Thread: Tuatahi axe project - small axe / hatchet for hunting, tramping, fishing etc

They aren't 'not finished' - the surface is textured by bead blasting or something like that I think to give it a satin finish. It makes the grind on the blade really stand out, and I think it looks quite good. The material spec and heat treatment will be bloody first class... My work axe is the fully polished finish typical with that model, but it really needs to be repolished and cleaned up as it's really quite stained with crap and rust. Be interesting to see how the satin finish holds up. It is a different class of tool, not expected to chop in as deep but even though it's a smaller head with less material in it the forging and working time and final grind and surface prep would still take near as long as the bigger heads I expect. The changed surface finish is likely a cost saving measure to hold the product to a price point - a good move I'd say.

Design is interesting, with the lower front part of the eye cut away as part of the bearded design I have the query on leverage on the handle haft in the eye. That's the issue I had with the last bearded axe I had that would work itself loose, although I didn't have the interest and knowledge to really work out waht was going on at that stage. It was drop the thing on the heel to knock the head back down and hammer the wedge and steels in a bit tighter until it worked loose next time. I got rid of it in the end, can't recall if I sold it or traded it or what happened. Now I'd probably look closely at the handle and likely there would be a large part of the issue there i.e. a crap low-density chunk of crap where a good solid piece of hickory would have been a totally different beast. But with a lighter weight head that's actually sharp like the 'Trapper' there probably isn't the impact on the eye with the loosening forces...