Brand new Gransfors Bruk wildlife hatchet edge is rough - is this normal?

E

elgoog

Joined
Sep 23, 2016
Messages
3
Hi all -

Long time lurker, finally got around to registering and writing my first post.
I just got a new GB Wildlife Hatchet yesterday (my first axe!!) and noticed that the toe of the blade has a really rough texture to the point that I can run my finger on that portion of it very easily with no cut. Here's a couple of photos - http://imgur.com/a/qI2Vm The rest of the blade is quite sharp and the obligatory paper slices were good right up until the rough part of the blade hits the paper. After this, the paper tears rather than being sliced.
Is this normal for a new blade? I have no problem sharpening it and smoothing it out but wanted to make sure this is what I should do instead of returning it.

Thanks in advance,
elgoog
 
For what you pay for these (and the claims that they are fully 'ready to go') they'll probably replace this for you. On the other hand the first time your 'pride and joy' makes contact with an ingrown fence staple or even some sandy bark you'll have to resharpen the blade anyway. Might as well do that now!
 
What 300 said, I personally don't sharpen axe bits to paper slicing or shaving sharp just sharp enough to do the job. Knives are another story. Just my take on things.
 
Yeah. That's disappointing. You buy from Gransfors-Bruks expecting a top-notch piece of kit. The problem here, if the QC folks let that out the door, what else are they letting 'slip through'??:confused: Bad Heat-Treat? Crooked eye placement, etc. etc.? With the recent renewed interest in wood crafts and Bush-Crafting, it might be a symptom G-B is exceeding it's production capacity? Although, way too small a sample size to determine any sort of trend. I'd at least send them an email expressing my concern and dissatisfaction on purchasing a 'premium', hand-forged Axe with an obvious flaw in the edge grind. With all of that said, smooth out the ridges, sharpen it up and soldier-on.

SJ
 
I'd send that back. The chipping might indicate a bad heat treat. And it's hard tell from the photo but the toe of that axe looks a little short, like it spent more time on the grinder than it should have. That could also be a sign of a bad heat treat. The guy grinding may have had to work to get it that good.

Send it back.
 
Honestly? I wouldn't worry about it until you've put it to some use. Go chop some stuff with it, and sharpen it out with a gransfors ceramic puck, and if it has issues in use (ie. easy chipping, etc.), you'll find out soon enough if it's got a heat treat issue, and then you can pursue a warranty with it. If it holds up in use, then you'll save yourself the hassle of dealing with a (probably unnecessary) warranty claim.

As others have said, if you're using it, you'll dull it and ding it, and touching up the edge is inevitable.

One of my other hobbies is photography, and I don't think the toe of the bit is short, as Square_peg is suggesting — looks like parallax distortion from a wide angle lens up close is all.
 
FWIW, the edge on my GB Outdoor Axe wasn't perfect either, but was easy to fix in a few minutes, and it's been solid ever since.
 
timichango said:
One of my other hobbies is photography, and I don't think the toe of the bit is short, as Square_peg is suggesting — looks like parallax distortion from a wide angle lens up close is all.
Click to expand...

I disagree. The toe is in the center of field. That's not where you're going top see barrel distortion. Barrel would make the heel look short and the toe long.
(One of my other hobbies is astronomy.)

What you're suggesting, distortion of the image making the heel look long would be pincushion distortion. That isn't caused by a wide angle lens. Barrel is caused by a wide angle lens.
 
I agree that the toe looks short. I wouldn't care about the edge being rough, but the toe being short means it's had years worth of use of natural wear introduced by bad grinding.
 
Elgoog, if it's brand new I might be a little disappointed or question it too.

Here is your picture a bit larger larger (I kept following the link but it was hard to see the details on the toe on my small screen)


8ATgwUF.jpg
 
Thanks to all for the feedback. I bought it from Amazon so the return is super easy and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to re-order and hopefully will get one that looks better.
Now this is mostly for my education - I understand what the toe of the axe is but in what way/direction does this look short? In the photo above, am I correct in thinking that there should be more steel in the direction where the blade's shadow is? Not the entire blade, of course, just at the toe.
 
A straight line through the heel and toe of the bit should either intersect the grip point of the handle or pass just a little bit in front of the knuckles.
 
elgoog said:
. . . but in what way/direction does this look short? In the photo above, am I correct in thinking that there should be more steel in the direction where the blade's shadow is? Not the entire blade, of course, just at the toe.
Click to expand...
I can't really tell from you photos, and am not speaking for others. Below left is a GB Forrest head as pictured on the GB website. On the right is a depiction of what I would call a shortened toe.

29288760844_c4ae3d12b2_c.jpg


In my mind a shortened toe on any axe head refers to metal lost from the toe. This could occur at the factory taking off too much from the original design or through other reasons on a used axe.

Bob
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
A straight line through the heel and toe of the bit should either intersect the grip point of the handle or pass just a little bit in front of the knuckles.
Click to expand...
Is this true for hatchets as well? I've been trying to visualize this with photographs on the GB website and this doesn't seem to hold true. Admittedly, I'm doing this on a computer screen and not with something in my hand ...

rjdankert said:
I can't really tell from you photos, and am not speaking for others. Below left is a GB Forrest head as pictured on the GB website. On the right is a depiction of what I would call a shortened toe.
In my mind a shortened toe on any axe head refers to metal lost from the toe. This could occur at the factory taking off too much from the original design or through other reasons on a used axe.
Bob
Click to expand...
That's what I was thinking as well. Thanks for showing the comparison photos - that makes it very clear.
 
Square_peg said:
I disagree. The toe is in the center of field. That's not where you're going top see barrel distortion. Barrel would make the heel look short and the toe long.
(One of my other hobbies is astronomy.)

What you're suggesting, distortion of the image making the heel look long would be pincushion distortion. That isn't caused by a wide angle lens. Barrel is caused by a wide angle lens.
Click to expand...

Mea culpa, I was mixing up the toe and heel.

Whatever the case, a dead-on profile shot of the blade taken from a few feet back would give a better indication of overall shape. Hard to evaluate anything definitively with the shot provided.
 
elgoog said:
Is this true for hatchets as well? I've been trying to visualize this with photographs on the GB website and this doesn't seem to hold true. Admittedly, I'm doing this on a computer screen and not with something in my hand ...
Click to expand...

Note that I'm saying "should" not "from the factory". Most factory handles are really not optimized for the heads they're paired with, even on boutique models. The overall tendency is to have too open of a hang and not enough offset in the neck of the handle. It's an ideal to strive for, though the imaginary line should generally be no more than about three fingers' width out from the knuckles.
 
I went to the Dictum tool store in Munich a few days ago and checked out the GB offerings they had in stock there, probably 8 or 9 models. I was shocked by the poor condition of the edges in thickness, inconsistency, and overall quality control. The handles were proper in regards to grain orientation and runout, but the shaping of the handles and finishing was also surprisingly poor.

Is something happening to the GB quality control? Have they over exceeded their production capacity as Scooter Jammer suggested? I had the same thought the other day and then I log in and see this thread...
The Scandinavian forest axe I bought six years ago was as good of an axe specimen as anyone could expect to receive from the factory.
 
Park Swan said:
I went to the Dictum tool store in Munich a few days ago and checked out the GB offerings they had in stock there, probably 8 or 9 models. I was shocked by the poor condition of the edges in thickness, inconsistency, and overall quality control. The handles were proper in regards to grain orientation and runout, but the shaping of the handles and finishing was also surprisingly poor.

Is something happening to the GB quality control? Have they over exceeded their production capacity as Scooter Jammer suggested? I had the same thought the other day and then I log in and see this thread...
The Scandinavian forest axe I bought six years ago was as good of an axe specimen as anyone could expect to receive from the factory.
Click to expand...

Perhaps this outfit is a victim of it's own success and has had to speed things up too much, or, the seasoned old cats in there have been moving on and the young bucks that are replacing them aren't as skilled nor quality conscious. When QC starts rejecting a higher percentage of production items than before there is probably a review instituted from higher up that either reprimands the inspectors or relaxes the inspection standards.
Nice thing about a 'no questions asked' warranty is you get to keep returning the items until you receive the one you want.
 
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