mini-hatchet got used!

A

Alastair

Joined
May 1, 2003
Messages
21
I had a go at the secondary bevel with a 1000 grit waterstone, polished it up with an 8000 grit. Looked ok.

Put some glue on the sheath - thanks for the tip, it was already getting cut up.

Went camping on the weekend - it was great to be able to take a hatchet. Built a fire, and lit it without paper - fuzzed up some sticks, worked great.

Made myself a wooden butter knife so I could cut some cheese & butter oatcakes on the way home (rather than getting arrested for using my SAK). The hatchet worked great for wittling - particularly if I held it 'backwards', handle under armpit, poll against chest, blade out. This position gave loads of control when shaving wood, and was very safe.
 
Glad you like it!
That's the whole essence of the tool. You just take this tiny hatchet out and do everything with it from chopping firewood to preparing fuzzies.
If you add a Hoodoo crooked knife which we make out of cheap Mora hoof knives, and you'll even be able to carve out cups and spoons.
Crooked knives
 
I have a frost mora crooked knife, thanks.:-)

It is a bit different to some of the others; it has external bevels, is double-sided, and the end is sharpened - which means it can be used like a straight chisel for cleaning corners. Good value at £8.50 - about $13-14. The steel is good, and the bevels have a sort of hollow grinding that makes it very easy to maintain the edge.
 
Awesome! I had a few old style crooked knives close to thirty years ago and after I gave them to kids who were getting into carving, it took me many years to find more. The one you have is incredibly useful, but so are the regular hoof knives - given a whole bunch of time to sharpen them (due to the inside bevels). The Sandvik stainless is about the best possible choice a company could make in this application, and I find it great in the stainless Mora knives too. I had one stainless Mora with poor steel which I gave to my grand-daughter. Now I have to trade her all sorts of stuff to get it back, so I can pass it around! A Mora with soft steel is incredibly rare - if people can believe that sort of quality control in a cheap knife...
I was lucky enough, this year to get one of the long crooked knives. Gary Arenson in Alaska had George Wostenholm make up a bunch, based on a traditional one he had. They look awkward, but they sure shape wood, when used with a slicing motion. I tried mine on a 4x4" block of seasoned birch and was having a lot of fun trying it out until I ended up with a pile of shavings...
Anyway, the point of the rambling is that I wish I had gotten back into hatchets and crooked knives sooner. With them, one looks at the outdoors differently. Instead of just seeing trees, now I see wood that is useful for different purposes.
 
When I first started wittling and woodcarving, I bought 8-9 gouges. Then I discovered the Mora carving knife, then a hook knife - and I almost never pick up a gouge.
 
Mostly now, carving around here is just for artwork for sale. I've seen a lot of canoes, paddles, sleds, snowshoes etc., though, made from natural materials with just an axe and crooked knife.
 
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