Hatchet blade chipping? What the?

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TripleF
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Hatchet blade chipping? What the?

Post by TripleF »

I've had this old cast iron looking hatchet for a while now......been listed on ebay with not takers.
I decided to use it the other night. I took a few wacks to make some kindling and the edge began chipping off... ::shrug::
I was using wood, not concrete as my base.

I made maybe a dozen wacks and this.....
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Quick Steel
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Re: Hatchet blade chipping? What the?

Post by Quick Steel »

Scott, I notice in the enlarged view of the first photo, there appears to be rust all along the big chips. Within the chips. So I would conclude that rust had developed below the surface. Granted that is a guess. But perhaps someone will come along who has some real knowledge of metallurgy.
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Re: Hatchet blade chipping? What the?

Post by muskrat man »

low quality cast head. cast metal is always more brittle no matter the composition.
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orvet
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Re: Hatchet blade chipping? What the?

Post by orvet »

I had something like that happen years ago, I borrowed a double bit are from my grandad to use cutting some small fir trees we were falling for fire wood.
I used the axe to chop off some dry limbs about the diameter of a pencil. I had chips about the size of the diameter of a pencil out of the edges.

I bought my grandad a new axe and kept his old one.
I filed the chips out of the edges (both sides chipped) and have used that axe for the last 40 years with never another chip. ::shrug::
I don't know if somehow the edges had work-hardened or just what had happened, but it has never chipped again.
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