Does anybody else think the CT saddle axe should have a longer handle ?

Hickory n steel

Hickory n steel

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I just ordered one from BARYONYX and haven't handled one before so I won't know till I receive it, but 16" seems too short for a 2lb head with a cruiser sized eye.
Granted this is coming from somebody who thinks a typical 1-1/4lb hatchet could stand to have a longer handle, so maybe it's just me.
Regardless I just went ahead and ordered a 20" cruiser handle from Whiskey river to rehang it on.

It's going to be yet another axe that I don't actually have a true need for, but could be great to keep on the rear rack of my minibike when I'm out trail hopping.
I currently have a woodslasher hatchet, and previously had my V&B riggers axe but this would be a cooler choice.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I just ordered one from BARYONYX and haven't handled one before so I won't know till I receive it, but 16" seems too short for a 2lb head with a cruiser sized eye.
Granted this is coming from somebody who thinks a typical 1-1/4lb hatchet could stand to have a longer handle, so maybe it's just me.
Regardless I just went ahead and ordered a 20" cruiser handle from Whiskey river to rehang it on.

It's going to be yet another axe that I don't actually have a true need for, but could be great to keep on the rear rack of my minibike when I'm out trail hopping.
I currently have a woodslasher hatchet, and previously had my V&B riggers axe but this would be a cooler choice.
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That was a deliberate part of the design, since cruiser handles are easier to source. It basically made it so you had the option of either the saddle axe length or a cruiser length.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
That was a deliberate part of the design, since cruiser handles are easier to source. It basically made it so you had the option of either the saddle axe length or a cruiser length.
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To clarify I'm not complaining about the head size, the head size seems ideal and it's just the handle I have a problem with.

They did insist on calling this a saddle axe though so I have to call that out ( we wouldn't accept 3.5lb as a boys axe or cruiser after all ) , that's an unavoidable aspect of questioning the length but it's not what this is about at all.
This isn't even about why they did it ( it's because they wanted to label it something trendy), just that I feel the head needs a longer handle and bought one to put on it.
 
Hickory n steel said:
To clarify I'm not complaining about the head size, the head size seems ideal and it's just the handle I have a problem with.

They did insist on calling this a saddle axe though so I have to call that out ( we wouldn't accept 3.5lb as a boys axe or cruiser after all ) , that's an unavoidable aspect of questioning the length but it's not what this is about at all.
This isn't even about why they did it ( it's because they wanted to label it something trendy), just that I feel the head needs a longer handle and bought one to put on it.
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I mean, it's about the right size head, just with a jumbo eye on it. You'll see! :)
 
I appreciate the fast shipping and the freebie P-38 can opener.

I received the CT saddle axe today and it was exactly what I imagined it to be.
Luckily I also received my WRT 20" cruiser handle too.

I didn't get a before picture of the handle, but like the original CT it was more of a shortened handle than scaled down.
Excellent quality but not exactly what I really wanted it to be, if hung as made down to the existing shoulder it would have come out to 18".
Thankfully there was plenty of material to work with, I needed to take a good deal of material out and move the shoulder up but it hung at exactly 20" overall which is what I wanted.

What would you call this little axe, a bicycle cruiser perhaps ?


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I did not know these had eye ridges and was pleasantly surprised, if not only for the fact that this axe has 2 features you don't see anymore.
 
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I got curious as to whether a DB of this size had existed before, and I turned up a Warren ad from the 1930's offering cruisers of 2lb / 20" and 2.5lb / 28".
We don't have any threads dedicated to cruisers and I'm not on any other forums or Fakebook groups...etc, so I don't know if anybody else was making little 2lb cruisers but they probably were.

I know there were single bit equivalents too from companies like Winchester, Marbles, and Warren.
I have an unbranded smaller example, a 1.5lb head on an original 20 inch handle that eventually failed.
If the bit were less worn I'd bother getting a new 20" handle for it from WRT.
These were popular during the teardrop trailer / car camping boom of the 1930's, often called camp axes but I know at least one company called them a car axe or trunk axe or something like that. I can no longer turn up that advertisement though.
 
The 20" haft is much more reasonable.

Yes, a 2 pound head on a 16" handle would be clunky, too heavy for the head speed generated by the 16" handle.
 
A 2lb cruiser with a 16" haft is a safety issue for a user axe. Calling it a saddle axe was for sure a marketing ploy. Historic term saddle axe is just what it says, that would be a horse saddle. 16" is too short to hang from a horse saddle and too dangerous to use in my opinion. I spent many years on horse back in the wilderness using a saddle axe to clear trail for the horses and mules. 20" would work. I carried a 2.5lb cruiser with a 24" haft or a 2.5lb boys axe depending on what the intel about the current trail condition was. Some times the cruiser was better, sometimes the boys axe. Nice hang on your axe.
 
Square_peg said:
The 20" haft is much more reasonable.

Yes, a 2 pound head on a 16" handle would be clunky, too heavy for the head speed generated by the 16" handle.
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it certainly felt that way in my initial handling before going to work on it.
I also forgot to mention these must be measured before hanging, because this thing was actually 14".
That's definitely nowhere near enough to make any efficient use if these 2lbs.
 
The short handle length was intended for folks who wanted a Nessmuk style double bit hatchet, I believe. The market for each of the respective Frankenstein'ed styles (saddle, cruiser, or Nessmuk) was enough for Council to justify the cost for ONE forging die and if they went with a "pure" design it wouldn't have had enough market overlap to justify it. They're discontinued now in any case.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
The short handle length was intended for folks who wanted a Nessmuk style double bit hatchet, I believe. The market for each of the respective Frankenstein'ed styles (saddle, cruiser, or Nessmuk) was enough for Council to justify the cost for ONE forging die and if they went with a "pure" design it wouldn't have had enough market overlap to justify it. They're discontinued now in any case.
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If they had also offered a 20" version it becomes less questionable of a tool, and the added practicality would have sold more of them to people not just looking for a novelty item.

I'm glad they're willing to explore making stuff like this though.
 
Yeah this was back when they were first starting to venture into releasing new designs and whatnot so they were a LOT more gun-shy of variations and whatnot but the idea of making it with the larger eye was so that people who wanted the longer handle COULD re-hang it themselves since Council didn't want to offer multiple handle lengths and the designer wasn't able to push them to do so.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Yeah this was back when they were first starting to venture into releasing new designs and whatnot so they were a LOT more gun-shy of variations and whatnot but the idea of making it with the larger eye was so that people who wanted the longer handle COULD re-hang it themselves since Council didn't want to offer multiple handle lengths and the designer wasn't able to push them to do so.
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And I could find nobody else but me on the internet who had actually bothered to do so.
I'm thinking that the price, plus the cost of a handle from a company like Whiskey river was unappealing to a lot of people.
That and few people probably want to rehang a brand new axe as well as discarding the perfectly good original handle.

To me it's well worth my total investment though.
 
Hickory n steel said:
If they had also offered a 20" version it becomes less questionable of a tool, and the added practicality would have sold more of them to people not just looking for a novelty item.
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And that's what it is, a novelty item so that people can check the box on their collection list. Probably a smart marketing move. There are a lot more people that want to check that box there there are who want to use a small fast lightweight axe in the saddle.

Most riders in my local chapter of the Backcountry Horsemen of Washington carry machetes or small folding saws now anyway.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I appreciate the fast shipping and the freebie P-38 can opener.

I received the CT saddle axe today and it was exactly what I imagined it to be.
Luckily I also received my WRT 20" cruiser handle too.

I didn't get a before picture of the handle, but like the original CT it was more of a shortened handle than scaled down.
Excellent quality but not exactly what I really wanted it to be, if hung as made down to the existing shoulder it would have come out to 18".
Thankfully there was plenty of material to work with, I needed to take a good deal of material out and move the shoulder up but it hung at exactly 20" overall which is what I wanted.

What would you call this little axe, a bicycle cruiser perhaps ?


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I did not know these had eye ridges and was pleasantly surprised, if not only for the fact that this axe has 2 features you don't see anymore.
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Except for the larger head, and a longer handle that is the design of the Sears (Nessmuk) double bit axe.

Here is both the Nessmuk, and the Kephart hand axe.IMG_0325.jpeg
 
transmaster said:
Except for the larger head, and a longer handle that is the design of the Sears (Nessmuk) double bit axe.
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I'm not really sure what you're saying.
Yes it's a double bit and Nessmuk carried a double bit, but that's about the only thing they've got in common since his was a small properly hatchet sized head around 1lb much closer to this.
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Here's the CT compared to the 1lb Imicasa / Marbles DB and my J Yerkes 1lb belt axe from 1864.
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Honestly I don't think there's so huge of a difference that it's going to matter for 99% of people. Is one better than another for certain contexts? Absolutely. But the difference in performance is going to be minimally impactful even if noticeable at times.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Honestly I don't think there's so huge of a difference that it's going to matter for 99% of people. Is one better than another for certain contexts? Absolutely. But the difference in performance is going to be minimally impactful even if noticeable at times.
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I think it's very noticeable.
The 6" I added makes a huge difference , and the 1lb double bit hatchet is drastically smaller and lighter to carry than the stock CT saddle axe.
There's clearly a good reason why DB hatchets have pretty much always been properly small.
I honestly when it comes to use and practicality, I'd probably much rather have the CT that I hung as a small cruiser than the 1lb DB hatchet.
The DB hatchets or " saddle cruisers " are definitely cool and they are useful, but a single bit hatchet is the standard for good reason.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I'm not really sure what you're saying.
Yes it's a double bit and Nessmuk carried a double bit, but that's about the only thing they've got in common since his was a small properly hatchet sized head around 1lb much closer to this.
View attachment 2727973

Here's the CT compared to the 1lb Imicasa / Marbles DB and my J Yerkes 1lb belt axe from 1864.
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What is not to understand: "Except for the larger head, and a longer handle" ?
 
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