Recommendation? Vintage Craftsman 4810 Hatchet - Good Enough?

Hickory n steel said:
if the weight doesn't bother you stick with it, because this is a better tool than those fiskars.
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Well, the Fiskars X7 and my Craftsman 4810 are about the same exact weight. The Fiskars X7 says it's 1.5_lb (not sure if they included the plastic sheath). My Craftsman 4810 hand axe (Vaughan AS1-1/4 Solid Steel Camp Axe With Sheath) weighs 1.57_lb on my scale (1_lb 9.1_oz). I KNOW my Craftsman/Vaughan axe is 1080 high carbon steel. Fiskars does not list their steel type. They just say it's hardened forged steel. A new "Vaughan ASI-1/4 Solid Steel Camp Axe With Sheath" costs about $43. The Fiskars X7 is $30.99 at Walmart. I must admit that I like the design of the Fiskars, and the plastic sheath with carry handle. It also has a slightly longer handle, and I imagine I would get more power on the swing. Fiskars does not list the weight of the axe head. Strangely, Fiskars sells a 14" camp axe with an all black 14" handle, that's only $20. I'm not sure how it differs from the X7. I'll email Fiskars to find out the type of steel. I prefer high carbon steel, not medium high carbon steel, like 1045-1055. I see a lot of camping axes listed as high carbon steel, when they are actually 1045-1055. There's nothing wrong with that steel, if it's properly heat treated. That said, Estwing's are 1055, and I've seen multiple pictures of rolled edges on Estwing axe heads. It would be might difficult to fix a rolled axe head edge while camping.
 
Hickory n steel said:
if the weight doesn't bother you stick with it, because this is a better tool than those fiskars.
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Well, the Fiskars X7 Hatchet would work better for camping. The synthetic handle will be easier on the hands, and will make for a more powerful swing. It also has a nice polymer sheath with a carrying handle. It looks like it can be attached to a backpack external loop. The total weight is also slightly less, due to the synthetic handle. I emailed Fiskars about the type of high carbon steel they use, as well as the weight of the axe head. Those two attributes are very important. The positives to the Craftsman 4810 Camp Axe (Vaughan AS1-1/4 Solid Steel Camp Axe With Sheath) is that the entire axe is made from a single piece of forged 1080 high carbon steel. It will never break, it will hold an edge very long, and it has a rubber over-mould handle, to absorb shock. It also has a nail puller. The leather sheath is okay, but it can't be worn on a belt. It would have to go in a backpack, unless I can jury rig a way to attach it to the outside of my pack (I probably can).
 
Drop bear said:
I would recommend a fiskars for the bug out bag because of the weight.
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Do you know the type of forged carbon steel Fiskars uses for its axes and hatchets? I emailed them about it, as well as the weight of their X7 axe head. Hopefully they'll reply with useful information. It's tough to beat a camp axe that's made of a single piece of forged 1080 high carbon steel. It will never break. Mine is over 44 years old, and the edge has no rolls or chips. It was very easy to sharpen it, with a simple Work Sharp Field Sharpener.
 
DDDYLN said:
Do you know the type of forged carbon steel Fiskars uses for its axes and hatchets? I emailed them about it, as well as the weight of their X7 axe head. Hopefully they'll reply with useful information. It's tough to beat a camp axe that's made of a single piece of forged 1080 high carbon steel. It will never break. Mine is over 44 years old, and the edge has no rolls or chips. It was very easy to sharpen it, with a simple Work Sharp Field Sharpener.
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Not sure on the exact steel.

As far as durability goes. A bug out bag isn't going to last you all that long anyway.

So it is a trade off.
 
Well, I cleaned up my Craftsman 4810 13" Hand Axe. I got all the rust off with WD-40 and some course sandpaper. I then polished it as best I could, with 00 steel wool. I cleaned the leather sheath yesterday, and let it dry overnight. Today, I heated the sheath slightly, and applied some nice grape seed oil to it. I sharpened the edge as well. There are no rolls or chips. The only thing left to do, is to seal up the split in the rubber handle. If anyone has an adhesive recommendation, let me know.

I wish I could post some pictures of the finished project. I tried uploading to Flickr, but the forum says "Oops, we ran into some problems" when I enter the links to the pictures. The pictures are small enough, that I should be able to post them. If anyone knows how to do this correctly, let me know. I'm not a paying member.
 
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I must say, the hand axe looks mighty nice now. Here's a tip from a "non pro" - don't sharpen a blade BEFORE you remove the rust! 😂. I didn't cut myself, but that was a pretty stupid order of operations!
 
I guess BladeForums wants people to pay for memberships, because linking to pictures blatantly doesn't work, unless BladeForums doesn't work with Flickr.
 
rjdankert said:
Here is mine for some more detail.:

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It was given to me a few years ago. I don't know the history of it. It was used and the poll was mushroomed as seen. The grip had hardened and was a bit slick. I went over it with some coarse sandpaper which helped a little. Good product IMO.


Bob
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Bob, how did you post these pictures? I took pictures after cleaning up my old Craftsman. I uploaded them to Flickr, but it doesn't work when I enter the link. I'm not a paying member, so I can't upload pictures directly.
 
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