Harbor Freight Fireman's Hatchet Mods?

B

bullet308

Joined
Nov 24, 2000
Messages
19
Hi:

Picked up one of these puppies from HF the other day for $20:

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Marked as being made in Germany, seems to be of good quality overall. The first thing that had to go was the obnoxious printed-on Do Not Remove This Label label and barcode on the handle...now I ask you, what decent axe has a friggin' barcode on it? :-) Am now working on removing the red paint from the end of the handle and the head. If I were a fireman, I would leave it, but I am not, so I wont. :-)

I wonder what sort of canidate this axe would be for some judicious chopping and channeling, as per the (seemingly endless) Trail Hawk mod sticky thread. Hmm...for one thing, it could stand to be put on a diet for some applications, as it is a bit massive to be swinging one-handed very much (the "Fireman's Hatchet" label is a bit of a misnomer in my book...more like the "Fireman's Handy-Axe")

My Gimp-fu is not exactly all-powerful, but I did manage this first draft:

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As-delivered, it may be a fabulous short crash-axe to keep in the trunk of the car, but I see potential to take this in a lot of other directions, and all for Trail Hawk prices or a bit less. :D:thumbup:

So, what do you think? :thumbdn::):thumbup:

Thanks:

>>>BULLET>>>
 
Hey I just stumbled across this thread. I picked up one of those hatchets from harbor freight a while back. below is what it looks like now.




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I checked online and it's not listed..... it's big brother is though. I may stop by HF in town and check. If it's something I really want, they will not have it in stock.
 
Looks good j-woe!

Can't wait to see what you come up with 308, for that price you can't lose (it's cheap entertainment if nothing else, right???)
 
I was wrong, they had some in stock..... I had to look through them to find one that did not have a lot of grinding(?) marks, but I got one that looks rather good. Now to figure out a profile....
 
I am not an expert on steel, but it looks a lot better than China made steel. The wood seems light weight, not sure what type it is, so working an oak handle to fit it might be an option.
 
Mountainwind said:
I am not an expert on steel, but it looks a lot better than China made steel. The wood seems light weight, not sure what type it is, so working an oak handle to fit it might be an option.
Click to expand...

I picked one up yesterday & I agree, it does look better than China made steel. Not quite sure it's up to German made quality either, but it's worth $20 to find out how it performs. I believe the handle is ash, but I'm not positive.
 
My first cuts..... and not the last I think. It's going to take some file work to get the edges and a little more profile work finished, and I must say, this is some hard metal.
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That looks pretty sweet mountainwind. I may have to pick up another one or two and play around with some more shapes. My brother saw mine and now he wants one and for 20 bucks why not?
 
J-woe, looking at yours, I can see how much work went into it. I wanted to remove more metal, but I don't want to lose a lot of weight. It feels pretty good now, so just some touch up work, and I will call it good. Then on to the handle.
 
I guess I'm finished..... I thought about adding some other things, but decided it's made to use, not look at.
I also wanted to remove more metal, but thought it might wind up to light to do any serious cutting.
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