Looking for a source for a hatchet blank

J

jtpryan

Joined
Dec 2, 2014
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I have made several knives before and would like to make a hatchet for my son who is a camper. Can anybody point me to a good source? Also, I have been away from it for awhile, so any new, good sites for knife making supplies would be great as well.

Thanks,
Jim
 
For a camping hatchet, I think your best bet would be to find a vintage hatchet at a flea market or garage sale (or that auction site as a last resort), and fix it up.

Here's one example, with Before and After photos:

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from http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/802951-Project-First-axe-restoration
 
Steve,

Thanks, and very nice work. I will certainly take that into consideration. But if you know of any sites that do sell the blanks that would be great. Time is short...;+}
 
Hmm, starting to like this idea. Due to time, I will probably have to go the eBay way. Can you advise me on who would be a premier manufacturer of Axe heads? Is there anything to look for or does it matter?

-Jim
 
Some of the good brands are Plumb, Collins, True Temper, Norland and others, but if you pay close attention there are many no name hatchets that were made by the folks listed and sold to hardware stores as house brands. The store would just place their own paper label on these sterile hatchets.

Look for signs of hard use and abuse and avoid a head with things like heavily mushroomed polls, cracks, chips, grinder marks on the edge, and heavily rounded heel and toe.
Minor nicks dings and rust is generally not a problem.
 
jtpryan said:
Steve,

Thanks, and very nice work. I will certainly take that into consideration. But if you know of any sites that do sell the blanks that would be great. Time is short...;+}
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Time is short! Isn't this the usual hurried byline from every modern consumer these days? Perhaps the intent of restoring this hatchet (but in a hurry, of course!) is to vicariously transport back to a simpler place and time. In which case; slow down and right now. Straight grain hickory is what you want plus a coping saw, rasp and sandpaper and lots of practice.
 
I think he's looking for the steel not the wood. Sounds like he wants to do a stock removal hatchet. Is that correct?
 
OK, here's the thing, my son is an avid camper, he is 30 and lives in the Bay area and does a lot of it in his Westphalia. He had suggested a hatchet would be something he needed. I try and make one or two things for both the boys each Christmas and had intended on doing Bowie knives on this one (they both camp). I have done those before and am familiar with that. But I thought it would be nice if I found a quality older hatchet and brought it up to snuff instead of just buying one somewhere. More of a personal touch. I am pretty fully equipped in terms of sharpening gear as well as a full wood shop.

That being said I thought I would find a head on eBay like this and clean it up like Steve did in his post, then make a handle (is hickory the best wood? Can Maple be used?) for it. There are also a bunch of old Boy Scout hatchets out there that for some reason, probably the father in me, looked appealing. This is an example. But they might not really be good other then for the memory.

Thank you all again for the help

Jim
 
The Norland you linked to is a very nice hatchet and your son should love it, the plumb carpenters or half hatchet you linked to is very rough with chips in the hammer poll and the edge has been badly ground, a carpenters hatchet should have a straight edge not a curved edge.

This is what the edge of a half hatchet should resemble. I found this Plumb at a flea market for $10 this is the before pic, it cleaned up nicely. A good hammer can be very handy around the camp don't underestimate the value of a good carpenters hatchet.
IMG_0883.jpg
 
I can't believe the price of that Norlund. The world has gone insane. They're mediocre quality at best.
 
Yeah, believe me, I wish I thought of this back in flea market/yard sale season. Guess I'm just a sucker for my boys...;+}

I thought Norlund was a good name?

-Jim
 
I've got a pretty decent Plumb Carpenter's hatchet to pass along for trade or otherwise if someone wants to PM me. That last one there looks like a beauty though.
 
jtpryan said:
Hmm, starting to like this idea. Due to time, I will probably have to go the eBay way. Can you advise me on who would be a premier manufacturer of Axe heads? Is there anything to look for or does it matter?

-Jim
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I can, Granforsburk makes damn good axes and hatchets... you would have great luck finding some heads but they may be expensive... I have an old hudson bay pattern head that i need to restore adn make a handle for... I will sell it to you for not very much money... contact me privatly and we can work somethin out..

Thanks and have
 
jtpryan said:
I see what you mean. I'm liking this one, what do you think?

Jim
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That one looks nice enough, with just a bit of work you should be able to make it very nice, it looks as though you will need to rehang it but the original handle looks good otherwise.
 
Well, I got that one and I'm very happy with it. It will require very little to finish it up. Ended up being $34 with shipping. Thank you all for the input. Now, anybody know where I could get a sheath for it? It's a 3 1/2" blade.
 
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