Mod 439: Splitting Hatchet (not for pounding wedges)
- It’s 19 inches long total, with about a 2 lb splitting head. Total weight is 3.3 lbs. The handle is the same shape as the Hunter’s ax handle, with the same blood-grooves. The steel collar protects the handle from use-damage, a common thing with splitters: The head can creek forward in the split, and the wood below the head can get beat up. Not with this steel collar, though.
- This is the most efficent easiest splitting hatchet you'll ever use. It is unimprovable.
Gransfors Bruk is a tiny hatchet maker in Sweden, and makes the best ones in the world. They have hickory handles and forged steel heads, and each model is made and signed by a single hatchet-maker.
Don't put it on display in your cabin or man-den, and especially don't be afraid to dull it with use.These ax heads keep their sharpness well, and sharpen easily. We use Lansky Butterfly files to sharpen them, but any $30+ hand-held sharpener will do. Youtube can show you how.
Use, use, use…sharpen…use a lot more, sharpen again.
READ THE AXE BOOK (the tiny brochure it comes with, not the Gransfors book we sell separately)! Good tips in The Axe Book.