Wetterlings is offering lifetime warranties on their axes

coloradowildman · Jan 23, 2013

Hey guys,

I had a conversation with Julia Kalthoff at SHOT Show in Las Vegas recently, and she said that she wants it to be known that Wetterlings will back up all of their axes with a lifetime warranty. She is currently working on including this warranty on their product pages and axe books, so this should appear on those by summer.

I approached Julia with my concerns over tempering issues with Wetterlings axes over the last 3 years, so she is looking into this issue, and is also backing up any problem axes with the warranty. This is good news, since a lot of us are fans of Wetterlings axes.

Cheers,

Jason

M3mphis · Jan 23, 2013

That's cool, but it seems that people have a REALLY hard time getting a hold of them when issues do come up.

coloradowildman · Jan 23, 2013

M3mphis said:
That's cool, but it seems that people have a REALLY hard time getting a hold of them when issues do come up.

Yeah, I mentioned this to her as well. She said it's best to contact the dealer where the axe was bought from to resolve an issue, since Wetterlings doesn't have a customer service person.

M3mphis · Jan 23, 2013

coloradowildman said:
Yeah, I mentioned that to Julia as well.

Right on.

I read somewhere that stated that Wetterlings uses an induction hardening process, and the speculation was that the "spotty" heat treat was due to issues with induction hardening. As compared to GB, which uses a more traditional heat, water quench, temper process. Do you happen to know if that's correct?

coloradowildman · Jan 23, 2013

M3mphis said:
Right on.

I read somewhere that stated that Wetterlings uses an induction hardening process, and the speculation was that the "spotty" heat treat was due to issues with induction hardening. As compared to GB, which uses a more traditional heat, water quench, temper process. Do you happen to know if that's correct?

Yeah, that's correct. I believe it was implemented as a cost-savings measure. I told Julia there have been serious issues with this heat treat method, and she said she is working on a solution. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

halfaxe · Jan 23, 2013

Sounds good. I just got my first Wetterlings yesterday. The Fine Foresters Axe. I wanted to check one out. A little lighter and a couple inches shorter than my GB Scandinavian. It's been too cold to mess with it yet but it came sharp, good grain on the all heartwood handle. Small gap in the front of the eye on the bottom but it shouldn't affect anything. The sheath is like the GB. I ordered it from Harry Epstein company a couple months ago since they had a price under $100. They were out of stock then but kept me informed of the situation periodically as they were held up in customs. Good company to deal with.

lovetohaft · Jan 23, 2013

halfaxe said:
Sounds good. I just got my first Wetterlings yesterday. The Fine Foresters Axe. I wanted to check one out. A little lighter and a couple inches shorter than my GB Scandinavian. It's been too cold to mess with it yet but it came sharp, good grain on the all heartwood handle. Small gap in the front of the eye on the bottom but it shouldn't affect anything. The sheath is like the GB. I ordered it from Harry Epstein company a couple months ago since they had a price under $100. They were out of stock then but kept me informed of the situation periodically as they were held up in customs. Good company to deal with.

Same situation with me concerning the Fine Forest Axe. I ordered one months ago from Harry Epstein because of their great price and received an email Monday that my axe had shipped. I suspect the Fine Forest Axe is simply a Swedish version of a Hudson Bay Axe.....which should make for a versatile lightweight axe.

Steve

bjp · Jan 23, 2013

lovetohaft said:
Same situation with me concerning the Fine Forest Axe. I ordered one months ago from Harry Epstein because of their great price and received an email Monday that my axe had shipped. I suspect the Fine Forest Axe is simply a Swedish version of a Hudson Bay Axe.....which should make for a versatile lightweight axe.

Steve

not how I would characterize the axe at all. it's a miniaturized carpenter's axe head. really handles quite a bit different than a Hudson Bay, with the straight bit.

YMMV.

-ben

ps - what I want to know is: did COwildman get Julia's direct #? hubba hubba.....

halfaxe · Jan 23, 2013

bjp said:
not how I would characterize the axe at all. it's a miniaturized carpenter's axe head. really handles quite a bit different than a Hudson Bay, with the straight bit.

YMMV.

-ben

I bought it to compare to my hudson bays as a camping or bushcraft axe. So far I like how I can choke up and get behind the blade just like my hudson bays for carving or shavng wood. The polished half poll looks interesting and I think is a nice feature. The overall size is very similar to a classic hudson bay. The main difference as you mention is the Wetterlings is not so blade heavy like a hudson bay. Early hudson bays made by Snow and Neally or Peavy Mfg. were not as blade heavy as the later types.

bjp · Jan 23, 2013

also forgot to mention that the Wetterlings FFA handle is really thin. overall, it's a feature I like, but it is so thin that it takes a bit of getting used to.

-ben

Liam Ryan · Jan 23, 2013

Is it obscene of me to assume the warranty covers the two vintage wetterlings that I have?

coloradowildman · Jan 24, 2013

ps - what I want to know is: did COwildman get Julia's direct #? hubba hubba.....

....

lovetohaft · Jan 24, 2013

halfaxe said:
bjp said:

not how I would characterize the axe at all. it's a miniaturized carpenter's axe head. really handles quite a bit different than a Hudson Bay, with the straight bit.

YMMV.

-ben

I bought it to compare to my hudson bays as a camping or bushcraft axe. So far I like how I can choke up and get behind the blade just like my hudson bays for carving or shavng wood. The polished half poll looks interesting and I think is a nice feature. The overall size is very similar to a classic hudson bay. The main difference as you mention is the Wetterlings is not so blade heavy like a hudson bay. Early hudson bays made by Snow and Neally or Peavy Mfg. were not as blade heavy as the later types.

Click to expand...

Your spot on about the Snow Neally. I won't know for sure until I compare but I expect the Fine Forest Axe to be very similar in handling qualities. The Snow Nealley HB is not nearly as blade heavy as the Norlund/Collins HBs.

Steve

kcdeming · Feb 6, 2013

I wish I knew what to do about a Wetterlings axe that I purchased through Amazon. My wife bought me the best Christmas gift ever, a Swedish Forest Axe. I used it for a couple weeks and loved it! Well I loved it until the handle split along the grain one day while I was using it. I attempted to contact Wetterlings but I haven't heard anything. I completely understand the whole "buy it through Amazon, there goes your warranty" idea but seriously two weeks later the handle splits. I hate to replace the handle with an after market handle but I don't see any other option. Any suggestions?

M3mphis · Feb 6, 2013

kcdeming said:
I wish I knew what to do about a Wetterlings axe that I purchased through Amazon. My wife bought me the best Christmas gift ever, a Swedish Forest Axe. I used it for a couple weeks and loved it! Well I loved it until the handle split along the grain one day while I was using it. I attempted to contact Wetterlings but I haven't heard anything. I completely understand the whole "buy it through Amazon, there goes your warranty" idea but seriously two weeks later the handle splits. I hate to replace the handle with an after market handle but I don't see any other option. Any suggestions?

Amazon has pretty killer customer service. Just call them up and ask nicely. I bet they'll take care of it. Or you could just install a new handle.

kcdeming · Feb 6, 2013

I contacted the buyer so we will see :/ their policy says that any return must be in new condition. Since I have used this item it would not be considered new. We will see what happens. Thanks for the response.

Silverthorn · Oct 24, 2013

I am having a similar issue. My Fine Forrest axe came with really sloppy grinds, which I cleaned up, but I noticed that the bit is actually bent some, and while I dont think that it will drastically affect performance, I do think that for the price Wetterlings shouldnt be sending out bent bits with sloppy grinds and gaps between the head and handle. The seller that I bought from seems to have the same, "returns as new policy" and I did not notice that it was bent untill I was cleaning up the grinds, so I think that I need to get Wetterlings Directly, which hasnt been working. Anyone have any help ?

300Six · Oct 29, 2013

Lifetime warrantee on axes has got to be a gimmick. You'd think this means free handles and sharpening for life. Somewhere in the fine print no doubt it says 'lifetime-guaranteed against manufacturing defects', which any respectable company that sells metal products that have no moving parts will automatically do anyway.
Recall how asphalt shingle manufacturers dupe the public with 20-30 year product guarantees that are worth little more than the paper they are printed on immediately upon the end of the first year after installation.