First Impressions: Condor Greenland Pattern Axe

J

JNieporte

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Nov 1, 2004
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3,352
I picked up a Condor Greenland Pattern Axe a few days ago. While I haven't tested it out much for this to be a review, I've done enough with it that I feel comfortable giving my initial impressions of the axe. First off, there are three versions of this axe: the 4070EW has a shiny head, darker handle, and a blue bottom half. The 4070C15 (the version I have) has a 3-5/8" bit and a 1.5 pound forged head. The 4070C225 has a 4" bit and a 2 pound forged head. Yeah, all the heads are forged 1045 carbon steel, but this is what I mean:

CN4070C15nw.jpg

(This image belongs to KnifeCenter.)

I paid $34 for my Greenland Pattern, and that included the leather bit cover you see. I bought mine locally, so I had the option of choosing which one was best for me. I picked the best out of six with regards to grain pattern, grain orientation, head depth, etc.
The one I got had pretty straight vertical grain that's tight, and the head was seated deep with some of the haft left out of the top. However, that means that there are five of these with the following problems:
#1 has horrible grain orientation. As in, almost horizontal.
#2 has very loose grain and a little bit of surface rust. Head was loose.
#3 has diagonal grain structure and had some heart wood in it.
#4 has diagonal grain structure (but going the opposite direction as #3) and the grain was very loose.
#5 has quite a bit of heart wood in it, and had almost as bad grain pattern as #1. Head was loose.

All of them were dull. Reprofiling wasn't necessary, but a good hour with a file was needed for initial sharpening. Mine will shave hair now. I'm pretty happy with the axe, although it is a bit shorter than I though. It's somewhere between a hatchet and a boy's axe. The leather bit cover is nice, and a feature not often seen on axes of this low price.

I'm very curious as to how this stacks up against the new Marble's Camp Axe, available for $20...
Marbles-Camp-Axe-701SB.jpg

(This image belongs to Weapons Universe.)

After using the Greenland Pattern Axe for a while, I'll post a formal review. For now, I'm satisfied with my purchase, but it has me wondering a few things...
 
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Liam Ryan said:
Not much of a poll, hows the balance?
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It's actually pretty balanced. I didn't put it on anything to feel for where the balance is, but while swinging it, everything seemed fine.

cucumberfly said:
looks like the handle has some heart wood.....not good
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I picked through the ones at the store to find the best one. Some had heart wood, some ddin't. This is concern of mine when ordering on-line.
 
Guess what? Studies have shown that the presence of heartwood has almost no affect on the strength of a handle. See this .PDF for more info--and this is just the first source I came across. :)

Also in a handle that short, you're unlikely to be able to generate enough force for the grain orientation to have any notable effect.
 
Not yet! I plan on eventually getting my hands on a few of the line at some point not too far down the road. They're made by Condor/Imacasa just like the Marble's machetes are. Biggest difference I can see that explains the price difference is the absence of an edge guard.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Not yet! I plan on eventually getting my hands on a few of the line at some point not too far down the road. They're made by Condor/Imacasa just like the Marble's machetes are. Biggest difference I can see that explains the price difference is the absence of an edge guard.
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From YouTube. The two axes are directly compared.
[video=youtube;XSoSAytPYGE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSoSAytPYGE[/video]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSoSAytPYGE
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Guess what? Studies have shown that the presence of heartwood has almost no affect on the strength of a handle. See this .PDF for more info--and this is just the first source I came across. :)
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The U. S. Forest Service came up with the same results. But what does make a difference is the number of growth rings per inch. 5-20 growth rings per inch is best. There might be a very slight advantage to staying close to 14 rings per inch.

I've read railroad company specs that required less than 21 growth rings per inch on their impact tool handles.
 
Good to hear about the heartwood not affecting things, my GB scandi axe has a fair bit of heartwood.

Also interesting about the growth rings, I thought the more the better.
 
I wonder if having both heart wood and sap wood in the same handle will cause it to warp over time? I do know in some woods there is a big contrast between the two. I really don't know jack about hickory. Just wondering?
 
I've got a double bit axe with a hickory handle, it's about half heartwood. The grain has good orientation, and I hung it over a year ago, and it's still straight.
Two hickory Bokken I have from Kingfisher have about 1/2 heartwood as well. One is about 4 years old, the second is much newer. I've yet to see any warping or changes in any of these hickory handles.

I appreciate the effort put into making video reviews, but I think more effort could be put towards using that which is being reviewed. The review of the Marbles hatchet is about useless. He's not experienced with axes, hasn't really used it, and doesn't know the terminology, yet takes the time to make a video?
 
garry3 said:
I wonder if having both heart wood and sap wood in the same handle will cause it to warp over time? I do know in some woods there is a big contrast between the two. I really don't know jack about hickory. Just wondering?
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I've read that heart wood and sap wood have different elasticity, so in use the junction of the two woods can form a stress fracture because one is flexing more than the other. I've had a few handles break along the heart/sap junction, but they were of poor grain alignment to begin with.
 
sutured said:
I've read that heart wood and sap wood have different elasticity, so in use the junction of the two woods can form a stress fracture because one is flexing more than the other. I've had a few handles break along the heart/sap junction, but they were of poor grain alignment to begin with.
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I assume you're talking about hickory? Other woods do differ when it comes to their heartwood vs sapwood. I have a cocobolo staff with some white heartwood, and that part is much softer than the darker sapwood. It's been a concern of mine when it comes to using it hard, as far as the elasticity and hardness.
 
foxx said:
...I appreciate the effort put into making video reviews, but I think more effort could be put towards using that which is being reviewed. The review of the Marbles hatchet is about useless. He's not experienced with axes, hasn't really used it, and doesn't know the terminology, yet takes the time to make a video?
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I agree with everything except it being useless. The guy in the video doesn't know much about axes and he says that. He doesn't even show the grain alignment or pattern. I still find the video very helpful because I wanted a direct comparison between these two hatchets. A video, even blurry and with no sound (which this one isn't) usually tells me more than one stock image.
 
Agreed. A video can give you an idea of the product in a way that a static image can't, even if there's not really any other useful information in it.
 
True, a video can offer a size comparison, and visual perspectives not given by a still photo. My statement is a bit broad, no all these videos are useless. I watched a You Tube video about the Winkler Sayoc tomahawk many times, with the sound muted. The guy offered no real info, except they are cool and I should buy one. I just wanted to see the tapered tang, or one in actual use like Edwood's video.
 
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