Changing Edge on Husqvarna Carpenter's Axe

advice needed

I have been looking for a budget general purpose camp axe and have tried to research a lot of options and people’s experiences with them. I was intrigued by the Husqvarna carpenter’s axe for the price (even though it’s a “carpenter’s axe”). Opinions and experiences with it seem to vary pretty widely, but I figured I’d order one and get my hands on it to see what I thought. They are a budget axe, so from what I understand they are banged out pretty quickly by HB and the variance in head fit and finish varies pretty wildly (similar to their budget Hultafors line). Having said that I was prepared to get a dud, but I got an absolute beauty of a finished axe.

What’s evident whether people have liked or disliked it, and from having it in front of me, is that it’s not really a carpenter’s axe. The basic pattern may be a carpenter’s one and they’ve given it a straight edge, but it’s heavy(for a carpenter’s axe), the bit is a lot thicker than you’d expect and they’ve given it a symmetrical convex grind. It kind of feels like they were trying for a carpenter’s inspired multipurpose axe. All of which got me thinking, if I just changed up the edge geometry a bit by giving it some curve and maybe adjusting the angle on it, it should turn into a pretty solid little axe. Am I crazy to think that doing this would yield a pretty well performing camp axe?

I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can about axes (also been interested in restoring old ones), and from what I know it sounds like it should work, but there might be something I don’t know as to why it wouldn’t, and I have limited use experience to draw on outside of that, so any input would be appreciated.

Thanks

Posted May 5, 2025, 12:34 AM UTC

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