Old Collins Hatchet restore

O

OutdoorEnvy

Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Messages
308
Hey folks, Well I was finally able to get my hands on an old Collins hatchet. I've always wanted one of these hatchets as I like the thin cheek profile and lately I've been wanting to carry an older USA made hatchet rather than a swede. So here we go.

Here's the head as I got it. While dirty it looks hardly used. Edge and poll were in great shape

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cleaned up

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'

this is about half way through the fitting

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the eye on this head was very small and took a lot of fitting. Finally got her hung straight and got the neck and shoulder thinned out for a smooth transition

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and after a couple coats of BLO

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Well I recently sold off my swede as the American now has the spot in my bag. Gotta love the USA stuff

thanks for looking
 
The sapwood rule, and it is not universally accepted it should be pointed out, is that when using hickory for a handle the whiter outside wood of the tree is preferable to the hart wood.

E.DB.
 
I was aware of the grain alignment and hartwood when I bought it. It was the straightest and most evenly shaped of the options. It's a 14" hatchet, pretty sure it won't be swung hard enough to notice the difference...
 
I could care less about "rules".

I'm with Peter vido on this, regardless of this "rule", I don't see that a 1 1/4 head / hatchet is going to see much abuse that would cause some sort of failure.

nice job btw
 
Thanks guys

filedog said:
I think the "sapwood rule" is busted, http://chestofbooks.com/home-improvement/woodworking/Mechanical-Properties-of-Wood/Heartwood-And-Sapwood.html#.UXqCFMrNVI0
Nice to see a head that hasn't been pounded with. Is it a 1 1/4 lb head? What brand haft? 14"?
Nice job on the transition, good proportions.
Click to expand...

Thanks filedog, yeah 1 1/4lb head and 14" Link handle. I wouldn't buy Link handles unless you can hand pick it though. More seem to have unacceptable flaws then not, but the wood is very dense and good from my experience.
 
Of course there is freedom of choice when it comes to picking and choosing the sources of information you may choose to cling to. For me I stick close to tradition in the first instance until at least the sources and methods contradicting it can be legitimized. That said, I am doing some interesting work just now involving the removal of sap wood from oak and there is an obvious and distinct flexibility of the sap wood in comparison to heart wood with variation from one tree to the next. Still, something interesting to include in the equation, that is the general distinction between the two.
Also remembering not to be to hasty in drawing conclusions based on anything drawn from internet.

E.DB.
 
cooperhill said:
I could care less about "rules".

I'm with Peter vido on this, regardless of this "rule", I don't see that a 1 1/4 head / hatchet is going to see much abuse that would cause some sort of failure.

nice job btw
Click to expand...

In my guest co-post on their blog, there was a particular example of a 20 pound maul with a "rule breaker" handle.

Most of the written material on axes and handles came at the twilight of their serious use. For every rule written down in the small span where people actually did, where that would have even been any use (as in, people were too dumb to figure things out on their own, and lapped up "expert opinions"), someone did it differently and made a good case for it. As far as I'm concerned, the commonly accepted standards just happened to be a prevailing (somewhat erroneous, narrowed) opinion at the time.
 
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