Barry the Bear
Member
Fellas, I decided i needed a new hatchet for my hikes and camps. When I was 16 I worked at a local grocer here in town and with my 1st paycheck I bought a coldsteel trailhawk. The head was loose and it took me about 20 min on a lansky puck to get it anywhere near sharp.
I see alot of people are a fan of the trail hawk but I myself have no idea what they see. The only advantage to it over traditional small axes is the lightweight, but the blade length is not sufficient to really hack into anything medium or heavy, for small saplings it works ok. Now over a long time it started getting rusty as the original finish started getting flaked, so I put rustoleum on it and for added gripping on the hand I wrapped the handle in electrical tape.
As I have been going on more hikes and camps where a more "meaty" head so I did some searching and research on the net. Alot of people love the swedish hatchets and axes like Gransfors anf Hultforks Bruks, and although I love the looks of them theyre bit outta my price range.... at least for a hatchet. So i started looking at vintage American pieces and eventually decided on a plumb hatchet that had been restored and polished, it came razor sharp and with a simple but well formed head sheath. Here are some pics alongside the trail hawk. Also pictured is a condor hudson bay knife.
I see alot of people are a fan of the trail hawk but I myself have no idea what they see. The only advantage to it over traditional small axes is the lightweight, but the blade length is not sufficient to really hack into anything medium or heavy, for small saplings it works ok. Now over a long time it started getting rusty as the original finish started getting flaked, so I put rustoleum on it and for added gripping on the hand I wrapped the handle in electrical tape.
As I have been going on more hikes and camps where a more "meaty" head so I did some searching and research on the net. Alot of people love the swedish hatchets and axes like Gransfors anf Hultforks Bruks, and although I love the looks of them theyre bit outta my price range.... at least for a hatchet. So i started looking at vintage American pieces and eventually decided on a plumb hatchet that had been restored and polished, it came razor sharp and with a simple but well formed head sheath. Here are some pics alongside the trail hawk. Also pictured is a condor hudson bay knife.