Axe Review: True Temper Dynamic

Every so often I come across something where I'm surprised by both how uncommon it is, and by function. Like when I found a perineum glosser at a local antique store, or a pair of 32-waist pants in my closet.

And, now, I'm surprised by how rarely (I don't think ever, honestly) I've come across someone throwing one of these beauts.

Now, many of you have no reason to know, but earlier this month was my birthday. And while there were no parties, there was a chance for me to just buy something I wanted for myself. You know. A little treat for not dying in the past year.

So I popped onto the ol' ebay to look at...well I don't wanna say uncommon hatchet heads, but just to see what's out there I haven't seen, or haven't thrown with.

And this lil' cutie came up.

A kind of brutalist form of the half hatchet. I'd looked at the "Tommy" version in this dynamic line, but couldn't find one that was particularly cheap or winsome. Instead, I laid down a cool 40 bucks to get this fellow.

Last week, I managed to get a handle on it, shape that handle for my badger paws, and violin! It's a hatchet. For about...I dunno...50 bucks total plus awkward, I'm-a-writer effort, I came out with a very comfortable little hatchet.

It's not fancy, but it does the job very well.

I'm not one to really be accurate enough that a tiny bitted axe is gonna help me stay in the bull. Coverage over accuracy is typically how I win the day. But I'll tell you what: there is just something about this little guy that feels wonderful to throw. I do feel like I'm not suffering too terribly much for the smaller bit size - or to be more accurate: I am getting the benefits of a more compact axe. I'll evidence this by saying that I hit 6/12 clutches last night using just this fella. Compared to last week week, where my clutch hits were....oh. Well okay they were 8/12.

Well that one kinda didn't prove out in the pudding, did it? Anyway, it doesn't feel like I'm really losing too much, I guess, by using this axe for clutches (something I'm doing only b/c of Urban Swiss. I'll likely still use my Hoops axe for clutches in the future). And as far as bulls go, well I mean, the thing is so bitty that getting a premier doesn't seem particularly tricky, most throws.

Overall, it's got the right shape for toe stuff. You know what I mean.

The shape of the head lends itself to sitting kinda proud on a handle (where the blade is angled up rather than down or straight on). I may have emphasized it a bit when handling the thing, but for whatever reason, it wants to toe in based on shape alone. For a Premier hatchet, this is a very delightful design feature, overall.

I find with my distance figured out, the axe does the majority of the work in regard to landing well. Plus, with that square honk of metal in the back, it drives itself well, meaning a light throw isn't a death sentence, despite the light overall weight.

Light and thin, but with an anchor.

At a weight of 1.5 for the head and something like 1 lb 13 oz for the entire hatchet, it's light. It's easy to whip around. It makes me feel slimmer just by holding it.

There's something to be said for that "flint edge" too. The blade is hella, hella thin. But, it comes out to a proud sort of shape (imagine an apple seed, that sorta shape). This means it's happy to bite into the wood, but won't go very deep without some force behind your throw.

I'd be willing to guess that having that sort of grip-and-stop-traveling feature may be nice in softer boards. On the Meadery boards, it can result in some pretty spectacular flat-land-drops when going clutch. I did in fact drop one (which is rare for me) and I'm trying to blame it on something, so give me this. I haven't decided if I'm gonna thin it out more or let it ride. I'll make that decision when I throw this weekend, I suppose.

The half-hatchet without the half-hearted looks.

Anyway, I know people kinda think of half hatchets as a starter hatchet. Some of the big names in the axe throwing world swear by them. For my part, I was always kinda hesitant because they are, you know, boring to me, looks wise. But the True Temper Flint Edge Dynamic is...like...it's like a retro-futurism hatchet head. It's like a Pink Floyd hatchet. It's cool lookin' and it throws nice (for me) and I'm excited about it. And I think other people might be excited about it, too. C'mon, guys. The last time we really got into an old axe head it was Plumb Nationals, and I feel like we're over that now and I wanna start another unrealistic obsession with a 50-year old axe. C'mon. I'm beggin' you.