Disappointed!!!

Think of the good side, Morablades! Whenever someone asks about Fiskars hatchets in the future, someone will ultimately provide a link to this thread. You'll live on forever. Now that I think about it, so will I since I'm posting here, too. :)
 
I would send it back to them and give them the chance to make it right. As we all know, nothing made by man is perfect. If you do send it in and they don't make it right, let us know for sure.
 
This kind of failure also serves to highlight the importance of field testing. No matter how cheap or expensive your gear, always beat the hell out of it before trusting it to do the job on the field.
 
Yeah thats weird!
Why would it split in the back and so far down from the head?
Thats a manufacturing defect definitely.
I've heard of people driving their trucks over Fiskars without causing any damage.
They should send you a new one for sure.
If that happened in the field you could always duct-tape the outside and maybe shape a wooden handle/insert to fill up the hollow then tap it in to place.
It would be still use-able in a pinch (at least for light stuff).
I've also seen some pretty horrendous looking improvised wooden axe handle "repairs" (duct-tape/nails/screws/wire/hockeytape etc) that still managed to remain functional while being "fugly".

I've got three Fiskars and Gerber Backpaxe. One of the Fiskars and the Backpaxe have had a good deal of use without any problems. I wouldn't give up on Fiskars yet.
But if this has turned you off from Fiskars then try a Wetterlings.
I have one of their 13.5 inch hatchets, it works great!
But sometimes you will get one that needs to be slightly re-profiled.
Don't be surprised if you have to mod/tweak it a bit.
 
My old Estwing has held up ok.

estwing-12in-hatchet.jpg
 
Scott Ridgeway said:
Think of the good side, Morablades! Whenever someone asks about Fiskars hatchets in the future, someone will ultimately provide a link to this thread. You'll live on forever. Now that I think about it, so will I since I'm posting here, too. :)
Click to expand...
Thats true you are immortal now!
You are-Morablades-Fiskars Killer!
:D
 
Morablades said:
The hatchet (Fiskars 14") that I bragged so much about many times on this forum cracked today under some light chopping. Even self proclaimed unbreakable material is breakable. The wood I was chopping was about 4" in diameter and less. Guess I better pull out the old one again. Any recommendations on a hatchet? I think want to try something other than a Fiskars. I couldn't help but think that if this happened in the woods I'd $%&@ out of luck.
Click to expand...

I gotta say that this has to be that one in a million manufacturing defect. I would try to get it replaced under warranty if I was in your situation. If the replacement hatchet broke the same way then I would never buy Fiskars again. But one bad hatchet doesn't mean all of Fiskars products are bad. Even large corporations are allowed one mistake . . . ;)

For a recommendation I would suggest Gransfors-Bruks. I have their small forest axe and their large splitting axed and they're the bomb! ("The bomb" is a good thing in this context.)
 
Scott Ridgeway said:
Think of the good side, Morablades! Whenever someone asks about Fiskars hatchets in the future, someone will ultimately provide a link to this thread. You'll live on forever. Now that I think about it, so will I since I'm posting here, too. :)
Click to expand...

That's one way of looking at it. But what if the end of the world comes and we have to revert back to the primitive age, the computerless world. I'll be forgotten.
 
Running_Wolf said:
I gotta say that this has to be that one in a million manufacturing defect. I would try to get it replaced under warranty if I was in your situation. If the replacement hatchet broke the same way then I would never buy Fiskars again. But one bad hatchet doesn't mean all of Fiskars products are bad. Even large corporations are allowed one mistake . . . ;)

For a recommendation I would suggest Gransfors-Bruks. I have their small forest axe and their large splitting axed and they're the bomb! ("The bomb" is a good thing in this context.)
Click to expand...

I agree. Another way of looking at it is that I don't call Fiskars and my wife will let me buy something else. Shhhhhh. Nobody knows nothin'.:thumbup::thumbup:
 
I'm surprised too that it failed in the handle, and ON THE TOP SIDE no less! How does it fail on the top like that when the underside is vulnerable to strikes? Man, if that went up on 'youtube', Fiskars would probably increase the density of the handle material just to point out they beefed it up!

HD your GB losing such a big chunk off it is'nt any consolation either friend!! What's happening to the quality control at these places? Especially in the steel of the GB!! Most folks pay extra for the GB over the Fiskars so they have 'peace of mind'...not no mora!

Ok, now how many folks can actually get a decent night's sleep after viewing those 2 photos of ruined hatchets? Come on!! We're all carrying these things implicitly trusting our lives to them afield, with failure as a definite option now are they worth carrying over a custom? Yeah, yeah, duct tape the Fiskars, use the remaining GB and all is well. I don't buy it, if you pay for goods like these they should be manufactured to tolerances greater than say, your kitchen blender IME! 100 miles in to the bush is'nt the time or place to attempt a warranty service IME.

Let us know what warranty service does for you on the Fiskars. If it was me I'd cut the head off and send the handle back. Reuse the head in a caveman version of a hatchet, but that's me Swamp Yankee....you'd have to be from New England to know the meaning of that GRIN!
 
+3 on the Estwing. I traded my Gerber/Fiskers camp axe for the Estwing camp axe and have not been disapointed. I found the Gerber/Fiskers was too lite and made me work harder to get a good chop; not a problem with my Estwing that thing eats wood for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and occasionally begs for a snack or two.
 
If you want to replace it with a fairly cheap hatchet that's pretty much bullet proof, the Eswings hatchets are about as caveman-proof as you can get. The 14 incher with the stacked leather handles (like in Parnass' post) are nice. I prefer the 16 incher:
simg_t_o20025145792002514579jpg

With the blue shock absorbing handle.

If you want traditional, Snow & Neally makes some excellent hatchets (made in America!)
I have the Penobscot Bay kindling axe, which is a brute (18", 1 3/4# bit):
PenobscotBayKindlingAxe.jpg


They also make a smaller belt axe (15", 1 1/4# bit):
YoungCamperBeltAxe.jpg


They are much less expensive than a Gransfors, and I like them better. JMHO.
 
1Tracker said:
HD your GB losing such a big chunk off it is'nt any consolation either friend!! What's happening to the quality control at these places? Especially in the steel of the GB!! Most folks pay extra for the GB over the Fiskars so they have 'peace of mind'...not no mora!

Ok, now how many folks can actually get a decent night's sleep after viewing those 2 photos of ruined hatchets? Come on!! We're all carrying these things implicitly trusting our lives to them afield, with failure as a definite option now are they worth carrying over a custom? Yeah, yeah, duct tape the Fiskars, use the remaining GB and all is well. I don't buy it, if you pay for goods like these they should be manufactured to tolerances greater than say, your kitchen blender IME! 100 miles in to the bush is'nt the time or place to attempt a warranty service IME.
Click to expand...

What's happening to the quality control? Not much at all. Fiskars produces enormous numbers of these hatchets. It's impossible to produce such numbers without occasionally putting out a defective specimen, and it's impossible to test such a high number of products so that no defective specimens could ever get out of the factory and on to the market.

Seeing those two photos does not surprise me in the least. I've seen many broken pieces of low quality and high quality gear. Does not affect my sleep in the least bit. Never, ever trust your life to a single piece of gear - if you do, you're always gambling.

All items may fail. Custom, hand made hatchets (knives, bikes, you name it...) can and have failed, too. That is how life is. It's impossible to always produce absolute perfection. You would have to perform very heavy field testing on every single produced item to know it won't fail in the field, and that kind of thing is impossible to both large factories and many custom makers. That is a reality one must accept.
 
In the meantime, get all that silly plastic off'a there, and do this with the head:
cadaxe2.jpg


Or this:
grahamaxe1.jpg


Or this:
hafted_axehead192web.jpg



( ;) lol)
 
2 things. . .

First, as this is only the second time I've ever heard of a Fiskars hatchet failing in any way I'm not going to worry about mine suddenly breaking. As has been said it's probably just a defective piece that slipped past quality control. No reason to panic and get rid of a wonderful tool.

Second, Morablades, you have the opportunity to satisfy my curiosity. I've wondered for a long time exactly what the head of the Fiskars hatchet looks like under that plastic. If you opt to just move on to something new and not send in your broken hatchet for replacement could you PLEASE destroy it a little further and take some pics of a de-handled Fiskars for me/us? If it's shaped the way I think it is then it would probably be very feasible to attach a new handle similar to the ones on the stone axes that puukkoman posted pics of. it wouldn't function as a splitter any more, but should still be usable for chopping. If you want to go ahead and send it in for replacement I'll understand, but then I'll eventually have to go and spend 20 bucks on another Fiskars hatchet to destroy just to satisfy my curiosity. :(
 
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