- Joined
- Aug 24, 2003
- Messages
- 1,461
I know this is gimmickie, but ever since I saw one in a catalog in the 80's I wanted one. I actually have a few ideas on how to make it better (I believe). If anyone is interested in trying to make one, please send me a PM. Here is a pic and part of a post from another forum on the Skatchet, so don't get too excited about it's performance because it ain't all that...
""Some of you may have heard the term 'skachet' bantered about. At least one self-proclaimed 'survival' expert swears by these tools.
This was a wilderness tool sold by Charter Arms during the early and mid 1980's (they also made and sold the AR-7 'survival' rifles in the 1980's). It was made in Japan by Follins Corp (US patent #3187354).
The skachet is yet another tool designed to minimize weight and to do multiple tasks. The production of the original skachet ceased in the 1980's when the survivalist market took a major dip during the Reagan era prosperity and the end of the Cold War.
The skachet is generally considered yet another 'do it all' gimmick gadget spawned by the upswing in the Cold War, post-Vietnam era survivalist market of the mid 1970's to the mid 1980's.
A quantity of Taiwanese skachet clones have also been brought into the country under the Safesport brand. However, I doubt that the steel and temper is as good as the original Charter Arms skachet, which was actually not bad.
The word 'skachet', by the way, is a combination of the words 'skinner' and 'hatchet'.
Like most tools designed to do many things, the skachet can do OK at it's many jobs it's supposed to do, but isn't stellar at any given single task. It was designed to act as both your skinning knife and your hatchet, but it's smoked in both categories when it goes against a real skinning knife and a real hatchet.
It's weakest point is the handle. It is a round hole that is threaded, like some kitchen broom and sponge mop handles or an extended paint roller handle. It's designed so that you can used a trimmed or broken tree branch as an improvised handle. This is a weak handle attachment style, even with a proper, kiln dried hardwood handle. A scavenged tree branch, green or dried, is usually a very piss poor handle under any circumstance. If/when the handle breaks, getting the broken off wood out of that hole can be a real bitch.
The skachet is no substitute for a dedicated, full time hatchet or a skinning knife, but it's actually not that bad of a tool for a stowed emergency survival kit, like in a small aircraft, or as a backpacker's tool, often carried but used mainly when the hiker gets into a temporary situation that needs more than a Swiss Army knife. For long term living off the land, you had best carry a real hunting knife and a real hatchet.
The tool performs best when used as an ulu (native Inuit style knife common in Alaska) and a hide scraper. In this role, it isn't bad and might be worth carrying as an extra tool for just that. It's ulu/scraper shape and built in gut hook would come in handy for some tasks and it's hatchet ability to be used as auxiliary, backup feature to a real hatchet. ""
""Some of you may have heard the term 'skachet' bantered about. At least one self-proclaimed 'survival' expert swears by these tools.
This was a wilderness tool sold by Charter Arms during the early and mid 1980's (they also made and sold the AR-7 'survival' rifles in the 1980's). It was made in Japan by Follins Corp (US patent #3187354).
The skachet is yet another tool designed to minimize weight and to do multiple tasks. The production of the original skachet ceased in the 1980's when the survivalist market took a major dip during the Reagan era prosperity and the end of the Cold War.
The skachet is generally considered yet another 'do it all' gimmick gadget spawned by the upswing in the Cold War, post-Vietnam era survivalist market of the mid 1970's to the mid 1980's.
A quantity of Taiwanese skachet clones have also been brought into the country under the Safesport brand. However, I doubt that the steel and temper is as good as the original Charter Arms skachet, which was actually not bad.
The word 'skachet', by the way, is a combination of the words 'skinner' and 'hatchet'.
Like most tools designed to do many things, the skachet can do OK at it's many jobs it's supposed to do, but isn't stellar at any given single task. It was designed to act as both your skinning knife and your hatchet, but it's smoked in both categories when it goes against a real skinning knife and a real hatchet.
It's weakest point is the handle. It is a round hole that is threaded, like some kitchen broom and sponge mop handles or an extended paint roller handle. It's designed so that you can used a trimmed or broken tree branch as an improvised handle. This is a weak handle attachment style, even with a proper, kiln dried hardwood handle. A scavenged tree branch, green or dried, is usually a very piss poor handle under any circumstance. If/when the handle breaks, getting the broken off wood out of that hole can be a real bitch.
The skachet is no substitute for a dedicated, full time hatchet or a skinning knife, but it's actually not that bad of a tool for a stowed emergency survival kit, like in a small aircraft, or as a backpacker's tool, often carried but used mainly when the hiker gets into a temporary situation that needs more than a Swiss Army knife. For long term living off the land, you had best carry a real hunting knife and a real hatchet.
The tool performs best when used as an ulu (native Inuit style knife common in Alaska) and a hide scraper. In this role, it isn't bad and might be worth carrying as an extra tool for just that. It's ulu/scraper shape and built in gut hook would come in handy for some tasks and it's hatchet ability to be used as auxiliary, backup feature to a real hatchet. ""
