Marble's Double Bit

digitalrebelttu · Jul 4, 2007

Well, I got bit by the whole Nessmuk thing, so I had the urge to buy a double bit axe. I wanted forever for SMKW to get the MArble's double bit in and I finally got it. It is made in Taiwan but I actually like it a lot more than I thought I would. It did not come particularly sharp but I took it out in the backyard and smacked on a dead Mulberry limb (about 6 in diameter) for a little while and the little axe actually was halfway through in no time. I think it will be fun to play with.

Does anyone else have any experience with it?

mog555 · Jul 5, 2007

I have a Marbles #9 it was one of the ones done by the custom shoppe so US made, and I love the thing. My standard around camp hatchet, I've even been packing it backcountry camping instead of my Gerber. So while I have no experience with the double, the blade geometry Marbles used works just dandy.

tholiver · Jul 5, 2007

I've always been attracted to double bit hatchets/axes. Those marbles look nice.

I've got an old no-name 3 1/2 pound double bitted head poked in a closet somewhere. The steel was ok but the handle/attachment was not. After about three whacks at a stump the head started to wobble. The wood portion of the handle in the head was painted a nice red, camoflaging its grossly undersized nature. Really the head was mostly attached to the head via epoxy!

I may have to pick up a marbles like yours sometime. Right now I usually use my Fiskars or Weterling hatchets because 50% of the time my hatchet is just used as a hammer to drive in tent pegs.
How flat is the side of your marbles? (that sounds kinda strange, lol)
Could you use it to hammer in tent pegs?

digitalrebelttu · Jul 5, 2007

tholiver said:
I may have to pick up a marbles like yours sometime. Right now I usually use my Fiskars or Weterling hatchets because 50% of the time my hatchet is just used as a hammer to drive in tent pegs.

How flat is the side of your marbles? (that sounds kinda strange, lol)
Could you use it to hammer in tent pegs?

Looks pretty flat, I'll go out in the backyard and pound a few stakes in with it tonight or tomorrow and let you know.

mog555 · Jul 6, 2007

That is exactly why I stuck with the single bit. I also on tougher knotty splitting like to be able to use a branch to hammer the head through like a maul.

digitalrebelttu · Jul 6, 2007

digitalrebelttu said:
Looks pretty flat, I'll go out in the backyard and pound a few stakes in with it tonight or tomorrow and let you know.

Ok, I went out and used the Marble's, a Gerber axe (the one with the saw in the handle), a rubber mallet (cheapy that all camp stores sell), and my ancient ballpeen hammer that was my grandfathers. My stake was an MSR Ground Hog. I started with my ballpeen and it works as great as usual (that is what I normally carry for pounding in stakes). Next up was the rubber mallet, works good but I think that it is too heavy to carry- advantage is that it doesn't make a lot of noise on the metal stakes, if stealth is an issue. Next was the Gerber, which surprisingly sucked bad- I had a very difficult time getting the small hammer area to actually hit the stake. I didn't have high hopes for the Marble's but it worked well, although the stake went in crooked and I dinged up the side of my new axe, damn you! Anyway, it would probably work in a pinch but I'm sticking to my hammer- much faster.

I'll have to go out and try my Cold Steel 'hawks.

tholiver · Jul 6, 2007

Yeah the Gerber head is not quite flat. I filed the head on my Backpaxe a little to flatten it, that helped a bit (no pun intended, lol!)
Well its good to know the Marbles can hammer,that helps, i'll probably get one soon.
D *mn sorry dude hope your Marbles isn't scratched up too bad. Can you maybe buff/polish it out?

digitalrebelttu · Jul 6, 2007

tholiver said:
Yeah the Gerber head is not quite flat. I filed the head on my Backpaxe a little to flatten it, that helped a bit (no pun intended, lol!)
Well its good to know the Marbles can hammer,that helps, i'll probably get one soon.
D *mn sorry dude hope your Marbles isn't scratched up too bad. Can you maybe buff/polish it out?

No worries, it buffed out with a paper towel, so it isn't bad. I had fun playing with it, but it wouldn't be my first choice to pound in a bunch of stakes, although it would probably work ok if you were roughing it and making your own stakes. It is a fairly cheap item to play with- ok for getting the Nessmuk feel without going broke.

crossada · Jul 7, 2007

are you sure the flat of the axe is hardened? you wouldn't want to really screw up your new axe and deform the eye.

digitalrebelttu · Jul 8, 2007

witchhunter said:
are you sure the flat of the axe is hardened? you wouldn't want to really screw up your new axe and deform the eye.

That is a very good point- I should have thought of that before. It doesn't seem to have any problems other than a couple of scratches.

littleknife · Jul 8, 2007

Some failures occur suddenly after repeated and accumulating stresses.
I won't use a poll-less hawk or double bit axe for pounding, unless in last resort. Rocks or wooden mauls shaped by the axe/hawk are good enough for pounding.