C.H.F. An Article on User Error and Safety Stupidity

Today in the News:  I know Kung-Fu. He's a nice guy.


Link of the Day:  http://www.bushcraftnetwork.com/



C.H.F. An Article on User Error

If I had a nickel for all of my failures, I'd be rich enough to succeed.

I broke out the old Snow and Nealley Hudson Bay the other day.  I had some limbing to do and figured it would be a good time to test it out. 

I took after a tree that had blown down a few months earlier.  As pictured in an earlier post, I cut a notch out of the tree.  On the left was my new HB, on the right, my old HB.  As you can see, it did well.

Here are the limb stubs that I lopped off.  I was very pleased.  It was a nice, clean cut.

Then it happened.  The head went flying off of the haft.

C.H.F. stands for Catastrophic Haft Failure.

I get pretty creative with my rants now that I no longer swear.  I think it started of with a "son-of-a-diseased-camel" and ended with a "Judas Priest in America".  I was upset.

The haft didn't fit as well as I wanted.  There was some space around where the head rides on the shoulder.  I thought it would be fine.  It was not.  Beyond that, I got too excited and used the axe before I fixed the metal wedge.  I thought that the big, fat wooden wedge would be enough for testing purposes.  I won't do that again. 

The bottom line is, I could have hurt myself or others with my lack of regard for safety.  That is never okay.  I should have taken bmatt's advice.  If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.

On a side note, I returned to the same hardware store where I bought the now-failed haft.  They had a 19"  hatchet handle with decent grain.  Expect updates soon.

Pax Domini Sit Semper Vobiscum,

Mike, Oscar, Hotel.....out.