Fiskars hatchets are crap

d_filgate said:
My Fiskars hatchet is great. Had it for 2 years now, without problem.
Best $9 I ever spent.
That's right. $9 CDN ( special at Canadian Tire Canada).
Got a good hatchet (not the best, but good) for a steal of a deal.
Can't beat that.
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Love the Fiskars axes, sounds like the original poster got two duds.

I bought two 14 inchers on sale two years ago, but the Canadian Tire sale price here was $12.
They had them on sale again last summer for the same price, but i missed out.
I'm watching the flyers waiting for this summers sale, figure i'll buy at least 3 this time and stash them.
 
In my opinion Fiskars has the best blade/head shape for splitting wood. The handles incredibly tough! I have two splitting mauls, two axes and the 14" hatchet. Never had any problems with any of them. I split oak, maple and fir. The oak I split has very little straight grain, I like the knots in the wood because it burns longer. The fiskars split better than any of the mauls I have used in the past. I cut wood for neighbors as well, I usually put up a lot of wood every year, and all I use to split it with is the fiskars. Maybe mine are the exception, but they rock! If anyone is looking for the best axe or maul, I highly recommend them. I would put them up against any other out there.
 
how exactly did the handle shatter? did it come into contact with the seasoned oak? was it weakened from a prior misplaced blow?

Most of the damage I see on axes is from the user over shooting the target resulting in driving the part of the handle right below the axe head straight into the wood. I find it hard to belive that your handle just shattered while you were splitting. I have seen many wooden handles break below the head after years of being bashed and cracked on pieces of wood.
 
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Ottoshot said:
how exactly did the handle shatter? did it come into contact with the seasoned oak? was it weakened from a prior misplaced blow?

Most of the damage I see on axes is from the user over shooting the target resulting in driving the part of the handle right below the axe head straight into the wood. I find it hard to belive that your handle just shattered while you were spitting. I have seen many wooden handles break below the head after years of being bashed and cracked on pieces of wood.
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I would say that is what happened as well. When I was a kid, I busted a to of axe handles that way. Ive put my fiskars through pure hell on wood, but have never overshot the wood and hit the handle, so that could possibly break it, I know it breaks the wood handles pretty well.
 
it shattered on the back side so it wasnt from overshooting. im not sure what happened i was trying to split some smaller logs into firewood and it just broke.
 
As a prior poster noted, Fiskars scissors are excellent!

Have not had direct experience with their hatchets/axes, but I have an Estwing hatchet and it performs beautifully! Estwing tools are awesome!

Regards,
Mike
 
Mine was destroyed by my 17 year old. Best tester there is. 2" behind the head the handle gave away. Would not buy another one. The steel part is O.K. but would like to see another type of handle.

SGB
 
Once I took one of my Fiskar hatchets out with an inexpensive throwing hawk and i purposefully overshot a bunch of times while splitting a few rounds just to see how tough the handle was.After beating it real hard I finally got it to crack or at least crinkle a little.Then I beat on the back of the handle just below the head with a baton to split some wood and it took that with no problem.Then I used it to baton the back of the hawk thru some wood and bent up the eye on the hawk without hurting the Fiskars.I still have been useing that Fiskars without any handle problems,I cut the handle shorter this year and carry it in a small pack sometimes on hikes,when I don't want to carry one of my pocket hatchets.Needless to say I have been satisfied with the handle toughness so far.I have had a couple of leather handles rot out on me before and have had countless loose wooden handles.
 
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OK, re-reading this thread without the beer goggles;) (OOPS)

My Gransfors SFA does well on all light splitting or chopping jobs. When freshly sharpened, it even works well for medium chopping.

I've lately been doing ordinary medium splitting jobs with a 3 1/2lb Jersey axe. A reasonable choice if you don't need the power of an 8 lb splitter.

For the heavy stuff that is highly resistant to splitting, I use:
-an 8lb sledge and that four-flanged steel wedge. This is the bomb, and only a fancy gasoline engine powered hydraulic wood splitter is more powerful, or
-an 8 lb maul. Works well for splitting all but the very toughest stuff. I lack the oomph to properly swing a 12lb anything. Dunno how Grandpa ever did!

For the most horrible knotty/branchy/twisty grain splitting jobs, just pull out the chainsaw!

My enthusiasm for Gransfors Bruks lies in their lovely ability to cut wood in two, across the grain. Really pops those chunks out.
 
i've used the super splitting axe and regular splitting axe, designed for splitting, for years, heavily, and no worries.

i've done light splitting with the hatchet, and extensive sapling and small tree harvesting.

can't imagine breaking one, even in cold freezing weather. if i did, for sure, i'd contact fiskars about fixing it.

even with gransfors bruks, they have failures somtimes, they fixed it for me.

snow and nealey? i got a dry rotted handle, which caused the head to snap off poorly, and actually bent the head in the melee. they sent me a brand new one, and didn't even want the old one back.

so, with that in mind, i'd contact fiskars and see what they can do for you.

also, take pictures next time. i've only EVERY seen one failed fiskars axe, and it was a nice split. fiskars took care of that too.


Bladite
 
I've beaten on my Gerber (Fiskars) Splitting Axe so hard it would make grown men weep openly at the sight of it. No problems so far. :D
 
I worked at a place that repaired broken handles (both wood and fiberglass) on axes, hatchets, sledgehammers, railroad spike malls, etc. They all broke for the same reason; the metal head overshooting the target and then having the handle smash onto the target.

All it takes is one bad hit to break some handles.
 
I broke the handle on the super splitting model, but only after splitting a ton of seasoned oak. What finally broke the handle was when I got to the bigger pieces that couldn't be split with the ax alone. I used it to drive a wedge for a very short period of time before the handle let go. I couldn't remember whether I bought it at Lowes or Home Depot, so I went to both. Couldn't find any Fiskars at HD, so I took it back to Lowes. They didn't have any of the splitting models, but gladly exchanged it for a chopper. I picked up a splitting maul and having had any problems since. I'd take it back to Lowes and get another/something of equal value if you aren't pleased.
 
Not sure if I would trust Fiskars for heavy work,there's something about those resin/plastic handles that makes me uneasy. However, their mini hatchet that you can carry with ease on a belt or stow in a pack is a fantastic little chopper for firewood prep.It beats batoning with any knife for safety and ease,great barbecue or grill starter as you can get very decent kindling splints quickly and with no fuss.
 
willgoy said:
Not sure if I would trust Fiskars for heavy work,there's something about those resin/plastic handles that makes me uneasy. However, their mini hatchet that you can carry with ease on a belt or stow in a pack is a fantastic little chopper for firewood prep.It beats batoning with any knife for safety and ease,great barbecue or grill starter as you can get very decent kindling splints quickly and with no fuss.
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Would have to agree with that. Also makes a good lightweight hatchet for hunting. Easy to wash up. Save the edge of your knife.
 
This thread has wandered a bit, so I won't feel too bad posting this....

I don't trust 'em.

Logically, empirically, I have nothing to stand on.

But, emotionally, viscerally, I don't trust them.

I love axes, GB, Wetterlings, Iltis(Stihl), Hults Bruks(Husqvarna), Snow and Nealley, all good companies.

Heck, if Fiskars starting making them traditionally shaped, with a wood handle through the eye, I would be very interested, Fiskars is a great company.

But, with the synthetic handled axes, I feel they are designed a little too dependant on our funny money/credit consumer crap cycle.

Buy it, use it, replace it, maybe get another if it breaks. As opposed to being something that a skilled craftsman can repair with hand tools, heck, even an amateur with a bit of commitment can replace a traditional axe handle.

That's just me, but maybe I am getting to be a bit of a curmudgeon.....

Marion
 
I dont even own one, but I have handled them a few times and I dont feel there is any strength issues in the handle. Truth be told, the fiberglass resin handles are missing the grains of a wood handle, which probably makes them tougher.

Any axe guy knows how to pick a wood handle. Choose a handle with a poor grain, and its likely to fail on you quicker than a fiberglass resin one.
 
Marion David Poff said:
This thread has wandered a bit, so I won't feel too bad posting this....

I don't trust 'em.

Logically, empirically, I have nothing to stand on.

But, emotionally, viscerally, I don't trust them.

I love axes, GB, Wetterlings, Iltis(Stihl), Hults Bruks(Husqvarna), Snow and Nealley, all good companies.

Heck, if Fiskars starting making them traditionally shaped, with a wood handle through the eye, I would be very interested, Fiskars is a great company.

But, with the synthetic handled axes, I feel they are designed a little too dependant on our funny money/credit consumer crap cycle.

Buy it, use it, replace it, maybe get another if it breaks. As opposed to being something that a skilled craftsman can repair with hand tools, heck, even an amateur with a bit of commitment can replace a traditional axe handle.

That's just me, but maybe I am getting to be a bit of a curmudgeon.....

Marion
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Catastrophic failure versus graceful degradation. Reminds me of some advise I was getting on generators – Either I should buy the Honda because they so seldom fail, but when they do it's a PITA, or I should buy a Blah Blah that fails very much more frequently but can be easily controlled for and mended with some rubber bands, string or whatever.

I concluded a different way. I'm using a synthetic hatchet [not Fiskars]. I moved away from wood for several reasons. I've got to admit that some of that was me getting bound up in being reactionary. [I kept finding so much bullshine on hatchets / axes. Mumbles about the days of yore and old ax men. Grandpappy was an ax murderer and swung an ax his whole life but still didn't know it all. That's twaddle. We'd probably consider one so slow to grasp the fork or , the violin bow, or a keyboard as having Special Needs. I'd certainly not expect such a person to be able to learn how to drive a car or fly a plane. Muscle memory and how many variables. I dare say that few of us write excellent copper plate with a dip in quill and nib, but most us can operate a pen well enough. Yeah reactionary; to people that play up the importance of little piles of doo doo to promote themselves to ranks they would otherwise not be entitled]. Seems to to happen a bunch more with traditionalist thinkers and synthetics were a clear two fingers to that.

Further, as a rule I'm keen to move all my gear to synthetics. I like a skew towards tolerating a good amount of amphibious. The knives I use have all moved that way as they give nothing I prize away to simple carbons. In principle, it is extremely desirable to have all my tools low maintenance. A Spyderco Pacific Salt Golok that gave no performance away to the golok I currently use would be a real treat, as would a Pacific Salt Ax. Meantime I'm happy to have forged carbon heads but I'm eager to get on with the new technology bits we can have and swap to higher tech handles.

That said, I've noticed the all up weight of some with synthetic handles being a good bit more than a counterpart in wood with a similarly weighted head. I liked the Nylon Estwing hadndles a lot for toughness / weight in that respect. Although I don't think Estwings are very hard, and are so crap for choking up on the head.

“Heck, if Fiskars starting making them traditionally shaped, with a wood handle through the eye, I would be very interested, Fiskars is a great company.”

Homebase has them here under the Wilkinson Sword name. All the ones I've seen carry dual marks, both Wilkinson and Fiskars on them. handles vary a lot
 
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I have two, no problem with either one.
To bad you tossed yours..... you could have at least gotten new one and given it to a boy scout..... :D
 
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