Dimples in her cheeks

S

Square_peg

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This little hatchet climbed out of the woods during a recent trail work project. What's interesting is the beveled cheeks. These are fairly common in full-sized axes but I haven't seen them in a hatchet before.

Hatchet1_001.jpg



There's a maker's stamp on it but it's completely illegible. Anyone recognize this?

Hatchet2_001.jpg



Sad part is that there's a crack coming out of the eye and running halfway up her pretty cheek.
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This hatchet was left out in the weather and I suspect the freeze/thaw cycle of water soaked up by the handle caused the crack.

Hatchet3.jpg
 
i believe the makers mark says "made in china" :D... just kidding!

to bad its got a crack, but for a lite duty hatchet, it would be OK i guess...
whatever make it is, i like the looks of her. definatly a bit unique. id clean her up and use her!
 
You definitly need to spruce that one back up, whether you can use it or not.

I wonder if it would be possible to braze the crack? (lol! that sounds kinda funny)
 
Despite it's small size it is thickly made and rather heavy. It's a full 2 pounds. I'm considering a boy's axe handle for it.
 
I like those old school hatchets like that, I have a few. They are thick, ready to work beasts that can do a variety of chores and work for you. If you get the bit edge right, it will split, buck, chop, etc for you with no problems. They are heavier, so some guys dont like them for a variety of reasons (travel, backpack, etc) which are all legit. If I had to pick I would rather have one of those in the woods then a thinner profile, but there are positives and negatives both ways.

Nice find!
 
Getting back to that beveled-cheek hatchet with the crack in it - my friend Larry down at Monster Metals welded it up for me today. I'll clean up the weld one of these days and rehang this little cutie.

Larry is one of the few men who still make their livings as a practicing blacksmiths. His shop blows me away. I should hope to someday have 1/4 of what he's got and have 1/4 of his blacksmithing abilities.


Welded_hatchet.jpg



Side note: I caught Larry in the middle of re-pointing some jackhammer bits this afternoon. It's pretty cool to see. He has a video up on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQMmbzdv32U

Since this video he has revised his process and is now doing them in half the time with the same quality. Check out his induction forge at the 52 second mark in the video. It heats 3 points up to orange heat in about 30 seconds.
 
Good stuff. I'm glad you've sorted it out...and look forward to seeing a little more life breathed into this one.

Larry has some nice toys...and obviously talent too!
 
Good for you, Pegs. Another one salvaged, this time even resurrected.

Looks like that feller knows how to run a welder for sure. To my (very green) eye, that looks to be a nearly perfect weld.
 
Love to see repair work done on old tools. Especially when it is arguably more work than just getting a different/new one and scrapping the old one. Sometimes (or most of the time) effeciency is simply irrelavent and its more about our quirky human nature and taking care of what you've got. Thank god we aren't robots.
 
M3mphis said:
To my (very green) eye, that looks to be a nearly perfect weld.
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There's a tiny inclusion at one spot but other than that it is a perfect weld.

Funny thing, I thought about grinding open the crack here at home before I took it to Larry but I figured I ought to let him grind it out as he saw fit. So he takes it over to a work bench that has compressed air piped to it. On a rack on the wall he has about 20 die grinders hanging, each with different attachments. The guy's got tools!
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He's got 1/2 a dozen big power hammers and presses. You may have seen Jesse James at his power hammer. That's one he bought from Larry.
 
Yes, tig. You could pick it up by the bit with your bare hand when he was finished. It was warm but not enough to effect the temper. Of course the eye is undoubtedly softer but that's an improvement in my book (vs. so brittle it cracked).
 
G-pig said:
Sometimes (or most of the time) effeciency is simply irrelavent and its more about our quirky human nature and taking care of what you've got.
Click to expand...

Quirky? Is it quirky when your friends start planning an intervention to help you with your axe fetish? :D
I'm like you, G, I like to see an old tool put back into working order. It's saving a little piece of history. And as hobbies go it beats hanging out in pool halls with drunks.
 
Square_peg said:
Quirky? Is it quirky when your friends start planning an intervention to help you with your axe fetish? :D
I'm like you, G, I like to see an old tool put back into working order. It's saving a little piece of history. And as hobbies go it beats hanging out in pool halls with drunks.
Click to expand...

:thumbup:
 
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