Emergency Hatchet by Abe

[FrDoc]

I was trolling hatchet sites a few days ago and came across something about which I am finding very little, to no information. The item is identified as an "emergency hatchet" designed by Tsuguo Abe. It is allegedly hand forged, and is quite steep price-wise (Amazon: $374.00). Have any of you gurus, or not, heard of this piece? The reason(s) I ask are, first, because I have a fledgling hatchet addiction that I am not going to fight, but embrace. Second, If this is something to be desired, there is a local vendor here who has one for less than half that price. I don't know how practical it may be, but it has become a curiosity piece for me. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bikerector]

Seems over-priced compared to what information is available on it, but maybe it's a gem. It looks like it runs on a claw hammer handle.

Personally, I think these look more appealing from Drew.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/small-camp-axe-sold.1648048/#post-18849815

I believe the price was $225 before it sold. He comes out with one every month or two lately it seems. I think you could contact him for something custom.

The mix of metals is intriguing and I've seen it a few places, where the edge is a hard steel and the rest of the bit is something tougher. But, most forgers, past and present, have been able to achieve similar situations with differential heat treats where the edge is in the mid 50's hardness for edge retention and the rest is at or below 50 hardness.

Having one of those available at a local vendor, I would talk with them and see what experience they have with it or what some customer's are saying. Doing so always requires a bit of caution for some salesman BS but you can usually wade through that to get some type of reasonable impression at least.

To comment on the design, I don't think it's that practical, and it looks roughly like a spike hawk with a bearded blade. I love a good bearded axe but one weakness I think is that hitting with the lower end of the blade for heavy chopping, over time, will be hard on the handle. There's a lot of leverage there whereas hitting inline with the eye should focus forces through more of the haft within the eye vs the pinch points, if you envision the axe head pivoting as the beard is forced into the handle.

A similar design, the cold steel viking axe, has had reports (one reviewer at least) that using the bearded edge to slip can put the handle into the wood if it doesn't fully split, as there is no widening for the eye like there is higher up the blade.

Being able to get your hand behind the blade is very nice. But, I will say that having a thin edged tomahawk, removed from the haft, seems more convenient for carving and intricate work, but I'm sure that's a lot of technique. It just seems like when I've tried to do lighter work with my hand behind the edge, you're still using some larger muscles and it can be difficult to control. I've also found that my knuckles take a beating, but again, probably my technique.

Having a standard hawk paired with a knife would make more sense for an emergency scenario but the axe head you're looking at does look cool... the handle seems less inspiring, based on the one image available on amazon. It's an interesting find, I think there are too many other, nice options that can be had for that kind of coin. Rinaldi is one that always fascinates me, but I've been hankering for a 2hawks voyager or H&B forge axe. Eventually, maybe I'll be rich enough to get an RMJ axe, or just get one of their collabs with the likes of CRKT. I kind of wish they would collab with someone like council tool, who seems to have a better reputation for HT. I've not had a problem with CRKT personally but there seem to be plenty of people who avoid the brand. I like that they do affordable collaborations but wish they would make something in the US (not aware of anything they make stateside).

 

[bikerector]

Here's a good post on the drawback of the bearded axe design posted by square_peg. It's based on the hudson bay design which isn't quite bearded but it certainly shares a lot of those design features so the "drawback" as square_peg asserts, should apply here, and probably be worse.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/the-drawback-in-the-hudson-bay-pattern.1152684/

For ease of reference, here's the picture from amazon.

And one from a Japanese woodworker's website. This makes it look even more like a claw hammer handle with some reynolds wrap on the handle.

I think there are a lot more options out there than this unless you have unique tastes (which is okay) or you have a massive collection already. It would be a conversation starter, I think.

 

[Square_peg]

Here's a good post on the drawback of the bearded axe design posted by square_peg. It's based on the hudson bay design which isn't quite bearded but it certainly shares a lot of those design features so the "drawback" as square_peg asserts, should apply here, and probably be worse.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/the-drawback-in-the-hudson-bay-pattern.1152684/

For ease of reference, here's the picture from amazon.

And one from a Japanese woodworker's website. This makes it look even more like a claw hammer handle with some reynolds wrap on the handle.

I think there are a lot more options out there than this unless you have unique tastes (which is okay) or you have a massive collection already. It would be a conversation starter, I think.

Here's part of what I said in that thread.

The wider the bit the more rotational force is applied to the eye. Heel and toe strikes should put more stress on the haft than center-bit strikes. And consider what effect long beards have on the eye. It stands to reason that a heavy strike far down on a long beard is gonna torque the eye some.