I just ordered a 2.5 lb German Milsurp axe off Sportsmans Guide. I really don't expect much. Their milsurp stuff has often seen better days. I'm buying for the head more than anything. If the handle is serviceable then bonus!

I used a code for free shipping so it was only $21.99 total.

SG Axe

Use this code for free shipping.

BRSH1702

Cool, thanks.

I saw a little lower down the page a Swiss hand hatchet for $18, new, never issued. Tempting....

Edit: $18 for members, $20 for non members.

@batmancw, not to derail this thread but the 22br axe i bought on your advice. Do I really sharpen it to a razor's edge? 20 degree angle?

Looks like I'll be ordering one of these axes too.

I sharpen to about 25 degrees. Work to a burr and then work the burr with finer stones or lighter pressure until it is very small. If you strop, it cannot help but end up shaving sharp. It's actually hard not to end up shaving sharp.



You will crap your pants when you see what it can do compared to the factory edge.

This site hinders me in my goal of not spending money!

Bat, I might need your help on these and that Swiss axe that I bought a few months back.


Thanks for posting!

The axe in OP's post is sold out.

There was some crazy axe/maul rescue tool on Sportsman's Guide that was posted a while back.  Does anyone remember that?  I think it was surplus.  Swiss or German maybe, I can't remember.

I saw a thread on it a day before I posted it. I should have been quicker for you guys!

Mine showed up today!!!!! I was soooo excited! I tore open the packaging with reckless abandon and what did I see? The thickest layer of petrified cosmoline I've ever seen!  LOL!



Then I started looking it over. The handle is actually really nice for how short it is. Good proportions and a nice thickness.

The handle and head are not what I would call "straight"......LOL!


After a lot of looking it's pretty obvious that most of the angle is in the hang, but plenty of it is in the head as well. Too bad it wasn't angled the other way for carving.

I took it apart. It was very easy to get the wedge out.



Then I cut off the part that was bent out by the old wedge. I really didn't want to shorten it at all but it was not a great hang so I had to sacrifice about 3/4". The handle is 14.75" and the over all length is now 16.25" if you include the entire upsweep in the blade.



The interesting part about this head is that the eye is hour glass shaped big time! I got a good fit all around the bottom of the eye, and a really tight fit in the center of the eye, but the top needed a very short fat wedge to fill as much as possible. There was no way to have actual handle all the way to both ends. Because of the short fat wedge that I drove in with a drilling hammer to get it really, really tight, I decided that I was going to use a large wedge. It is ugly and tight as heck.



The edge is very thin. It has the thinnest bit of any working axe I've ever seen. I would guess it's less than 1/8" at least 3/4" back from the very edge. The head is 1 kg or 2.2 lbs. The over all length is 16 1/4" and the over all weight is 2 lbs 10.5 oz. The alignment ended up a bit better but it's still off. The edge is just slightly under 6" wide. That is huge!

This is the weirdest, ugliest axe I've ever held in my hand! Blade alignment to the handle? What is that?

Inspite of that I really love it! It's goofy and fun. I can't wait to use it. I will be a very interesting carving axe. I'm really not even sure what I will use it for. It looks like something you would use to behead criminals in the middle ages. It's going to cut deep. It should limb well. Ill let you all know how it goes once I have the handle finished.

I have a 24" beaver tooth handle coming for this axe. It's just too heavy for one handed use and I didn't want to go too long.

The longer handle will be a huge improvement to making it more useful.

I finally decided to put the German Surplus head on a serious working handle. I bought three 24" Hudson Bay boy's axe handles from Beaver Tooth and they arrived yesterday.

The eye in the head is too big for a boy's axe socket so I had to drop the head down low enough to fill the eye the best I could. This axe is actually quite hard to hang because the inside of the eye is very hour glass shaped. The handle needs to be cut down close to boy's axe size to fit through the center choke point of the eye. This means that the wedge is the only thing filling the top of the eye front to back. The handle is very tight in the center of the eye and at the front of the bottom side of the head. Once I got the head seated far enough to stick out the top a little I didn't have enough material to fill the back/bottom of the eye. The back of the handle is very tight in the choke point so it's not like it will be loose.

This is what I came up with. 23.5" handle, 26" over all, and 2 lb 13 oz.



I know it's ugly but it won't split past the top of the eye.

The back side gap.

I spiked the back to fill the gap.

Interesting thread again with more ideas