Digitally Fixing the Hardcore Hammers Survivalist Hatchet

FortyTwoBlades

FortyTwoBlades

Baryonyx walkeri
Dealer / Materials Provider
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Mar 8, 2008
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The Hardcore Hammers Survivalist Hatchet has been discussed here before as coming with a heavily pre-worn toe. It popped up again on an axe group on Facebook and I decided to do a little photoshopping to correct it, and I figured I might as well post the image here, as well. I'd even go and add another 1/4" to 1/2" of bit depth back onto it vs. my re-rendering but then it'd be projecting into the frame of the original image.

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Definite improvement over the original. I don't know what the rationale might have been for shaping the blade the way they did, unless the designers modeled it after inspecting a sack of 'worn out' implements.
 
That's my guess. They probably had an old half hatchet that was nearly worn out that they really liked and tried souping it up.
 
300Six said:
Definite improvement over the original. I don't know what the rationale might have been for shaping the blade the way they did, unless the designers modeled it after inspecting a sack of 'worn out' implements.
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Exactly.

Obviously designed by some clueless marketing moron.
 
Square_peg said:
Exactly.

Obviously designed by some clueless marketing moron.
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I'd want to believe that too but most companies do their homework before investing in the making and marketing of new products. It might well be that these in fact are 'selling like hotcakes' to uninformed spenders solely because they look like great grandpa's old gear.
 
While grabbing the image I noticed they had CAD images up on their site of schematics for a full sized axe. In the hopes of an intervention before they invested in the production tooling I reached out to them by email with this rendering and an explanation of why they might want to consider lengthening the toe. One of the owners responded right away, and very favorably. He said they'll definitely take that into consideration as they move forward with prototyping. :)
 
Good of you to offer advice. Problem for Hardcore is many no here aren't even potential customers because we've already got a lifetime's supply of decent stuff or know exactly what we want, and increasingly the consensus amongst experienced hand tool users has become: 'don't buy new'.
 
And many on here also still buy new because of new designs or wanting to experiment with what the market is offering. Plus, those who are less critical of tool design will still reap the benefit of having an axe that isn't 80% used up out of the box. :)
 
That revision definitely looks better.
That axe appears to be injection moulded. It should be inexpensive & piece of cake to shape its mould differently. But dont know if that holds true on the rest of its process machinery.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
While grabbing the image I noticed they had CAD images up on their site of schematics for a full sized axe. In the hopes of an intervention before they invested in the production tooling I reached out to them by email with this rendering and an explanation of why they might want to consider lengthening the toe. One of the owners responded right away, and very favorably. He said they'll definitely take that into consideration as they move forward with prototyping. :)
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good to here 42
Lieblad said:
That revision definitely looks better.
That axe appears to be injection moulded. It should be inexpensive & piece of cake to shape its mould differently. But dont know if that holds true on the rest of its process machinery.
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i hope they went through the right processes and used a good casting steel to keep grain size down.

if i had the choice, i'd go with a forged/drop forged head because i know the grain size is probably nice and small
 
Modern casting processes are super high quality and pretty much eliminate issues of grain size or voids. You don't have any grain flow like you would in a forged part, but some industries actually see performance boosts from MIM parts over forged for that very reason. I'm pretty sure that if it's cast it would hold up fine. The tech has come a long way since days of yore.
 
It does look much better and brings up a big issue.

Because they messed the head up, why not just buy a Vaughan riggers Axe that doesn't have any stuped marketing behind and is made by a company that's been on top for over 100 years ?
 
Nowdays cast steel can be great, but metal injection moulding is greatly less expensive process, especially for low production numbers product.
 
Hickory n steel said:
It does look much better and brings up a big issue.

Because they messed the head up, why not just buy a Vaughan riggers Axe that doesn't have any stuped marketing behind and is made by a company that's been on top for over 100 years ?
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Can't argue with that. Buy from a known company with many years experience doing it right. Who would you trust? A company that doesn't even know they're casting a product that is worn out or a company that has been perfecting their process for 100 years or more with a track record of excellence? It's a no-brainer.
 
On the other hand, the poll is cool and the elongated eye is also a design advantage. Very nice of you to reach out to them. The shopped version looks 10x better.
 
Park Swan said:
On the other hand, the poll is cool and the elongated eye is also a design advantage. Very nice of you to reach out to them. The shopped version looks 10x better.
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The Vaughn’s riggers axes are also collared, they come with a full bit and unlike other brands I have never broke one. Even using them on occasion as splitting wedges, breaking concrete with the bit, cutting nails etc. Been using them most of my life. All this and you could probably get four or five of them at the cost of that Hardcore that is heavily worn right off the shelf.
 
garry3 said:
The Vaughn’s riggers axes are also collared, they come with a full bit and unlike other brands I have never broke one. Even using them on occasion as splitting wedges, breaking concrete with the bit, cutting nails etc. Been using them most of my life. All this and you could probably get four or five of them at the cost of that Hardcore that is heavily worn right off the shelf.
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That's a great endorsement. I didn't know about the collared version from Vaughan, looks like it costs about twice as much as their regular riggers axe.
 
Park Swan said:
That's a great endorsement. I didn't know about the collared version from Vaughan, looks like it costs about twice as much as their regular riggers axe.
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Far as I know there is only one model of the Vaughn rigging axe? I think around thirty bucks.
 
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