hatchet

Any of you guys read the book "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen?
It's a cool little book about a kid that survives a plane crash in the wilderness,
basically alone with a hatchet.
Every kids dream or nightmare!
It's a fun quick read,
and you will learn some survival skills as well.

(Now that the kids are reading thick chapter books,
we've had a good selection of literature to choose from!)

hatchet head

You can bet a hatchet has been on our swap meet/garage sale search list.
They are surprisingly tough to find,
and when good examples are $20,
it's hard to justify the need.
Yeah we're a cheap bunch!

hatchet repair kit

We couldn't pass up this deal though,
an old Underhill hatchet head for $1!
My first thought was to weld a 1" pipe as a handle,
but we had the perfect donor.
The kids had named a rubber mallet "Thor's Hammer",
and it had broken a while back.
(most likely from trying to remove that bicycle stem)
Why we kept the broken pieces for so long I can't say.

whittler - wedge and handle

The handle was whittled down to fit the hatchet hole.
Then a metal wedge was whittled down out of some flat bar scrap.
(little metal chunk in pic)

reborn Underhill half hatchet

Within half an hour the hatchet was reborn!

buffed

Maybe not the same style hatchet in the book,
but a hatchets a hatchet right?
Nope.
Axes and Hatchets - Autonopedia
Now I know a hatchet is for one hand and an axe is for two hands.

throwing hatchet

I couldn't resist!
Even though this is a half hatchet designed for roofing -
with the nail puller and hammer end -
man this thing is made to throw!
Probably the short handle and relatively light weight.
No I didn't let the kids try!

After only a couple throws at the shanker block,
our new hatchet was stashed away.
Glad we didn't spend $20!

TP