Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I paid him 50 bucks because he told me what he was studying once a month through a local club and I wanted to give him an incentive besides really wanting a handmade hatchet.

This was what he produced:

Unfortunately, it wasn't uniform on both sides and with the weight:

I can't fault the guy. It was his new hobby and he's a delightful fellow. That was 6 years ago so he's more than likely improved if he has stuck with it.

I still have it though. He put a lot of time and effort into it and the spike was salvaged from a 100+ year old railroad line... a bit of aussie history in my drawer at any rate.