Knives of Alaska Hunters hatchet (S7 steel head)

[Gossman Knives]

I bought one of these awhile back in hopes of testing it as a skinning hatchet on deer. Well no deer so far this year so I couldn't test it out. I did try it on wood and wasn't happy with the grind and edge. Being a hatchet, naturally it has a convex grind. The problem I found was that the grind stopped abruptly to a secondary convex edge. Too thick IMHO. I took it to the grinder and started with a 120 grit belt bringing the grind an edge down to zero. I smoothed it out with a coarse scotchbrite belt and put a working edge on it with a fine scotchbrite belt. I left it with a working edge for chopping. If I was going to skin with it I would have stropped it to a final razor edge. I went to my test chopping board and cut loose. It bit into the board like a pitbull on steriods. I then took it outside and found a forearm size sapling and had it down right quick. It bit in about 3" deep. I like the compactness of this hatchet. I can carry it in the hammer loop and side pocket of my Carhartt overalls while in the woods. If you're looking for a compact hatchet for carry this might be the one worth looking at.
Scott
BTW, I forgot to mention I added a brass lined lanyard hole in the handle for a piece of 550 chute cord. Added security when swinging it.

 

[sodak]

Hmmm... I wear Carhartts. Glad to hear that you liked it, I've been wondering about this, keep seeing them in different catalogs. How did the ege hold up?

 

[Cliff Stamp]

...the grind stopped abruptly to a secondary convex edge.

Many are like this now, often 35+ degrees.

It bit in about 3" deep.

What is the distance from the bit to the handle, it looks about two and a quarter from the pictures.

I like the steel choice and the scallops, I wish people would show bit down shots, that is what is critical on axe.

It would be nice to compare this to the Vaughn and GB mini and a Fiskars or similar.

-Cliff

 

[Gossman Knives]

sodak the edge did very well although I didn't hit any hard knots or other hard material to see if it would deform. Have to try that. Cliff I think it was more like 2" deep, it's hard to tell I should have measured it. I'll have to try it again and check. This is a pic of the change to the edge.

These 2 pics are dead wood (first pic) and live wood (second pic) The bottom pic, it took about 8 chops to cut it in two which I thought was pretty good for a tool of that size.

Scott

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Thank's for the bit shot, that looks very nice for a hard wood profile.

-Cliff