Everyone takes an axe/hatchet with them, right ?

[Big Al]

Sister thread...
What are your favorites and why?
I take this Estwing. Full tang, I don't think it's possible to break. I saw one run over by a skid steer with no damage. Mine came with a nice ballistic nylon sheath. My buddy has a really nice hand axe that he bought in a backpacking store for $165. Beautiful piece with wood handle but he's afraid to use it.

 

[sweeper]

I just bought a 25" Gransfor's Scandinavian Forest Axe. I haven't taken it to the field, because I haven't tuned it yet. That and I don't often take one only with larger groups. I like to take a saw and my knives for most trips. There's just not enough work for an Axe or even a Hatchet.

Your next thread

Everyone takes a SAW with them, right ?

 

[Alan Gage]

I've never taken an axe canoetripping. I sometimes take a hatchet for splitting larger pieces of wood. Not very often do I give it a full swing, usually just use it as a baton instead of a knife. It works better for shaving/shaping saplings for tent poles too. But I can, and have, gotten by with just a saw and knife. The hatchet isn't necessary but was small/light enough for me to justify bringing it.

Alan

 

[dougd]

I used to bring a hatchet, never an axe. Now I don't even bother with that. Just find long pieces and burn them in the middle and then feed them in. And I hate using a saw but that has a lot to do with old injuries.

 

[stripperguy]

I do most all of my camping in the Adirondacks where taking anything not down and dead is against regulations. Any fires I have are small and I only use a Kelly kettle for cooking so no need for bigger wood
and no need for an axe

 

[yellowcanoe]

I admit to having a small Forest Axe and reluctant to take it.. Geoff Burke has tried to teach me accuracy.. I don't trust myself.. Saw I am fine with.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Like dougd, Kathleen and I don’t take axe, saw, hatchet, or even a big knife. We used to at first, but gave it up quickly. Small fires. Feed larger pieces in from the middle. Seems easy, with minimal work. No need to pack unnecessary gear.

 

[Canotrouge]

I carry a GB Scandinavian forest axe, not perfect but close, it is light weight, it take an edge really well and the length is just right! I use an axe on every trip I go, I cook only on fire, in a firebox and cook only real food! I never travel by my self, usually with my wife and daughter and sometime more people, but always at least one other partner!! I got in the habit of taking an axe a long time ago and feel naked with out it! I do carry a saw as well!!

The only thing I wish the GB Scandinavian forest ax had is a bit thicker head to make it a more versatile tool, especially for splitting!!

 

[memaquay]

I take an axe. although recently I bought a cute little hatchet that I'm thinking about taking on solo trips.

 

[Robin]

I always have my ax, just something I like to have along. I always like to leave some split wood at a campsite with something stuck inside that lets the next paddler know it was left by an American...pretty easy to do, and it lets my Canadian friends know they have an American friend. Or maybe they consider it litter and it's just another reason to bash us..haha, just kiddin', I be lovin' my friends to the north.
I told this story before. I used to trip with a guy named Mike Hurley, along with his son Kip. We had a lot in common and always had a good trip.He was the author of Hurley's Journal, a quarterly all about canoe tripping and life. He had a nice Snow and Neally Hudson Bay ax that I always admired and at the end of a trip in LaVerendrye he gave it to me, it was a special moment between the 3 of us, I'll never forget that.
So I carry it now every trip, it's very useful when I go canoe camping with my wall tent but also pretty good when I used to solo trip in June/August in Canada. I could probably get along without it but I enjoy having it with me.

 

[Canotrouge]

I take an axe. although recently I bought a cute little hatchet that I'm thinking about taking on solo trips.

"Cute little hatchet to go solo... in my HUGE freighter canoe..."
That is real cute Mem

 

[recped]

I used to think an axe was a mandatory item but after 20 years of carrying one and almost never using it I gave up (mostly). I'm heading out this week for a trip that may well involve very low water and for the first few days will be navigating what is a small but passable creek in high water. Water levels are very low in most places right now so I'm going to take my small hatchet just in case I need to hack my way through the creek section. Slower than expected progress may also mean being forced into very poor camp locations so the hatchet may come in handy for that as well.

Generally speaking I don't do campfires when I solo and even when I'm paddling with others there is so much small deadfall neither a saw or axe is necessary.

 

[deerfly]

That's awesome Robin.

Axe guy here too. We can't fell timber around these parts either, but the seasonal hurricanes add plenty of blow downs to the natural dead fall that good firewood is generally plentiful in most wilderness areas that allow fires. Quality saw scaled to either a knife or an axe is a must too. For me the thing with an axe is I can process twice the wood in half the time vs baton and knife and get on to other things around camp like relaxing, meal prep or spend more time fishing and hunting. Its nothing to pack a 25" axe on a canoe trip either. Backpacking and/or frequent portages then yeah I get it, you have to shave weight. But we don't have any of that sort of thing around here, except maybe the Everglades where you could hop from one camp site to the next, but other than the beach sites you can't have fires anyway. Just bring a sling shot to train the raccoons and a knife to let the air out of a python before it asphyxiates you first...

 

[Guest]

What are your favorites and why?

My “favorite” would be an old Australian made Boys axe that I refurbished, hung and sharpened years ago.

It has come on exactly one trip and wasn’t used much then; after I had done all that work to it I needed to take it along at least once.

I always have a saw. Sometimes a medium sized bow saw, always a folder in my day bag. The folder, currently a Silky Gomboy, lives in the day bag for small strainer and sweeper work, and sees as much action in that guise as in camp use.

I occasionally trip with forester friends whose axe skills far exceed mine. They always bring an axe and saw and I am happy to sit back and watch a pro go at it.

 

[Big Al]

...and I am happy to sit back and watch a pro go at it.

I apply this to any child/teen on my trips!

 

[Robin]

Here's a video by a Snow and Neally Hudson Bay Cruiser Ax fan.

https://youtu.be/gyL5EMiceEA

 

[Canotrouge]

Here's a video by a Snow and Neally Hudson Bay Cruiser Ax fan.

https://youtu.be/gyL5EMiceEA

Sounds and look like a nice axe, I wish I could find an old axe like that in good shape like NOS kind of thing.... But again up here it's pretty much impossible!!

 

[Boreal Birch]

Just like coffee threads, these axe ones are fun to read. Everyone has their own style. I am in the camp of a real axe, with a 28-30 inch handle, because I am tall, I do not need to take a wack out of my shin. Hatchets are in my my opinion just plain dangerous, I have the scars to prove it. I grew up with a axe, even take one on day trips or berry picking adventures. Like Canotrouge I would feel naked without it (at 73, that isn't pretty). I also have a saw like Robin's, a birch bark handled puukko on my belt and a water proof match case, that I always take with me. I may be old school, but as a old timer once told me, "It is a wise woodsman that knows what is biting him."

 

[Uncle Mur]

I also like my full tang Estwing, I have a nice Fiskars splitter hatchet that works fabulous, but I'm finding that Camillus Bush knife packs nicely on my pack and does a hatchet job when needed

 

[RickR]

We normally carry an axe and saw. Just makes firewood put up so quick and easy. We like a fire for both supper and breakfast. A nice campfire is a big part of our camping experience.