1844 Helko Werk Germany Förster Professional Heavy Felling Axe (10460)

Really happy with this ax. Does an excellent job,

Nice perfectly weighted axe..great for splitting firewood

Best axe for under $150

Nice heavy axe. The fit of the head is not that great. There is a gap between the head and handle. Wonder how long before it loosens. Helkos’ website says this model is discontinued so could this be one from the B grade pile. The angle of the head looks a little off to me as if it’s angled down some. It’s not a $600 axe ($145) but I have a $40 harbor freight axe with a much better fitting head. It did come with enough of an edge to split wood but by no means was it sharp. I did sharpen it and also scraped all the paint off and put boiled linseed oil on the handle (just my preference). I only split enough wood to burn in a garage wood stove so I didn’t need the best of the best. Time will tell if it holds up.

The axe I received had a handle so brittle that it exploded after a few swings. There was not an overstrike or anything which should have compromised the handle. It looks nice and I wanted to use it but something is not right with these. You'd be better off buying an axe for a third of the price from a local hardware store.

It does need to be sharpened it is my first ever axe I bought and I sort of expected it to be sharp so I took it out and hacked at a tree thinking it was sharp, my dad later told me dude that thing isn't even sharpened so I bought the helko file and sharpened it and haven't used it just yet but it cuts paper quite well.