Broke my Fiskars hand axe today

C

collim1

Joined
Aug 14, 2014
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Snow On the ground and needed some dry wood. I was splitting some small logs when the handle broke. I am very disappointed as I have had this little hatchet for years and take it everywhere.

I haven't looked yet but am hoping Fiskars has a lifetime warranty on the handle.
 
Not really sure. It was cold and I was in a hurry. I was batoning the back of the axe through a small piece of wood when it broke completely in two about an inch down from the axe head. I had not noticed any damage to the handle prior to this.

I am going to contact Fiskars when I get home, they requested pictures and a form be sent and I don't have the signal strength out here to do all that at that moment.
 
this is the situation where you should have been using an Estwing.......the Estwings also have better steel than Fiskars.
 
L4NE4 said:
Really? All normal axe duties call for an Estwing?
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No, that is not what i said. Go back and read it again......if the elements are frozen you can use an Estwing so that you don't break your other axe that either has a fiberglass or wooden handle.
 
Bo T said:
Any idea what the temperature was?
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Slightly above freezing, maybe 34-36 degrees at the moment I broke the handle. Was in the twenties overnight all week and snowing, warmed up a little during the day but not enough to melt much snow.

When I get home I am going to get in contact with Fiskars and see if they are willing to replace it.

Their warranty is a lifetime guarantee against manufacturer's defects so that is open to interpretation.

I don't think batoning a hand axe through wrist diameter wood is considered misuse or outside of it's intended use.

I'll update after I have heard back from them.
 
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One of the Fiskars that I looked at was supposed to have a handle stronger than steel! Different materials have different temperatures where they become brittle, but a tool handle should not become brittle until it was well below freezing. Do you have a picture?
 
I will be on the road almost all day today. I resisted the urge to throw the broken axe in the river and am bringing it home with me. I have to take a picture of it for Fiskars so I'll post that picture tonight.

If I have to buy another one I will I have had this axe for almost ten years and have really become attached to it. If I have to buy another one I am considering getting the full size axe and then picking up a BK9 to use for light chopping and batoning and having a more capable axe for bigger tasks.

Although the size and light weight if this little hatchet is the reason I always have it with me. Decisions decisions.
 
Bo T said:
Well, you might of just wore it out.
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Its possible, but the entire reason for spending 2x more on this hatchet is because it was advertised as having a handle that would last the life of the axe.

Here are the pictures, they are crappy cell phone pictures, but they should give you an idea of what happened.


 
Filed my claim with Fiskars today. Was very easy, just had to provide a picture of the hatchet and the approximate date that I bought I bought it. I have my fingers crossed that they take care of it.
 
collim1 said:
I resisted the urge to throw the broken axe in the river and am bringing it home with me.....

.....I have had this axe for almost ten years and have really become attached to it.
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Maybe it's time you bought an axe that can be re-hafted.
 
I have that exact same hatchet. It's my usual choice for backpacking. I gotta ask just to clarify though; when you say you were batoning with it, were you striking the head or the handle?
 
I appreciate your sharing this and I am interested to hear how Fiskars handles this. I have two of the fiskars hatchets- one has been beaten without mercy on back of head by mallets and a 2lb short sledge----used for squaring notches in timbers and posts, a chisel on a stick. I have been impressed by how well it handles this rough use.

I would not treat my vintage heads this way ;) Poor little Fisky gets the brunt of abuse.

Bill
 
Alocksly said:
I have that exact same hatchet. It's my usual choice for backpacking. I gotta ask just to clarify though; when you say you were batoning with it, were you striking the head or the handle?
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Striking the head with another stick just enough to get it started then picking log and hatchet up a few inches and giving it a rap onto a rock. The wood was small and splitting very easily so I wasn't putting much force at all on each strike.

Sort of a modified freezing my butt off why the hell did I go hunting today batoning technique.

I got a confirmation email stating they received my claim and will email me their decision in the next 12 days.
 
Problem with your 'baby' is it cannot be repaired in the field nor at home. And if 'lifetime warranty' (if there is such a Fiskars thing) requires a sales receipt (which very few people keep) so then this mishap merely becomes prime time to buy a new one. No one fixes anything anymore!
Manufacturers have become increasingly cunning in their promotion of synthetics and Fiskars is a good example. One; the haft stuff can then be of consistent quality and cheaply sourced, and Two; it avoids having to figure out how to train minimum-wage unskilled workers on how not to sully the reputation of the company since it is very easy to make a mess of a wood-handled implement.
100 years ago the forged steel head of an axe was likely 90% of the value of a finished product whereas today the situation is probably reversed; heads are automated machine-made from pennies-to-the-pound offshore scrap and assembly to hafts are the big obstacle to being able to lo-ball survive/compete in the marketplace.
 
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