Timber Tuff ATMW-62 Shingle Froe

This froe is made in China, not Germany. There is no surface protectant so it arrived with surface rust on the blade. Due to the poor packaging, the wooden handle is dented and split in places from bouncing against the blade I’d assume. I don’t think it’s worth the cost compared to the other froes available for less.

Overall happy with this product, but there were a couple of things that make it not quite perfect. It's a good froe but there are a couple of quality control issues. As you can see, in the picture, the blade is not square to the handle. Now I will admit that I am not an expert in froe use. Not totally inexperienced and perhaps wrong about it, but in my opinion having the blade out of square seems to effect the performance of the blade digging in and weakens the amount of force when trying to lever off the shakes your cutting. As stated, that is only my opinion and based on my experience with this particular froe. Have had a harder time peeling off the kindling and shakes because the angle the blade is at causes it to spin the log even when being solidly braced. The other issue I had, again just based on this particular froe, is that the edge could have been sharper by a lot. It felt as though it had an adequate edge out of the box, right until I tried using it. Striking it with a solid, medium weight, wooden mallet, the blade was bouncing out of already split pine. It took a lot more force to get it to bite than I would have believed. However, after taking a medium then a fine file to it for about 10 minutes each. Taking my time, and it is a big blade. It went through the pine easily and pulled off an inch wide slab without issue. Not sure if you can see the rust on the blade in the pictures, but if you can that is not the fault of the manufacturer. It did not come to me that way, it is the result of a tornado spawning storm that hit me very quickly and I didn't have time to get it put away properly or quickly enough to keep it from getting wet. Then it sat in my Jeep for a couple of days till the rain quit. Guess that tells us the quality of the steel. However, it's just surface rust and when I get home from the camping trip I am on, a little sandpaper will have it looking pretty again. It does have a hardwood handle and comes with a little screw to keep the head attached. Pretty sure that I will be changing the screw out for something that doesn't feel like it is going to shear off when I'm working with it, but it's holding for now. As to if I'd recommend it? Yes, I'd say that it is a decent product for the price, but expect that you are probably going to have to spend some time on the blade right away and be aware that the attaching screw isn't the highest quality. It does what it is supposed to and other than the issues I've stated feels like a pretty solid tool. I should get quite a few years worth of work from it in my woodworking shop.