Gransfors Bruks Wildlife AXE/Hatchet Video Destruction Test Completed

N

noss4

Joined
Jul 7, 2006
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Steel: Hand forged carbon Steel
RC: 57
Cutting edge: 3"
Handle: 13.5" Hickory

Knife Hunter of blade forums sent me two Gransfors Bruks axes to test. I did a destruction test on the wildlife axe.

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Cutting: the Axe was used so I put a razor sharp edge back on it. It did not take much. I cut some 10,000 pound webbing very easy, making back and forth controlled cuts.

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Chopping: Knife Hunter wanted to see the Gransfors compared to the Busse CGFBM. I did a one minute chopping competition between the two and the Browning Crowell Barker competition knife. The Axe chopped the 4x4 in 38 seconds.The Busse FBM in 26 seconds. The Browning chopped through it in 45 seconds. The Busse FMB was superior out of the three.

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Batoning/Splitting: I spit a 4x4 with the Gransfors then the Busse FBM. Both accomplished this task easy. I prefer a large knife for this task. It is a matter of personal preference.

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Cutting: After the chopping and splitting I cut the webbing again to see if I still had the edge. I lost the initial sharpness and was unable to make controlled cuts on the webbing.

Sheet Metal: I chopped some heavy gauge sheetmetal with the Gransfors. I blunted the edge and some rolling occurred.

Concrete: I chopped a concrete block. Some denting and chipping and some edge roll occurred. There was no major damage to the axe.

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Nail: I hammered a very large nail in to a 4x4 with the hammer portion of the axe and chopped the nail in half. No further damage occurred to the axe edge.

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Metal on Metal: I choped a piece of 1/8x1.5" mild steel flat stock. The axe made about 5/16" deep cuts in the steel. No further damage occurred to the axe.

Steel Tubing: I hammered the axe into the same tubing like I did with the Busse FFBM and the Scrap Yard Scraper 6. It took some very hard hammer blows from the 3 lb steel mallet to shear through the tubing. The Gransfors successfully completed this task. The edge never tore out during this. This is one tough axe. The handle also held up well never coming lose from all the impact and vibration.

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At this point with the knives I would keep going until I fully destroyed the axe but I wanted to get it back to knife hunter so I stopped at this point.

Reshaping: Using a belt sander I removed and the edge damage and was careful not to get the axe edge hot so I didn't affect the heat treat. I finished up the edge with a DMT stone. I put a workable edge back on it. However it was not as good as the original.

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Chopping: I chopped a 4x4 again timing it. I could not get through it in one minute this time around. The edge did not have the same performance as the original.

Overall: This was the first axe I destruction tested so I didn't know what to expect compared to the knives. I will have to test more in this manner before I know exactly what to expect.

The Gransfors is one tough little axe. I lost the edge initial after chopping and splitting wood. It's a great chopper not as good as the Busse CGFBM but better then the Browning comp knife.

The Videos are in five parts. posted at www.knifetests.com

Enjoy the videos. They were made for you. :thumbup:
 
AWESOME, I have this and several GB's and they have always treated me very well. Its good to see how well it held up, I like seeing the comparison results as well.
 
It's tough. The handle stayed in place also during all the impact and vibration from the hammer blows. They have it in there tight and secure. :thumbup:

The Busse CGFBM out chopped it so a hatchet won't always out chop a quality fixed blade knife like some think it will.
 
I have compared my Hunters Axe and this axe to my FFBM and found they were close but the FFBM performed better as you have found with the CGFBM. Others may have varying results as I re-profiled the edge on the FFBM.

Good to hear the handle stayed secure as it would seem like it would shake free from the hammer blows. Good stuff.
 
Noss,

You maniac! :) How can you destroy such a beatiful hatchet! I am very glad that it survived at the end. The swedes know what they are doing.

As for the chopping comparisson with the BM, lets be fair and compare it pound for pound with the Mistress. Then the GB hatchet will probably do as good or better, compared to the BM, as it is around 15% lighter (21 vs 24 ounces).
 
vvk: All the weight of the hatchet is above the cutting edge unlike the FBM. More weight is concentrated on the 3" cutting edge of the axe. All the weight of the FBM is spread out over a much larger area. The FBM won't hit as hard as the AXE does.
 
Whew!!!!!!!

Man...that was cool to watch.:eek:

It was easy to see the many advantages of the FBM.

I was glad to see the hatchet survived as well as it did, but was a little disappointed in it's performance.

It seemed to struggle in every aspect except for the use as a hammer driving the nail.

I am looking forward to the field test with the Hunters Axe. It will be interesting to see the pro's and cons of the knife vs hatchet.

Originally, I must say, I thought the hatchet would've done better.:(

After, using my FBMLE, watching the FFBM destruction test, and now this....

I have alot more confidence in my INFI.

Now I have no fear of quartering game, or anything else with my Badger or my ASH-1, and especially no fears with my Mistress.

I am really looking forward to spring and the 2008 hunting season.:D:D


A Big thank you to Noss-Hog for the time and effort it took to produce the video.:D:D:thumbup:

Guys, if you want to see em tested, get him some blades:D:D:thumbup:
 
knife hunter: You welcome. Thanks for sending them to me. and letting me beat the hell out of the Wildlife. :D The edge did suffer some damage compared to INFI (chipping, rolling.) I think it did well for the most part.

I do prefer a big knife over a hatchet any day in the woods. I was surprised about the chopping comparison time between the two. I would have put my money on the hatchet.

After I did the chopping shootout between the Gerber hatchet and the other blades. I was told by many that a hatchet would always beat a fixed blade.
The Gerber did beat out it's competitors but the CGFBM out did them all in 26 seconds. This is only in my testing but still it happened.
 
knife hunter: No the Gransfors was 38 seconds. I didn't get through the 4x4 in one minute with the Gerber. The Gerber performed about like the Gransfors after I put the edge back on it.
 
Axe Bully!!! Pick on someone your own size! Seriously what a testament to how tough a GB product is. Wonder if that would have voided the warranty?
 
Noss, knife hunter, thanks for the review. The Gransfors is arguably the best hatchet on the market, so I am not surprised at it's toughness.

I am also not surprised that it did not chop as well as a battlemistress. I have known this for years. Years ago, I compared my hatchets to my BM's and my 15 and 18 inch HI khkuris. Blades won every time.
 
I wonder if the wildlife model is meant to chop wood? I have the GB carpenters hatchet, and it outchopped my HI khukri, which I'd guess would outchop a BM.
 
Cobalt already knows all. :p :D


Twindog: It's made to chop wood. I understand your question. I don't know much about the carpenters axe. It looks like it was designed to be used in a different manner like a knife so the website says as well as chopping I guess.
 
Nice destruction test again, Noss. :thumbup: No real surprises for me there - good hatchets and axes are all very tough, although they don't have the edge retention of good knives. The FBMs, though, are enormously good choppers. I find the FFBM is even better than the CG, it hits like a freight train. So no surprise there. If you'd throw a good axe against the FBMs, then they would obviously get whacked good, but that would hardly be fair. And there are some tasks that are just plain easier to do with a big knife than with an axe, such as limbing a tree in the thickets and such.
 
Nice work, Noss. I am actually surprised it held up so well. I would have expected that it would show some edge tear-outs.

On the chopping, I am not really surprised but I think the axe will pull ahead in the long run especially on larger pieces. When you chop through a single 4x4 you can afford going very fast in which case the lifting of the far out axe head slows you down and a well balanced blade will be faster, but chopping for 15 min you are forced to go at a more measured pace, in which case the far forward weight of the axe head will be an advantage, especially on larger pieces were contact area adds to the advantage of the axe
 
HoB said:
Nice work, Noss. I am actually surprised it held up so well. I would have expected that it would show some edge tear-outs.

On the chopping, I am not really surprised but I think the axe will pull ahead in the long run especially on larger pieces. When you chop through a single 4x4 you can afford going very fast in which case the lifting of the far out axe head slows you down and a well balanced blade will be faster, but chopping for 15 min you are forced to go at a more measured pace, in which case the far forward weight of the axe head will be an advantage, especially on larger pieces were contact area adds to the advantage of the axe
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maybe. I wish I had had as quality a hatchet as the gransfors when I was chopping all my chords of wood every year. I had several hatchets, gerber, eastwing (I think it's how its spelled) and watterlings and my khukuris and straight blades beat them every time. Much more comfort in the long run for me, but maybe someone who uses nothing but hatchets would feel different.

I think the next size up from this Gransfors is what it would take to beat the big blades, but not really sure.

Noss, I have been using blades for real work for 16 years so I would hope I would know something by now. I may not know how to make a knife, but I know how to use one.

I am going to have to buy a few different size gransfors. They are really nice.
 
Actually, after reading you post, Cobalt, I took a closer look at the specs and have to correct myself some. I still believe that in general my argument is correct, but I was thinking of the small forest AXE (SFA). I believe, what Noss has been using is actually the wildlife HATCHET (WLH). So I was really thinking of the axe with 20" handle, one size up from the hatchet. I think the difference between a good blade and a hatchet is much smaller and I can easily see how the blade can pull ahead, especially when the blade outweighs the hatchet which is probably the case between the WLH and the FBM (my Wetterlings hatchet weights about 640 g).

Had to walk down to the basement and weigh my hatchet and correct myself: The Wetterlings hatchet with 13.5" handle weighs 640 g.
 
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