First post, and first hatchet

[OniSoldier]

Hello everyone, first time poster here.

This is the first "hatchet," I have ever made (if you can call it that), re-purposed from a circular saw blade. It's more like an axe-knife, but I enjoyed it so much that I'd like to make more and sell them. However, my problem is that I think it's too thin to be considered an all-around useful hatchet, as it could only take care of smaller limbs, kindling, and butchering. It was made through stock removal and the grind is convex. I want to make and sell better hatchets, but don't want to spend a fortune on thicker stock. Plus, I only have a 1x30 belt sander, drill press, and angle grinder, so grinding through thicker stock would take me ages to complete 1 piece.

What advice can you guys give me to help me make and sell more all-around practical hatchets? Thanks in advance!

 

[Square_peg]

With your simple tools you will be hard pressed to make anything that people will pay you enough for to make it worth your while. Be content to have this as a hobby and make knives or hatchets for yourself and your friends.

 

[OniSoldier]

With your simple tools you will be hard pressed to make anything that people will pay you enough for to make it worth your while. Be content to have this as a hobby and make knives or hatchets for yourself and your friends.

Well, I have actually sold a couple of knives that I am proud of, and if I am going to pay for steel and handle material, I would like to make some money as well. I am content with what I have, I am simply looking for advice on how to make better pieces without breaking the bank. The pieces I have sold were not cheap either, but were made with better steel, so I don't think I would be hard-pressed to sell something I make either. I'm not worried about my pieces selling, they do fine, I am just looking for insight in making better hatchets, where I can find decent stock without spending too much, and any ways I can improve making them via stock removal. Thanks!

 

[HolyRoller]

You say you want to make better axes with thicker stock.

But you also say you don't want thicker stock because the limited tools you have will take too long to shape it.

My advice: if you want to make more and sell more, expand your workshop and invest in appropriate tooling.

If you cannot, then that's that. Work with what you got, but there's no magic trick to make better materials easier to work with on bare-bones-basic setups.

Either accept that making an axe with better materials will take a long time (and you would have to sell for quite a bit to justify the hours you spent), or invest in tools and you'll eventually recoup and exceed the cost.

 

[Square_peg]

How are you heat treating your tools?

The problem with stock removal hatchets is that they're never thick enough. At best they are still a hatchet shaped knife. And the thicker you go the harder they are to make and the more stock you leave on the shop floor. Even a Helmgrind hawk, one of the best (maybe the best) stock removal hawks on the market, is still more a heavy chopping knife than a hatchet.

 

[OniSoldier]

You say you want to make better axes with thicker stock.

But you also say you don't want thicker stock because the limited tools you have will take too long to shape it.

My advice: if you want to make more and sell more, expand your workshop and invest in appropriate tooling.

If you cannot, then that's that. Work with what you got, but there's no magic trick to make better materials easier to work with on bare-bones-basic setups.

Either accept that making an axe with better materials will take a long time (and you would have to sell for quite a bit to justify the hours you spent), or invest in tools and you'll eventually recoup and exceed the cost.

Thanks for the advice! I suppose I will need to save up and invest. I wasn't looking for a magic trick, but more of a better way to go about what I am trying to accomplish, but if there isn't any way that you know of, I suppose I will just have to work at it and save up, which I've done before with my other hobbies. I'm looking at Grizzly's 2x72 machine, any recommendations on equipment?

 

[OniSoldier]

How are you heat treating your tools?

The problem with stock removal hatchets is that they're never thick enough. At best they are still a hatchet shaped knife. And the thicker you go the harder they are to make and the more stock you leave on the shop floor. Even a Helmgrind hawk, one of the best (maybe the best) stock removal hawks on the market, is still more a heavy chopping knife than a hatchet.

Depends on the steel I am using, but I oil quench.

If I am using annealed steel, I will normalize 1-2 times and then heat to critical, then quench.

If I am using a saw blade (like I did for this hatchet) I will normalize 3-4 times to try to reset the steel, and then heat to critical, then oil quench. I know it worked because it passed the file test, however what the hardness is exactly, I am unsure.

Yes, they're too thin, that's my issue honestly. However, I went out and tested it yesterday and actually took down some pretty thick limbs. The edge looks totally fine, but I need to do more testing.