Broad hatchet

E

EdgyGator

Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Messages
258
I'm getting more & more into hand tools and working green wood.

I'm looking to pick up a broad hatchet and perhaps an axe.

I'm no axe expert. I believe Plumb made good stuff. Any other brands you'd recommend?

I think I'll stay vintage. I bought a new one last year, and it was very poorly made. I even used a belt sander to lap the back flat and one 1" portion of the edge still wasn't it was made so poorly. I will consign that one to yard work.
 
Gator, I use broad hatchets on occasion. Not sure what all the brands are that I use. Plumb, Vaughn & Bushnell, a couple others. I even used one that is so worn half the label is gone. Not sure what you are doing with them but to me the most important thing is the right tool for the job. Size shape ect.
With the exception of the worn out head all that I have used have been more than up to the task. Find you one in the size and configuration you need. The vintage stuff is plenty good. I would put condition over the maker with a vintage hatchet.
Don't buy one that looks like this. It is still good but not by much. It's the one that is worn so much. Another quarter inch and I am out of the carbon steel. What looks like a large scratch on the bevel side is the carbon steel weld. On the back side it is a different colored steel.
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I like my Plumb broad hatchet (hewing hatchet) a lot. Currently there are a couple very nice looking Plumb broad hatchets up for auction on that popular auction website as well as some other nice looking vintage ones.
 
True Temper made a lot of these, too. Good little axes. Stubai of Austria still makes a nice selection.
 
Thanks guys. This will be for hewing oak, primarily - and ash, if I have to drop my big ol' green ash. I was thinking of something 16-18" long, with a 4-5 inch bit. If I ever get to hewing large logs, I'll look for an axe.

A friend loaned me a nice vintage Canadian make awhile back, but I had to return it. So the search is on.


Gary, St. Roy wannabe
 
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