I realize this is an old thread, but I happened across it looking for reviews of this hatchet.
I got mine for Christmas 2022. Doubting the quality, I wondered about heat treating it myself. My employer has a rockwell hardness tester, so I asked for a test.
At the center of length of the head it tested at RC-12. What?!
They also have an XRF analyzer for metal composition… 0.0 carbon. Only iron and manganese!
The short version is I learned about “mangasteel”. It is work- hardening and cannot be hardened by traditional steel methods. So every time you hit it, it gets a little harder - like bronze, for example.
In very high manganese content it’s used in tools for machining stainless steel.
I haven’t used it enough to know if performance improves over time, and how it is to sharpen as it hardens. So if anyone has, I’d love to hear about it!
For me, I really liked the head, but not the handle. After sanding and shaping, I decided it would be better suited as a trail axe. So I put it on a hickory boy’s axe handle, profiled, sharpened, blackened and oiled it.
Now to put it to the test…