USA Craftsman hatchets

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Woodcamo Nut

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Apr 15, 2014
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I was at the hardware store today and they had the USA Craftsman hatchets and I heard Vaughan is the manufacturer that makes them, anyone know if that's true?,,,,,, I'm thinking about buying a couple of them before Sears goes out of business.
 
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I know that Vaughan made hatchets for Sears for many years. If they're still selling USA hatchets then they're likely from Vaughan. The Sears/Vaughan hatchets that I'm familiar with have a solid steel and rubber handle. The cheeks are a little thin (like Estwings) but the steel is good.
 
Save your breath, and your dough! Prices will drop like a stone if/when Sears is forced to have a fire sale due to receivership. And there are already lots (almost 100 years worth) of lifetime-warranteed "Craftsman" implements out there awaiting new homes through a 1/2 century long surge in sales of electric power tools, and typical garage sales, flea markets and flea bay.
One other thing; the Craftsman name is proprietary to Simpsons-Sears/Sears-Roebuck (since 1927)? so finding such-labelled tools at 'the hardware store' is unlikely, unless said place just happened to be within a Sears franchise!
 
Square_peg said:
I know that Vaughan made hatchets for Sears for many years. If they're still selling USA hatchets then they're likely from Vaughan. The Sears/Vaughan hatchets that I'm familiar with have a solid steel and rubber handle. The cheeks are a little thin (like Estwings) but the steel is good.
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The ones I saw had wooden handles, they had the roofers/riggers hatchet and regular hatchets.
 
300Six said:
One other thing; the Craftsman name is proprietary to Simpsons-Sears/Sears-Roebuck (since 1927)? so finding such-labelled tools at 'the hardware store' is unlikely, unless said place just happened to be within a Sears franchise!
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It was at Sears where I found said USA C-Man hatchets.
 
This is a 1970's vintage Craftsman. As Square_peg says, it's a lot like an Estwing.






Head is quite thin.



I know that they also made carpenter's hatchets (hammer poll) with a straight tubular steel handle.
 
Here's the same hatchet with the Vaughan stamp.

Vaughan%201.jpg


Vaughan%202.jpg
 
Picked up the C-Man hatchet yesterday. They only had 2 left in stock and this one had the better grain in the handle, now I need to sharpen it up and then remove the varnish on the handle and clear coating on the axe head.....What's the best method to remove the clear coat on the axe head ??
chwcn7_zpsd1247b84.jpg
 
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Woodcamo Nut said:
Picked up the C-Man hatchet yesterday. They only had 2 left in stock and this one had the better grain in the handle, now I need to sharpen it up and then remove the varnish on the handle and clear coating on the axe head.....What's the best method to remove the clear coat on the axe head ??
chwcn7_zpsd1247b84.jpg
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I would say steel wool or a solvent? Others here may have experience with that. Does the hatchet have 2 metal wedges?
 
jblyttle said:
According to the website, it appears that Vaughan hatchets and hammers use 2 metal wedges. More confirmation?
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Yeah, it looks like the hatchet I have really is made by Vaughan because I read somewhere that if the craftsman hammers and hatchets have a letter "M" somewhere on it, that means it was made by Vaughan and mine has it.
 
Woodcamo Nut said:
What's the best method to remove the clear coat on the axe head ??
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I don't know about the best way but I've been using the back side of an old hacksaw blade. Clamp the handle in a vice and work it like you would a spokeshave or draw knife. The un-sharpened side seems to just scrape it off quickly. My wife used this method on a 60" eye hoe handle for me the other night and it worked like a charm.
 
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Agent_H said:
I don't know about the best way but I've been using the back side of an old hacksaw blade. Clamp the handle in a vice and work it like you would a spokeshave or draw knife. The un-sharpened side seems to just scrape it off quickly. My wife used this method on a 60' eye hoe handle for me the other night and it worked like a charm.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna try that method.

thanks.
 
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