Husqvarna Axe, Hatchet, Handle

[John Frankl]

I just received a Husqvarna Axe, Hatchet, and replacement handle from Jack's Small Engines. I will give my thoughts in no definite order.

The finish is decent, but not great.

The corners of the axe are blunted, either from poor grinding or ???.

The forging on the axe itself appears to be very slightly off center. This may, however, actually be a matter of the handle having been hung off center.

The handle on the axe has the grain running the "wrong" way. The replacement handle has nicely aligned grain. The hatchet handle has good grain.

The hatchet seems slightly better overall. The handle, forging, stamping, etc. are all a bit cleaner.

The sheaths, though different, are both serviceable.

They are not in front of me right now, but I would be glad to take any other questions.

In all, they are not too expensive considering what you get. Right out of the box they are more than useable. But, that said, I will be taking the handles off of both, regrinding the heads, and rehanging them. If you enjoy this kind of work, they make a good project.

 

[Mossyhorn]

It sounds like a sub-par Wetterlings. I am looking forward to your review.

 

[John Frankl]

No, I think it is about par for Wetterlings. That is to say that Wetterlings seem to be very hit or miss. I got unlucky on the axe, and did a bit better on the hatchet. And I am also a bit picky. Some people might not have either noticed or cared about much of what I mentioned.

 

[Kenny H.]

Some people might not have either noticed or cared about much of what I mentioned.

I find that happens a lot in many forms, great little review I'd love to see pictures.

 

[omniviking]

One reason, if you get a chance to pick your axe, hatchet or other tools, do so your self. never know what may show up from the choices available if you order one.

 

[John Frankl]

Omniviking,

You are SO right. But I am in Korea. I even asked them, because returns would be some troublesome and expensive, to go through their inventory and pick me some nice ones. The reply I got was that they only kept one of each item in stock, that most were nice (from their point of view), etc. So I rolled the dice and got what I got.

 

[John Frankl]

Alright, per the request, I will try to get some photos and comments up here. Keep in mind, however, that I am very new to all this.

Let me start with handles. Some may see them as an afterthougth, but if they are loose or break, it doesn't matter what's on the end of them, you won't be using it.

First is a photo of a handle I sawed off of an old Kelly I am rehanging. As you can see, the grain is pretty good.

The next photo is the Husqy replacement handle: not bad.

 

[John Frankl]

From here I'll show the handles that came on the axe and hatchet. You will see that the hatchet is darn near perfect, the axe pretty poor.

 

[John Frankl]

Now for the heads. Like I said, the hatchet is not bad. The axe is a bit off.

You will notice some clipped corners and a bit of crookedness in the axe, which I will post first.

 

[John Frankl]

Next is the hatchet head. It is ground better, hung straighter, and also does not have a circular metal wedge, only wood, which some traditionalists may like more.

I'll also show the two different sheaths here. The hatchet has the snap. Both are a bit big, but functional. They have a good welt, which my Wetterlings Carpenter's Axe did not.