Quality Hatchet Companies?

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sac36555

Joined
Dec 16, 2018
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I’m new here and have recently gotten into knives for camping. I’m looking for a hatchet for log splitting vs battonning with my knife. I want a quality hatchet made with good steel. Do you have any brands that you recommend? I was looking at the Council Velvicut series, but I literally know nothing about hatchets, so I was looking for guidance
 
Hickory n steel said:
Check out the Vaughan & Bushnell camp axe.
It's not expensive or fancy, but they use an excellent steel.

For splitting kindling while camping you really don't need much.

If you want a little work then rehab a vintage American head.
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I don’t want to rehab. I want something with great steel, great heat treat, and grind, attention to detail. Something that I don’t have to thin down and sharpen OOTB. I want something that’s got some craftsmanship to it. Not just a mass produced factory piece
 
sac36555 said:
I don’t want to rehab. I want something with great steel, great heat treat, and grind, attention to detail. Something that I don’t have to thin down and sharpen OOTB. I want something that’s got some craftsmanship to it. Not just a mass produced factory piece
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All axes and hatchets will get dull sooner or later. Considering your requirements, 2 companies come to mind. Liam Hoffman and Autine
 
crbnSteeladdict said:
All axes and hatchets will get dull sooner or later. Considering your requirements, 2 companies come to mind. Liam Hoffman and Autine
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I’m aware of all blades needing sharpening at some point, I just don’t want to buy a blade and have to take a bunch of material off before I even use it. I know a lot of the cheaper hatchets are super thick behind the end and the grind isn’t refined.

I’ve checked out Liam Hoffman and the hatchets look amazing! I’ll have to check out Autine as well
 
And Vaughan's riggers axe can be found for under $35.

sac36555 said:
I just don’t want to buy a blade and have to take a bunch of material off before I even use it. I know a lot of the cheaper hatchets are super thick behind the end and the grind isn’t refined.
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If you want sharp right out of the box then order a Council hatchet from Baronyx Knife and spend the $4.50 ( a bargain) for the "Special Grade" and let Benjamin put a fine edge on it for you.

If it were me (and it recently was), I'd go grab a Vaughan-made Craftsman hatchet form the local Sears store before they go out of business. I recently bought 3 of these for $18 apiece. One for me, one as a Christmas gift and an extra just because. Then I went to Ben Meadows and ordered 3 sheaths. The hatchets need a little file and stone work to meet my expectations but that's expected and I don't mind.
 
sac36555 said:
I don’t want to rehab. I want something with great steel, great heat treat, and grind, attention to detail. Something that I don’t have to thin down and sharpen OOTB. I want something that’s got some craftsmanship to it. Not just a mass produced factory piece
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https://www.gransforsbruk.com/en/products/

http://hultsbruk1697.se/

https://www.kalthoffaxes.se/

https://woodsmithexperience.co.uk/shop/product/svante-djarv-cutting-axe-700-grams/

https://www.hoffmanblacksmithing.com/

These are the best axes I know, maybe others know more high quality axes no matter what budget. Maybe Helko Werk deserves to be in this list, too.
 
Gransfors is 1055. Hoffman is likely 4142. Don't know about the others. But they're not 1080.
 
What you need to keep in mind is that sharpening a hatchet requires hand work. Which cost. Council tool and Vaughan make quality tools but at the price they sell for you will need to finish sharpening., The Vaughan camp axe can be had for $20 shipped it is made of 1080 steel.
$20 for the axe
$40 for H.F. 1 x 30 belt sander
$12 for H.F. 4 sided diamond sharpener
$30 hour of labour if you count your time
That is $102 still cheaper than most of the swedish or custom hatchets for a pattern I like better and you have the tools for the next time you need them. I think the high end axes wouldn't be so popular if people would learn how to sharpen.
 
You are talking a different of north of $100 Where as most council tools regular council tool stuff and Vaughan stuff is South of $50 You just need to know how to sharpen
 
You should have specified that you wanted a fancy expensive hstchet, because you'll be getting many recommendations for " quality " hatchets with " good steel " that are exactly these things but just aren't exp
plumberroy said:
What you need to keep in mind is that sharpening a hatchet requires hand work. Which cost. Council tool and Vaughan make quality tools but at the price they sell for you will need to finish sharpening., The Vaughan camp axe can be had for $20 shipped it is made of 1080 steel.
$20 for the axe
$40 for H.F. 1 x 30 belt sander
$12 for H.F. 4 sided diamond sharpener
$30 hour of labour if you count your time
That is $102 still cheaper than most of the swedish or custom hatchets for a pattern I like better and you have the tools for the next time you need them. I think the high end axes wouldn't be so popular if people would learn how to sharpen.
Click to expand...
You absolutely don't have to have all this stuff.
You can get it done with just a file and a basic stone as was done long ago, and for a kindling splitter 10min will get it ready to go.
 
I like fiskars for a simple, reasonably affordable, lightweight and easy to maintain hatchet or axe. Their steel isn't the best but it sharpens easily and for occasional splitting, you really don't need a nicer steel as you'll never out work the steel from the fiskars.

Council makes nice stuff, the velvicut is a bit pricey but is supposed to be nicely finished with a decent mask. The sportsmans series (what used to be the red painted) is more the value line and is supposed to be pretty good, especially if you touch up the edge with a file when you receive it. Most axes in the value range can use some thinning behind the edge when you get them.

Cold steel axes are also a good value. Touch up with a file and you're all set. It will probably split fine since you don't need a great edge for splitting but if you want to do any chopping, you'll want to touch it up.

I am also of the opinion that a hudson bay or boys axe is better than a hatchet, mostly because I find the small handles awkard to use and the short reach can easily create a scenario where an under swing brings the blade back at you so having something to stop the edge is a good idea. This is where I prefer a big knife instead, or a tomahawk (lighter head, longer handle than hatchet).
 
Hickory n steel said:
You should have specified that you wanted a fancy expensive hstchet, because you'll be getting many recommendations for " quality " hatchets with " good steel " that are exactly these things but just aren't exp

You absolutely don't have to have all this stuff.
You can get it done with just a file and a basic stone as was done long ago, and for a kindling splitter 10min will get it ready to go.
Click to expand...
I understand that, my point was you can buy a hatchet with great steel, and power tools to reprofile and sharpen it to razor sharp. For the cost of most of the hatchets being recommended .
Too many people won't take the time to learn how to sharpen their own tools , doesn't matter how sharp they come from the factory if used they will need sharpened again. The belt sander is handy but I have several files and probably a dozen stones. I am a realist and I unstand there may be a time you can't take it to someone else to sharpen. Some places in Port a Rico went nearly a year without power or access to fuel a sharp axe would have been vital
 
plumberroy said:
I understand that, my point was you can buy a hatchet with great steel, and power tools to reprofile and sharpen it to razor sharp. For the cost of most of the hatchets being recommended .
Too many people won't take the time to learn how to sharpen their own tools , doesn't matter how sharp they come from the factory if used they will need sharpened again. The belt sander is handy but I have several files and probably a dozen stones. I am a realist and I unstand there may be a time you can't take it to someone else to sharpen. Some places in Port a Rico went nearly a year without power or access to fuel a sharp axe would have been vital
Click to expand...
You are correct, there are great quality tools out there that just require a little work.
Some people however just think it should be perfect off the rack or it's garbage.
These idiots on YouTube ( I think bird and shot tv or something ) saw a Vaughan half hatchet at Walmart and called it trash because it wasn't sharp, and this American company should be ashamed of themselves.
 
sac36555 said:
I don’t want to rehab. I want something with great steel, great heat treat, and grind, attention to detail. Something that I don’t have to thin down and sharpen OOTB. I want something that’s got some craftsmanship to it. Not just a mass produced factory piece
Click to expand...

I missed this piece earlier. I will recommend using baryonyx then who will do this work for you as a small fee. This makes a well priced axe a really nice axe. He also has a good selection of axes. The Snow and Neally will be good, once resharpened. Good steel, bad edge from the factory. Ben will get you sorted out. I'm also a fan of the rinaldi axe but they aren't polled (balance front to rear) so they can take some getting used to when cutting horizontally but it's a pretty quick adjustment.

Lastly, he has a lot of really big, cleaver type knives that are designed for compact wood processing. I believe most are from rinaldi, falci, and angelo B.
This one is literally called the "kindling cleaver" http://www.baryonyxknife.com/rikklma.html

This mini maul could treat you well
http://www.baryonyxknife.com/snnemima.html

Most of the rinaldi patters have hand axe sizes.
http://www.baryonyxknife.com/rinaldi.html

Condor axes may be a reasonable choice
http://www.baryonyxknife.com/axeshatchets.html

He doesn't have a massive selection, he just has a little bit of things that are useful. I feel like his offerings are aimed at people with a bit of European tradition or pioneer life or almost Amish living. Basically, hand tools for doing outdoor work that is handled by a lot of machines these days.

Again, get the " special grade" and @FortyTwoBlades will get you sorted out. I think this is one of the better ways to get something really nice as soon as it hits your door step without spending over $100, since many axes need a touchup.
 
Hickory n steel said:
You are correct, there are great quality tools out there that just require a little work.
Some people however just think it should be perfect off the rack or it's garbage.
These idiots on YouTube ( I think bird and shot tv or something ) saw a Vaughan half hatchet at Walmart and called it trash because it wasn't sharp, and this American company should be ashamed of themselves.
Click to expand...
Hate to be this way but many people are just too lazy to learn to sharpen. They would rather pay big money for super steel knives and send them back to the factory to sharpen. Instead of buying one of the many knives that you can touch up as you go
 
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