Spoiler alert! It's worth buying one. You don't have to be afraid to use it. This hatchet is dirtcheap. And it works. Well.

Topics in this video include: grinding, filing, and sharpening of the head; shaping, sanding, and modification of the handle; plastic welding, axe throwing, handle strength testing, and comparison between models. You may also want to pay attention to the ways that I use the hatchet to split, chop, and throw, since I am optimizing its shape for those purposes.

Of course, a person could sit here and tell you every little way they believe it could be better or a person could shut up and do some work with it. Let's be honest: tons of you are buying this thing, because it's what is both available and affordable. And to those of you who do, this video might help you get the most out of this little hand axe.

Remember, mankind suffered a stone age in tool development for hundreds of thousands of years. It was only a few thousand years ago that we learned to use iron at all, and Harbor Freight's "11/4 Lb. Axe with Fiberglass Handle" exceeds every single hand tool crafted by humans up until that advancement. So its steel is good enough for you to chop kindling with, ya prima donna. Or to hike with, and to trust your comfort on, for that matter. You won't break it.

There are still a few pretty wooden hatchets out there that I have my eye on. In the long term, comfort is undoubtedly an asset in tool design. But style is a fool's indulgence, and its pursuit is only a tax paid to the ego. I can do without such insecurity. So in the meantime, I'm going to establish exactly what it is that makes the tool effective before I condemn every other design out there. It also tends to be cheaper to learn what works for yourself, rather than by taking the advice from somebody out there who's selling you something. And for that reason alone, don't listen to anything I've said; my impartiality has already been claimed by the click market. Try your own experiments. At least this is a cheap one! Hope you enjoy the video, and find it useful.

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