Me Needs A New Axe...Suggestions?

Estwings are great for the money. I don't have much experience with other brands, and the prices can be a bit outrageous for certain "grail" axes/hatchets.
 
Thank you to everybody for the input. I think im gonna keep my eye out for a vintage one i can bring back to life. In the mean time i picked a cheap hatchet up at HF for $11. I stripped, reground and sharpened the head, sanded, stained, and painted the handle. I dont have a "before" pic but it was the typical clear laquered handle with a black head. So far it actually works really well, I was pleasantly surprised. I dont expect it to last long but for $11 it was a fun project.

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I've broke both a Fiskars and a Gerber splitting soft wood. I will never buy a axe with a plastic handle the wraps around the head again. I just lost my Wetterlings this past weekend. It was a little smaller than I like so I will replace with the forest axe or something similar.
 
Thanks guys, I have to admit I was "inspired" by the Best Made Axes. They are pretty cool looking, although they seem to be overpriced and marketed towards the yuppy who just bought a vacation cabin and is gonna buy some split wood at the 7-11 on the way up anyway but needs something to hang over the mantle....I dont mean to bash them, they are very cool looking, thats just the impression I get from their site. I've heard theyre essentially Council Tool axes with their fancy pants on...anyway i digress, again thanks for the kind words...us Beckerheads are more the diy set, we aint gonna buy no stinkin overpriced axe when we can make it ourselves. ;)
 
So I took the suggestion of many people here and stumbled upon an old hatchet head. I bought a cheap handle at the hardware store down the road, sharpened her up and now I have really sweet little camp axe for the audacious price of $5.37... big spenda! So thank you to everyone for the advice! This is why I spend 99.9% of my time on BF in this sub

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Take a look at the Condor line. Okay, not great. Estwing still makes a good hatchet. The Fiskars are okay. The are a little light headed for me.

Graasfors Bruks Small Forest Axe is the one I crave. But I don't use an axe much, so I stick with less expensive options.
 
DJG097 said:
I've had the best luck with old axe heads that I've found or bought. Most of them still have plenty of life in them after they get cleaned up and re hung and sharpened.
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I agree. You get to reuse old tools, there's often a plethora of choices on markets, garage sales, second hand stores or overstocks. Most of them are rusted, but the rust should clean of easily (what some sand paper can't do!). Half the fun is the project. Getting new life in old tools. Pretty cool and a lot of fun.

I see you already had some luck looking for old hatchets and I really like what you did to them. They will be great users! And they're lookers too. The one with the pitting is really nice imo.
 
I just pulled the trigger on a Gransfor Bruks small Forrest axe. Yup, that was my Christmas present.
 
I love my Gransfors Bruks SFA. Had enough LL Bean gift cards saved up and only spent 6 bucks and change out of my pocket.

Jeremy
 
FalconerPhoto said:
I've broke both a Fiskars and a Gerber splitting soft wood. I will never buy a axe with a plastic handle the wraps around the head again. I just lost my Wetterlings this past weekend. It was a little smaller than I like so I will replace with the forest axe or something similar.
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lifetime warranty on breakage. get a new one, sell it...

i just split over 1.5 cord of wood with a Fiskars. well, two. one of them is over 5 years old, the new is 1 year. both good.
 
DJG097 said:
I've had the best luck with old axe heads that I've found or bought. Most of them still have plenty of life in them after they get cleaned up and re hung and sharpened.
Click to expand...

Great advice if staying within a budget. I have found a lot of axe heads while metal detecting, even double bits.
 
NikkiR said:
I just pulled the trigger on a Gransfor Bruks small Forrest axe. Yup, that was my Christmas present.
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You will love it Nikki. A xmas present that you may well enjoy for the rest of your life. Please check out videos on its safe use. I was ignorant myself and glad that I learned safe\proper use of this tool.
 
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