The Canadian Tire brand axe: any good?

Crayola

Crayola

Joined
Sep 23, 1999
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I was at Canadian Tire yesterday and was looking at their brand of axes. They have a small axe the size that good 'ol Mors Kochanski advocates. 2.5 pound axe and all! Does anyone know if this brand is o.k.? The price was $26 and I bet I could grab oen on a sale sometime soon. I would liek to get one to play with. You know, grind down the handle even more on my belt sander, make it all shiny and improve the geometry (I'd be asking LOTS of questiosn about that!) and so on. But I'd rather just wait for a SFA than waste bucks on a crappy axe.

Thanks!
 
With the current edge configuration, you basically have a utility axe, one which is good mainly for splitting small wood, and general hacking and pounding. However if you are willing to do a lot of grinding, you can make a very nice wood craftaxe out of it as the basic raw material is there. My main problem, which is the same basic concern I would have for any low grade product, is that are you willing to spend the time and effort to shape it into a very decent product only to find that the steel and/or heat treatment is problematic. I would not be pleased if for example, a large piece of the bit broke away during chopping after spending hours reprofiling it. This is one of the reasons I really don't advocate low quality gear like Tramontina and Ontario. While you can get good pieces, it is very frustrating when you don't. I would much rather make a solid bet on a decent product. Then again, if you just want to learn about axe geometry, then by all means it will allow you to do just that.

-Cliff
 
Thanks Cliff.

There isn't much of a choice here for axes. That is understandable, I guess. There's not a whole lot of trees on the bald prairie around here :)

The only other axe I found in a "Kochanski size" was an axe called a boys axe at Totem building supplies. But I think the Mastercraft one had a larger head and a bit thicker of a handle.

I'll give the axe grinding thing some thought. I remember reading on Jimbo's site that he learned lots from his $5 hatchet. And since you and Jimbo have had experience grinding down axes, I bet any question I could think of could be answered here! The main thing holding me back is that, well, I don't have much use for an axe! I need some trees around here...

Anyways, thanks!
 
Try Lee Valley. I dont know if theres one in The Windy City, but there is one in Calgary, they also have a mail order. There Gransford axes are exceptionaly good in my opinion, thow they are a little expencive.
 
Lee valley is awesome! I just received a Ryoba say from them that is a gift for my father.

They do carry a bunch of the GB axes. Unfortunately, they have to special order in a Small Forrest Axe, which is the one I'd want! And the wait would be measured in months, not days.

Since I am new to axes, $90 for an axe sounds cheap to me actually! I mean, I carry a folder that cost $100 US, so an axe which si WAY bigger and kicks ass for $90 sounds good to me. But if I can make a $26 axe work well, then maybe I'll adjust my sensibilities accordingly! :)

My Lee Valley catalogs get ruined from excess flippage as fast as my knife magazines do.
 
Ct have amazed me by selling axes even worse than the one I got and commented on - on the webpages. There is a difference and now the axes are stamped "Made in India". They seem barely worth the $10 on sale price.
The steel in mine actually seems OK - but you'd go through a lot of belts grinding it down and even be quite a while with an angle grinder.
I made up a 1 1/4lb Hults hatchet into a short axe by fitting with a 19" handle and it works fine. The steel is soft though compared to a GB. The hatchet cost $23 as I recall and I fitted an $11 handle. So that route isn't totally cheap - for what you end up with and for the work involved.
Have a look here:
http://www.esupplyshop.com/search_advanced.htm

and type in 10105 for 24" 1 3/4lb Iltis narrow flare ($58CAN)
or 10060 for Sandvik of same measurements. ($34 Can)

My feeling is that if you are able to get someone to select the Iltis or Sandvik that they send you, for vertical grain and head alignment - and then do a bunch of grinding - that you'd have an axe that would be very good.
 
Thanks for your info Jimbo.

I have put any axe ideas on hold for the moment. I am busy putting a ahdnle ona Mora, making some kitchen knives, some magic knot knives (see my avatar!) and I have a couple of other projects to start on soon. Maybe after that I'll be ready to play with axes :)

By the way, Moras kick butt!
 
Moras are important too! I was on a trip down channel here to go look at totem poles and petroglyphs - at the last minute I decided to take a Mora instead of one of the real survival knives I have. I've come to trust those cheap Mora knives!
Actually the Wildlife hatchet did all the work of splitting wood and getting fires going... but the Mora was well used and admired by everyone.
I have to get out and collect some birch bark for a traditional handle for a stainless Frost blade. You use it in rings much like leather washers.
 
Jimbo:

I bought Bo Bergman's knife making book. I read it a hundred times when it was at our local library, and I decided to treat myself. He has some awesome ideas in that book.

I've got the workings of a rectangular hole cut into a piece of brass that will be the front piece of a largely purpleheart handle for my Mora project. I'm trying to think fo what I can do to cut down on wieght, as this Purpleheart weighs a ton! I wanted to use purpleheart for the sheath body as well, but I may choose a different wood alltogether now to get the weight down. No point in making a Mora if it ends up weighing as much as a khukuri!
 
Bo's book is neat - I have it.
I started off making handles with nice 1/8" brass - I'm losing that idea... Same for heavy wood..
 
Th Canadian Tire axes that I've seen in the store lately look pretty lousy to me. The ones that I've seen are made in the USA, which sounds good to me, as opposed to made in Taiwan, or China, or India, etc. But, the shape on the heads is terrible, with a rather thick, crude profile to them, as well as a rough, coarse, thick edge. My Hults Bruk 1 kg. axe has a far better, more refined shape and grind to it than the CT product. I have an older CT Mastercraft axe with a pretty nice shape to it, similar to my HB axe. But the current CT made-in-USA axes are a pretty lame product, in my amateur, non-expert, infrequent-axe-user opinion. I also have another Swedish axe, brand unknown, and two Estwing hatchets, the small one (14 oz. head) and the medium one (24 oz. head). I like Estwing. A good product, and good value for the money. Granfors Bruk is more than I would spend right now.


Coincidentally, I was earlier today looking at the weekly CT flyer, and on sale this week are the CT brand, Estwing-copy (maybe made by Estwing?), one-piece axes and hatchets, at 1/2 price. These, IIRC, look like a pretty decent product.
 
I went to Canadian Tire yesterday to look at the axes again. Thanks to Jimbo's site, I learned to look at axe hande grain patterns and I went through half a dozen axes.

I checked out the Estwing copy as well. I had fun doing that, as an Estwing was right there beside it, so I could compare them side by side. The copy has a thicker head than the Estwing, and the metal on the handle near the head was non-ridged. The Estwings have that ridge on them.

Unfortunately, the only quality axes here are some Itis ones, but they are WAY too big for what I want to play around with right now. I don't really need a large fellign axe, or a double bitted axe either! At least I have gotten to see what a quality axe should look like.

Something will come along.... it must.... :)
 
I was thinking of picking up one of those Estwing copies at half price to test out - but they're sad. It's a pity - CT used to have sales on the real Estwings before they started seling copies. The small Estwing still says 4lb total weight on the small axe version though. My 36" handled Iltis heavy head is 4lb 3oz and that's a real falling axe.
 
When I saw the flier this week, I thought that it was the Estwings that were on sale. But when I went to C and hafter comparing th ehalf price copy to the Estwing, I thought that even at ahlf price the copy wasn't worth it.

I am still waiting for the Mors Kochanski Special CT brand axe to go on sale. I want to pic one up and do some grinding.
 
Estwing doesn't make axes, but rather bats with axe heads. Without a proper axe handle you can not get the power nor control of a solid swing, and are force to go baseball bat style. This reduces cut depth, lowers precision and accuracy, and increases fatigue and shock transmission. The metal handle is also not nearly as stiff as a quality wooden one, and transmits vibration much more readily. The steel is also very soft and goes blunt quite easily. The main head profile also induces wedging very strongly, and the edge will need major reshaping work. I have a large one, and have used smaller ones in the past. They are good "beaters", for inepserienced users, and for very rough work like cutting sods and roots, not something I would use for serious wood work.

-Cliff
 
Interesting comments on the Estwing axe, especially the part about the handle. Now that it's been pointed out to me, I can see that the handle on the Estwing axe would be inferior to a good wood handle in terms of shape, ergonomics, and stiffness. I hadn't thought of that, but it makes alot of sense. So, forget about the axe.

But, I still like my Estwing hatchets, especially the smallest one. The edge on that one is different, thinner, than the edge on the larger hatchets and the axe. For a while now I've been thinking of thinning the edge out on my medium Estwing hatchet to be more like the thinner edge of the small hatchet.
 
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