Saddle Hatchets

[~SteadyGirl~]

What are other people using for saddle hatchets? I want one that has a handle longer than a hatchet and shorter than an axe. I need to start packing one and I think my horse will appreciate the even load to offset the rifle.

[blacktail]

try an Estwing axe with a 16 inch handle or go to canadiam tire and geet their equivelent
They are a one piece of metal with a cushioned handle and swing really nice

I have used one for quartering up everything from blacktail deer to bears to moose and have it strapped to my frame pack
easy ti swing and fairly light

[kutenay]

I had an Estwing, very hard on the hands when chopping, even through a measly 12" Birch. I had the CT replacement, gave it away as the heads chip and it also is hard to chop with.

What I HAVE found ideal and will fit your needs perfectly, is the Weddlinger longhandled hatchets made in Sweden and sold in most gunstores here now. These are handforged, Swedish steel and WILL take an edge and CUT like a razor, I have two sizes plus my large Oxhead swamping 36"-3lb. axe, ,made in Germany and these do it all.

The Weddlingers are not expensive and I think you would be totally satisfied with one.

[DLM]

I like my ox head. 2 and 1/2 lbs 27" handle and you can actually do some choping with it, not so good for splitting. not to bad to pack on a backpack. Short handle hatchet scare the hell out of me, too close to the knee if you screw up a swing.

[horshur]

steady,I liked Kute suggestion I will only add that many of the scabbards don't lend well to the saddle.....get a good scabbard for it made up and it will always be there were it should have been all along......

[~SteadyGirl~]

I've always liked sweeds I'm ending up with one of each Estwing and Weddlinger. It might take a week to get the scabbards done. Brians Saddle shop has this cool Mulie leather stamp I like
Its a miracle every time the horses and I make it out of the driveway and back isn't it horshur

[horshur]

Originally Posted by ~SteadyGirl~

I've always liked sweeds I'm ending up with one of each Estwing and Weddlinger. It might take a week to get the scabbards done. Brians Saddle shop has this cool Mulie leather stamp I like
Its a miracle every time the horses and I make it out of the driveway and back isn't it horshur

weddlinger is better for spiking back on a shoe....estwing head and skinny handle don't choke up well when your trying to straighten up srung heel on a rock....better than nothing almost I guess. Best if the sheaths leave the back of the head open so you can still drive a spike or shape a shoe without worrying about corking yourself....
Are still riding that kooteney warmblood?

[horshur]

Originally Posted by ~SteadyGirl~

Its a miracle every time the horses and I make it out of the driveway and back isn't it horshur

not sure what your gettin at with that...thought about it some still don't.

just in case It would seem prudent of me to suggest that an average day equals nearly ten head worked on.....sometime all shod. Bout 40 a week give or take on 8 week rotation.......95% owned and operated by women...
If you are infering a lack of respect for women riders you are mistaken...

[~SteadyGirl~]

Nope, rarely does gender cross my mind unless I'm hunting or defending myself on hbc I actually felt like a bit of a heel with the 'where it should have been all along'.. Sometimes I feel bad for my horses for all the things I don't know that I'm slowly learning as I go, so I thought you might feel bad for them a bit too

That warmblood was too much for me with where my skills are at,.. I passed him off to a better trainer before I made a hard job impossible One of the wildest creatures I've been around in a long time!

[horshur]

Originally Posted by ~SteadyGirl~

Nope, rarely does gender cross my mind unless I'm hunting or defending myself on hbc I actually felt like a bit of a heel with the 'where it should have been all along'.. Sometimes I feel bad for my horses for all the things I don't know that I'm slowly learning as I go, so I thought you might feel bad for them a bit too

That warmblood was too much for me with where my skills are at,.. I passed him off to a better trainer before I made a hard job impossible One of the wildest creatures I've been around in a long time!

steady we don't call them dumbbloods for nothing..........

.wait till you loose a shoe 20 miles in....road founder it trying to get him out....don't ask me how I know.
Hell mostly I'm envious.....been a few years since I've backed a horse.

Most of the ladies spoil there horses to a fault...Horses have a good life.

they were put here for are benifit to teach us...nothing we ask them they cannot already do at liberty....

"the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man/ women"

count your blessings.

[kutenay]

If, you use the poll or back surface of the head of an axe with a wooden handle for pounding anything, you WILL open the "eye" and subsequently the handle will never stay tight. Many then submerge the whole axe in water, an amateur's method of further f****g things up.

For HORSE use, alone, I WOULD consider the Estwing and tightly wrap the helve (handle) from the end of the blue plastic wrapper to an inch below the head with ordinary vinyl electrician's tape....helps cut down the vibrations if chopping through a 14" EK down and dry Dougy Fir....NOT FUN!

You can also buy a 24" Swede saw by Sandvik to carry, weighs nothing, has a knuckle protector and cuts like Thor's magic axe, "Mjollnir".

I know jack about horses, but, a little bit about the bush and cutting wood, after growing up in Nelson in the '50s and early '60s, in a large, uninsulated house heated by two wood heaters. My first Lookout in '67 at Fernie was wood heat and cooking as well, nothing like a "sheepherder" stove cooking your dinner when it is 95* and the "hazard" is "Extreme".....sweats a little lard off!!!

[horshur]

If'n you are worried about stretching the eye.....best buy a cheaper axe.

the single most reason why handles loosen is because of humidity in the wood at the time of setting in the head..... the axe should have a tapered eye however so in that it is narrower near the handle thus providing a means to form a wedgeing effect....the hardwood wedge is hammered in and set with a small steel barbed wedge.
Even if loose it should not fly off if the tapered eye is taken into consideration.

obviously I value utility over anything else..........function before fashion or your.....

[horshur]

here is a small hand axe that I make out of a 3 pound ball pien....cut the pein to leave a head for pounding ten pegs or driving a nail....it has a fair wedge to it and can out split the estwing by our comparisons..and it will hold a edge well enough field dress a moose or two and even skin a cougar.



and the 1200 pound anvil and estwing axe.......