What constitutes abuse?

pialia

pialia

Joined
Feb 11, 2012
Messages
494
So, I thought I'd share the story of my latest quest to gather some fatwood.

I was being lazy and didn't really bring the right tools, only my GB Wildlife Hatchet. It was working decently on smaller stumps and I got some nice pieces off rather easily, but stumbled upon the goldmine of fatwood stumps and was trying to break it apart. What I ended up doing might make some of you cringe, sorry in advance! I sort of batonned the axe down into the stump and was trying to split parts off the stump by torquing the handle to the side, kind of like prying with a knife. After a little bit of a headache I managed to salvage quite a bit of wood.

I guess I have a couple of questions; Would this fall under regular use in your books? I felt pretty horrible doing it, either way :rolleyes: I figured I bought the thing, so I might as well use it, plus I've had my eye on something a tad larger so I wasn't going to cry myself to sleep if I fudged up the shaft.

What kind of "abuse" have you put your axes/hatchets through and have they lived through it? Also, I'm curious, do you think I may have damaged the handle and it's only a matter of time before it deteriorates during use? I haven't really broken anything wooden like this before so I don't really know what it takes to damage it, but I was pretty much sitting on the ground torquing it with as much force as I can muster.

I reckon if it had been anything larger than the aprox. 13" hatchet handle I would probably have been screwed as the leverage would probably be much greater.

Your thoughts? I'd love to hear some abuse stories to make me feel better! :D
 
Sounds normal to me! Abuse is taking a double bit and using it as a cutoff for wire! I've heard stories from old loggers doing this.


-Xander
 
I think Axes are made to be abused. Even if you break the handle you can just replace it, much different than a knife.
 
M3mphis said:
Harvested fatwood without destroying axe = win/win



LOL.....
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Hahaha, I'll remember that one!

Oh, by the way, GB recommends not to hammer anything substantial with the back of the axe/smack it with a mallet or the like to avoid the eye deforming, but I've whacked the sh*t out of my hatchet, smashing up the back part and having to sand down some rough edges because of it, but I have yet to see any gaps in the fitting etc. Does it more or less take a car running the axe head over for it to deform? The limits of these axes seem far above what is advertised/recommended, and I'm lovin' it :D
 
CedarEater said:
Hit it repeatedly with a sledge hammer and see what happens. Then report back.
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A sledgehammer car, got it.

I guess the point I was trying to make is that it seems like you have to go quite a ways beyond "use" in order to mess it up.
 
I think you'd have to baton it pretty damn hard with some really hard wood to deform the eye. If you use a sledge, you'll mess it up pretty easily.
 
There are some prime examples of abused axes on eBay. There's a particular Kelly black raven that keeps showing up on my searches that has been badly deformed by hammering the pole. What you described sounds like use not abuse though.
 
garry3 said:
Just keep doing it. You need to learn how to replace a handle anyway:).
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I should, yeah. I would probably enjoy it quite a bit, it would just be a pain in the butt to do without proper tools... on that note - what are proper tools? :D
 
I suppose it depends on how far away the next axe is. If the handle broke and you gather everything up and walk 200 yards back home, its a experiment. If on the other hand,you need axe to survive you may call it borderline abuse.
 
Win3855 said:
I suppose it depends on how far away the next axe is. If the handle broke and you gather everything up and walk 200 yards back home, its a experiment. If on the other hand,you need axe to survive you may call it borderline abuse.
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Good point. I'd probably have a little more respect for my tools if I knew I depended on them and they were not as easily replaced.
 
Batoning, using a wooden mallet isn't abuse (using a steel mallet would be another story).
It's not worst then striking pole first for splitting, which is a very common splitting technique (see second picture below), they actually recommend it in their book:

21-22.jpg

http://www.gransfors.com/downloads/franskyxbok/12.html
(used the french version, as they have it available in html on their site)

Torquing sideways, I personnally wouldn't recommend, at least intensively or as an habit (light work is probably ok).
The axe can probably take some punishment in that department, but I'd still rate it abuse, so in case it breaks, I'd personnally put the blame on user.
 
pialia said:
I should, yeah. I would probably enjoy it quite a bit, it would just be a pain in the butt to do without proper tools... on that note - what are proper tools? :D
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Square Pegs has coverd the very basics for what you need. You know well enough that the axe was not designed for what you did. You should also know that your actions shortened the life of the handle. No big deal. Its just a handle. With regular use (or more) you will be replacing it. Each time you replace a handle is easier than the last, for awhile.
 
garry3 said:
Square Pegs has coverd the very basics for what you need. You know well enough that the axe was not designed for what you did. You should also know that your actions shortened the life of the handle. No big deal. Its just a handle. With regular use (or more) you will be replacing it. Each time you replace a handle is easier than the last, for awhile.
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Its not intened for busting up wood?
 
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