Repairing damage on small forrest axe?

[tyuio]

This weekend I taught myself a valuable lesson on not using a cold axe on cold wood (didn't think it was that cold but axe was outside in gear box all night temps 40f guessing). While chopping up some small logs (4-6"dia) I noticed a piece missing from the heel end of the edge. I don't know if i hit a spike, knot or just bad luck. Is it worth grinding to repair or just leave it as it is? If I try to grind it what shape should I try to acheive? It worked fine the rest of the morning, just not sure if i should attempt repair. If I was to make it seem as if no damage was done, there will be a lot of grinding in my future. Would cutting the basic shape with a saw be easier and then forming with a file work better ? Any input would be great, thanks.

edited to add, it's a GB small forrest axe about 3-4 years old, gets a little use on camping trips half dozen times a year.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

To keep the origional profiles you would have to cut the edge back to the start of the bevel and then regrind the primary hollow to compensate for the thickening. This is about an hour with a small angle grinder. You could also just live with the loss of bit width and grind off the heel completely. The easiest solution would be to convert it to a trade axe pattern :

Note how the heel of the bit sweeps in under the toe. That break by the way was a defect, I would contact Granfors. If you hit something hard like a spike you would see a lot of impaction around the break, plus you would most likely hear and see it. Though steels do get brittle when cold, axes are commonly used in the winter and steel conducts heat very well and thus it will reach the temperature of the enviroment very quickly.

-Cliff

 

[JWBirch]

If that happened to me, I'd either contact Gransfors like Clif suggested, or I'd just grab a file and sharpen the broken portion as best as possible. Or better yet, contact Gransfors, and see if they'll let you do the work, to see if you will satisfied with the performance after filing, with the option of returning it for an exchange if it doesn't meet your standards after working out the kink.

But like Clif said, it may be a defect. It may be a defect in forging, or in heat treat, but either way, it could happen again if that wasn't the only line of defect. The people at Gransfors will know best how to approach the problem.

 

[tyuio]

Just an update. Contacted GB USA and they said they would like to have the axe head back so they can send it to sweden to see what happened. Contacted them by email and got quick responce, he said warranty is 20 years on the axe head so send it in and we'll send another one right out to you. Thought about trying to grind it myself, but at this point I think i'll just send it back since they seem so good about replacing it. Thanks for the input guys, strangely enough, I hadn't really considered asking about a warranty.

 

[Watchful]

40F is not that cold of a temperature to cause a crack like that. And I think if you hit something, you'd have known immediately. I'd suspect a problem with the axe.

By all means, send it back for investigation!

And I wouldn't recommend using a grinder on an axe unless you're confident with what you're doing--otherwise, I'd suggest a file and a lot of patience.

 

[Loosearrow]

I would agree 40 degress is not that big of a deal as far as being too cold. I have read that during the winter old timers that used an axe alot would stick them under armpits to warm them up prior to use. A double bit would be a plus in this case if a damaged axe chip made it unusable. Loosearrow

 

[Alberta Ed]

I've used axes down to -45 and never had a head crack or chip from the cold. The Snow & Nealley Hudson's Bay is my favorite ax pattern.

 

[richard j]

this is an old thread guys. look at the last date posted.

 

[Bushman5]

40F is not that cold of a temperature to cause a crack like that. And I think if you hit something, you'd have known immediately. I'd suspect a problem with the axe.

By all means, send it back for investigation!

And I wouldn't recommend using a grinder on an axe unless you're confident with what you're doing--otherwise, I'd suggest a file and a lot of patience.

agreed. I have axe felled trees in - 30 Celsius winters with a double bit. Never a chip or nick.

 

[Macchina]

HA HA! This thread is so old, some archaeologist is probably digging it up right now and wondering how it was chipped. "Such rudimentary tools were common back in the year 2006"