There are lots of times I'm supposed to be doing something else (like real work) and I start playing around instead. That's what I figured to show here....
Seems when I see a deal, I have to often buy the thing out of principle that it is just too danged cheap to pass up! So when I saw these Coleman hatchets at Crappy Tire for $10.00, I knew I hadta buy one. Now when you handle it, it somehow seems off kilter somehow, kinda unbalanced....but what the heck, the price was right! So I even bought 2 of em. (One for under the truck seat and the other for the RV).
Well, I chucked them aside when I got home, though I'd pick one up now and then and wonder why they just seem like a POS (piece of shite) in the hand. The handle is quite short for the weight and the blade too thick too quick compared to other hatchets. It's like a small axe head on a short handle.
Hackets are usually for making kindling mostly and cutting brush. Their what you often carry on your person and so lighter in design than an axe. when you cut kindling the right and safe way, you set the head onto the wood and tap the wood against something...thus it is a wedge and weight isn't critical here either.
Now I don't carry a hatchet around much hunting unless I'm going a ways in and don't want to walk back to the truck. The hatchet is also used to quarter a moose or deer, where you eventually have to chop the animal into 4 pieces to carry it out. This is where a light, well balanced hatchet is really nice.
I decided I'd sharpen the hatchet right. This meant narrowing the blade and maybe losing some weight would help the balance along the way too..... seems I got a little carried away...........
What? ....You didn't notice?....
This is what it looked like before I started. I'll put the original beside it to give you a better idea.....
Now to make this fair, I took a picture to show you what tools you need to do this. Just a Crappy Tire Hand Grinder is all (they aughta give me a discount for all this publicity...) . I Used a slitting blade, a grind wheel and a flapper wheel to smooth it all up with after.... and a vice now and then too.
The hatchet is now alot lighter, from 34 oz to 24 oz. It feels really nice in the hand and likely gonna be a lot nicer when carving on the inside of some critter's ribcage too. Seems I can now quit drooling over them fancy ones I see at Cabela's for $90.00 at which my logic center always responds with a WTF attitude as I shy away.
for those interested....have at er! 😎
You've done a grand job and had a grand fun time of it there.
Well just to chime in so as the Crappy tire tool doesn't fade to black I will add a few things I see here. First off if you look at the design of the tool itself you will see that is mimicking a roofers hammer. Hence the nail removal portion that you so wisely cut away for weight. Second, if I may seek some clarity,… I would say a wedge is just that, a wedge and it needs to be persuaded by either prying to open up some clearance or some impact in order for it to do its intended job, hence the weight. Talking a hatchet and the kindling issue YES you place the blade edge against the wood and in turn raise both the objects upward and simultaneously bring them downward until hitting the surface, causing the abrupt stop and thus causing the inertia of the WEIGHT to WEDGE thru the object in question. So weight of the anvil does apply to the outcome no?
Asking a cheap chinese tool either through the material or manufacturing process is a poor judgement for myself. The fact that you spent so much time on a 10buck chunk of metal is a nice feat and you made a very creative piece BUT YOU DO realize that the shaft is hollow right? I mean I took a few swings with a buds and had to opologise for wrecking the, ummm ,… tool. So it looks good and all but in theory I feel this will leave you stranded. Take a cheap ANYTHING with a wood handle and you can repair in the field unlike this. Which actually brings me to a really cool story about a drunken game of golf, a rental cart and clubs, and a laughing good wit on my part. Waaay to long for here 😆
Whatever tomorrow brings,… I will be there! 😉
For those who would like to try metal work as a hobby, Knuckel just showed the single most useful tool you can have.. A grinder! and laying on the table is a zip disk. With a grinding wheel and zip disk you can be slicing and diceing metal,Shaping and smoothing. One of the best tools to become skilled with, and not just for use on small projects, but handy on larger ones
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
LOL, well I did ask for it! 😀
Did I mention that I was playing instead of working? 😕
These hatchets are crappy but useful still for a meesley $10.00. At 34 oz, a framing hammer would have a much longer handle. Next time your in Crappy Tire, pick up this hachet and feel the awkwardness of it. For the price, it's a bargain still. As for damaging the handle, that only happens when you miss with a sledge or an axe usually, not framing or finishing hammers. And pick up a 24 oz finishing hammer... there is still weight there to drive a nail with. For kindling I only use soft wood such as pine or spruce because forest here are thick with it. It lights faster as good kindling should and always splits easily as there is no knots to contend with. As for the nail remover...how many times have you ever used that feature really? But I do use hachets to drive in the tent pegs too. 😀 (their a handy but limited use tool)
I guess I should mention I did initially scrap the cutting edge of the one I hacked up as I'd used it to remove slag after a torch cut cause it was close at hand that day. The edge didn't fare well and this is where I noted too that the steel was likely low carbon too. It sat damaged like that for a few months only. 🙄 It seems my playing eventually required an excuse of sorts and so I'm using the hunting excuse today as my reason to play!( I make up these excuses for me only, I really don't care what others think!) 😀
So you ever take whacks at a rib cage trying to quarter a carcass? Light axe is nice but I never seem to have one on me when I need it. Like I mentioned earlier, I don't carry too much hunting as it gets in the way, especially in moose country (swampy, heavy brush) Fanny packs are my style(bow hunter habits) and I carry only that which I can stuff into it, so a hatchet is tolerable...barely! I've often thought of buying a cordless sawsall but then I'd have to lug that sucker around too. Meatsaws are slow in quartering and been down that road too. Axes splinter bone but much faster. Seems critters should die where you shoot em so we wouldn't have to work so hard... Since I'm not throwing arrows any more, I'm hoping they decide to die sooner now from lead poisoning!
In reality, I like the type of hachet I imitated, but I ain't forking out such coin for that which I would rarely use otherwise. This baby will do the job and it is custom made by me... 😎
And if that got such criticisms, imagine what this one will get.....
I cut it out of a dull tablesaw blade..... I made it just because.... 😀
I was going to make a plaque that suggested it was for collecting unpaid debts from customers....wife figures this idea isn't funny to customers! 🙁
For those who would like to try metal work as a hobby, Knuckel just showed the single most useful tool you can have.. A grinder! and laying on the table is a zip disk. With a grinding wheel and zip disk you can be slicing and diceing metal,Shaping and smoothing. One of the best tools to become skilled with, and not just for use on small projects, but handy on larger ones
Funny you mentioned it, I've been looking into taking up knife making and basic blacksmithing, buying some basic tools, ordering some 440c steel and renting a shop.
As I live in an apartment, working here is out of the question.
As I live in an apartment, working here is out of the question.
Don't count things too short on the working out of the apartment yet. Do you have an extra slot in the parking lot? How about if you dropped a small trailer on the lawn outside? How far can you extend privileges and still live there? Because a small trailer is then a shop space to play and expand your abilities.
Many who get into knife forging want to blacksmith the old way and that gets expensive to set up properly. But you can test your abilities first with a basic hand grinder and some old files. YouTube has lots on that sort of thing
As I live in an apartment, working here is out of the question.
Don't count things too short on the working out of the apartment yet. Do you have an extra slot in the parking lot? How about if you dropped a small trailer on the lawn outside? How far can you extend privileges and still live there? Because a small trailer is then a shop space to play and expand your abilities.
Many who get into knife forging want to blacksmith the old way and that gets expensive to set up properly. But you can test your abilities first with a basic hand grinder and some old files. YouTube has lots on that sort of thing
I knew I could count on you to chime in. You know what, I just inherited a bunch of tools from a dude who's floor and tiling business collapsed, gave em to me because I gave him a couch to crash on, food, cash, and even fixed up his resume and cover letter. What goes around comes around, and yeah I think I got a solid grinder somewhere on this shelf. Might have to change blades.
I also have a garage out back, now that you mention it. Theirs a trailer in it, but I could totally store the trailer outside. I might have to fight a raccoon for the space though.
I've seen a lot of videos. Only thing I don't have is a furnace for hardening the steel. I think that's an important step, though maybe not available to me right this moment.
If I head out and buy a table vice and a carbide drill bit, maybe some tongs and a hammer, you're right, it's not looking too far off.
Any other suggestions? Bench grinder I should also get.
Bench grinder is nice to have but a belt sander is handy too in that line of work. The Hand grinder can alsready do both if need be. It's overheating that kills the edge though. The forge isn't something you really have to buy as you can build one out of a steel wheel rim or a habachi easily enough. Just using steel like broken leaf springs has plenty of carbon for knives and such too.
Anvils are the hard purchase. To be mobile, find a 85 lb one as their heavy enough to do the job but still light enough to move around. It's the condition of the saddle and anvil that are important.....make sure thier still smooth as the bumps transfer and grinding them isn't a good option unless you really need to. They usually sell for about $1.00 per pound and old ones are best!
Since your in an apartment, the first thing I'd work on though is the mobility. Get set up so you can function like a gypsy if you needed to. Rig the trailer so it does everything you can. Play later! ~ Good Luck~
Seems I got an order from a friend to make him one now too. His conclusion when comparing the two is the same as mine. The balance is so nice now that you really want to throw it at something.... 😆 He is a licensed fishing guide up here and though he doesn't usually lug a hatchet around, he'd carry this one! Seems that's also how I feel about it.... I guess that we'd then have to later reevaluate if it is truly useful once we started to carry it. Kinda like we didn't need that cellphone either until we started carrying one, did we?
(Wait...that was a pathetic excuse to use)! 😕