Recommendations for a good axe ?

I was thinking of getting a sledge hammer to retire about five or six old hard drives. Seems like the butt end of an axe would work just as well and I'd have the added use of a long handled axe for emergencies (I don't go camping much). Any suggestions for a reasonable and sturdy axe ?

ohh boy!! :lolsign:



Ever try harddrive in an oven?

If you have sensitive information on those disks I would rather wanna melt them down. The disk inside a hard drive seems to be very sturdy!
I dont think a axe will crush that disk, if someone really wanted that information they probably could even after a chopping with an axe

Nothing sensitive except the usual identity information. I figure one or two good wacks would raise the price of information retrieval beyond the budget of the typical dumpster diver. Plus while I don't have much use for a sledge hammer, a good axe is useful.

why not just wipe it with a program first....theres one called file shredder thats free...

i would think a microwave woudl clean it better.

of course you can always axe it THEN microwave whats left...

Crenshaw

I have a Gerber Camp axe that is what I would consider good quality. However it lacks the heft to do the proper damage you seek. A generic no name axe would have the heft to rend the drive asunder with the back side. It won't have as keen an edge as the Gerber however. BFH is the way to go here or if you have access to an acetylene torch or high speed friction band saw you can have as much therapeutic fun cutting it in half as you desire. I use the friction saw at work to retire old drives. I also slice dead keyboards in half because for some reason the dumpster divers at work think a keyboard I tossed in the dumpster must have been a mistake. I have tossed the same keyboard at least three times before I got smart and destroyed it. At least they mean well.

Everytime I read this title, my eyes play trick on me. Instead of reading it as "axe", I read it as another 3 letter word which has "e" and "x" in it.

Am I the only??

- Vikas

Hopefully :devil:

One or two passes with a program that writes random data to the entire disk will make the cost of data retrieval well beyond the price where it's worthwhile. IIRC, five or six passes with such a program pretty much makes the data irretrievable even to experts. The average person who might find a hard drive in a dumpster will typically give up if there's no partitions or file system.

Why not keep the disks if you're so worried about anything on them falling into the wrong hands? It's not like six hard disks takes up a huge amount of space. And you can probably use them for back-ups unless they're ridiculously small. I honestly can't think of a good reason I would throw a hard disk away. Even if it can't store data any more, the motor and platters are good for something. They're nicely machined hunks of metal perhaps worth making wind chimes out of perhaps.

I actually do want an axe. Been seeing a lot of nice camp axes on some knife websites. Short handled, light weight for packpackers. Nice stuff, but I want a heavy, long handled one for emergencies.

Smacking those stupid old hard drives you've had around for years ? Just an added benefit :devil:

There is a company in New Hampshire (I think) that still kmakes a PROPER axe...

I imagine that is along the lines of what you want.

Sorry, no brand name for you...

Why not just Google axe?

Get a smaller Fiskars.

Sounds like you'll barely use it, no need to get anything special. Just get one at Lowe's, Home Depot, or Harbor Freight. You could get an axe head at a garage sale or antique shop and add your own handle for a pittance, but you do need to know what you're doing for the joint to last. Depending on your desired usage, you might look into a splitting maul instead of an axe.

:buddies:

I think your objective of smashing and/or decimating means you really want a splitting maul rather than a pure axe, maybe? Here's one from Stihl. (Page with hatchet, axes, maul, etc. though no double-sided axe, which is I bet what J!m is calling a proper axe.)

An axe has nearly nothing backside, just enough for some heft/balance and to wrap the handle. I suppose it would still easily do in a drive platter though.

Get thee to a specialty store if you want a nice one. Just look up a local small power equipment dealer. They'd sell a good quality axe, or a maul, whichever you want.

Happy decimating!

I like to take apart harddrives and remove the platters just to play with. There's really no use for them but the platters are just so shinny and perfect. There's also the magnets inside aswell, those suckers are freakishly strong. I put one on my fridge and literally almost couldn't get it off. I had to pry it off with a knife. If all you want to do is destry it, i'm reasonably confident that a normal claw hammer would be enough.

most any hammer will smash hard drive platters to fragments. when you truly want to destroy any reasonable chance of data recovery. cheapest/best way to disassemble, then smash disc platter.

data recovery is a function of how $$ someone wants to throw at it.

now onwards to topic of which axe... along with chainsaws, I really like axes. racing axes aside, state of the art for axes occurred long ago.

slew of antique axes available. made considerably better than most new axes. if you want the best, choices are boutique axe makers from Sweden, Germany etc. Or one can find an early 1900's American axe by makers like True Temper, Plumb, Keen Kutter, etc. a good axe was an essential tool of any early American farm.

Fiskar makes Gerber axes. either are an excellent low cost choice for a nice axe.

here's a pic of a Keen Kutter axe head found on ebay. re-handled with a nice hickory handle. aprox. $35 invested in this beauty. a new axe of equal quality from a boutique tool maker would be closer to $150+. http://www.fine-tools.com/grans.htm

Ah.... now we're talking. Sounds like one of those 6 lb mauls would be better both for ending old hard drives and taking out stuck doors.

That www.fine-tools.com/grans.htm website looks pretty sweet too.

Thanks guys. :thumbsup:

I don't have any specific recommendations for an axe, but before destroying them take out those magnets. They're surprisingly strong, and are really fun to play with.

Because I'm crazy and I happen to like nearly anything specialty that's crafted with care I looked it up. You can buy the Gransfors Bruks equipment in the states from the Gransfors U.S. homepage. Click on the link for the store.