handle production a modern painting plant was constructed which enables us to lacquer the handles with environmental friendly water-based paint. This gives us the opportunity to respond to customer’s request in- stantly.
For enhancing our production flexibility an automated dry kiln was installed which is guarantor of a constant high quality our customers are used to since the beginning.
Since four generations, ADLER is one of the leading specialists in the area of forged forest and garden tools. Our primary concern is to offer products tailored to our customer’s specific needs and therefore we constantly expand our knowledge and capacity in order to strengthen our competitiveness.

 

[chuxwan]

Very cool. I'm excited to see the lineup.

 

[300Six]

Thanks for taking the effort and time to review.
Reminds me of the Ochsenkopf.

North American folks on here generally diss the European axes for lack of convex cheeks and for having overly pronounced blades and here are two of mine. The 1950s-made "Ha-Ga-We (HGW)" forest axe from Austria features exquisite steel (which rings like crystal!) but the blade is scary oversize and too thin for me (hence I've never used it enough to even wear off the decals) whereas the 1980s West German "Oxhead Iltis Canadian" has been a favourite of mine for almost 25 years.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Funny you should mention that. This thin-bitted, broad, flat-cheeked axe didn't give me any trouble the other day.

 

[The Warrior]

Sweet looking axe. :thumbup:

 

[300Six]

Funny you should mention that. This thin-bitted, broad, flat-cheeked axe didn't give me any trouble the other day.

Me neither! For chopping and limbing Euros literally are the cat's 'posterior' but when it comes to splitting you specifically don't set yourself up to inadvertently bury one anywhere in a large piece of wood. But if you look at the HGW I posted up earlier there is way too much blade out there for the weight of the head. I could never get comfortable swinging that thing, likely because I am long-time used to more conventional shapes and much more modest blades.

 

[Steve Tall]

A short video showing the 6 lb "Yankee" axe from Adler:

[video=youtube_share;ZzlTpNG7XOM]http://youtu.be/ZzlTpNG7XOM[/video]

 

[Square_peg]

I see they offer their Yankee line in C60 steel in weights up to 7 lbs. That's stiff competition for Council's Velvicut line. I'm interested to see pricing of the C60 axes.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Me neither! For chopping and limbing Euros literally are the cat's 'posterior' but when it comes to splitting you specifically don't set yourself up to inadvertently bury one anywhere in a large piece of wood. But if you look at the HGW I posted up earlier there is way too much blade out there for the weight of the head. I could never get comfortable swinging that thing, likely because I am long-time used to more conventional shapes and much more modest blades.

Bingo. I find the really thin-bitted axes have a higher ability to one-hit stuff and once you've opened the cut on a larger piece of wood you don't really see much binding because there's less wood to one side of the bit to do any pinching. I also find the thin bits to benefit from a "lazy" swing to ensure you don't over-penetrate, particularly on those opening blows. Definitely less of a "one axe" solution, though.

 

[SC T100]

Bingo. I find the really thin-bitted axes have a higher ability to one-hit stuff and once you've opened the cut on a larger piece of wood you don't really see much binding because there's less wood to one side of the bit to do any pinching. I also find the thin bits to benefit from a "lazy" swing to ensure you don't over-penetrate, particularly on those opening blows. Definitely less of a "one axe" solution, though.

Funny this just came up. I used my Norlund Cabin Axe the other day for some limbing, and while it's smallish and has flat cheeks and a broad(ish) bit, it has excellent steel and cut and limbed some pine branches fantastically. It sang through some of that pine, hit the dirt a few times, and the bit was still extremely sharp when I was done. It's definitely a favorite of mine now. So I can't say I'm surprised the Adler did well.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

The Scandinavian-style splitting hatchet I also received as a sample is going to make a heck of a kindling-maker down in the basement over the winter.