In my relentless pursuit of quality cutting tools, I came across Helko Werk from Germany. Being of German heritage myself, I really wanted to love this hatchet, but there were some flaws right out of the box. As far as I know, this is the exception not the rule, but I would be remiss if I didn’t fairly review my experience. When I received my hatchet, the grind profile on the bit was out of alignment by nearly a 1/4”, thankfully I have a fabrication shop and I re-profiled the cutting edge right away. For others, this could mean a few hours of work with files and stone. I give some grace to the folks in the forge in Germany, but by the time the American distributer sends it to you, it should be QC’d and ready to use.   Spencer, from the distributer Helko North America, returned my call about the hatchet, and he assured me that they would inspect the products more closely in the future. I can say with confidence that if you, by some remote chance, aren’t happy with your product, Helko North America will make it right! All this being said, once properly tuned, this is a beauty of a hatchet!

Let’s start with the C50 carbon steel head. Once I finished re-profiling the edge, I buffed the head to reveal the oil hardening “Hamon”. I was genuinely impressed with the depth of hardening. This gives you a wear edge with much more service life, potentially lasting generations. At 53Rc, the hardness of the bit is good, making it easy to sharpen and quite resistant to chipping.

This hatchet does not have a hardened poll (back of the axe head), so it’s not advisable to use it to drive hard materials like metal wedges, but tent stakes and typical bushcraft tasks are made easy by the polished flat poll.

The Blade Profile and Edge Geometry are nicely balanced. After running the Pathfinder through its paces at our basecamp, I became more and more impressed. This little hatchet hits the sweet spot between chopping and splitting tasks, throwing nice chips when cutting yet still splitting effectively without getting stuck. Helko also nailed the handle length, allowing this little hatchet to hit well above its weight. Processing firewood for camp was not only made easy, but almost fun with this tool, and fine carving tasks were possible without the handle becoming cumbersome.

Truly, this is the best piece of Hickory i’ve seen on an axe. Most experienced users appreciate how important finish type, grain orientation, and shape are to the effective use of any axe. In this arena, Helko wins big with a linseed oil finish, perfect grain orientation (on my hatchet), and a beauty of a scroll end palm swell. I outfitted my Pathfinder Hatchet with a leather collar to protect from overstrikes and provide a comfy grip for choking up on the hatchet, and Helko also offers a similar product directly. The scroll shape is perfect, allowing a comfortable grip while using the swell and bit to side-split wood.

The sheath is great, if simple. it is made of quality full grain leather, and the riveted bit guard is tough enough to last, as long as you don’t lose it! The roller buckle fastener is a vast improvement over Gransfors Bruks’ button closure, and I mean hands down!

Even though my experience with Helko North America wasn’t great, I still feel confident recommending these superb hatchets for survival, bush crafting, camping, etc. I certainly won’t hesitate to have my Helko Pathfinder strapped to my pack for future adventures, I am supremely confident it will serve me well for the rest of my life. If you are looking for a good alternative to Swedish Steel, check out my link to this hatchet on Amazon.

-Andrew Hautzenroeder