711, 911, Wildlife Axe or Large Hunting Axe?

[Jeru]

I only have two fixed blades yet:

- a Bark River Gunny 3V Antique Ivory Micarta Red Liners Rampless with a 3.775" blade;

- a ESEE-5P with a 5.35" blade.

I will be adding a stainless Fällkniven S1 to the collection but first I am in the market for something bigger.

I am doubting between the following:

- Survive! Knives GSO-6 or GSO 7/7 with excellent CMP 3V (7.5% Chromium) DLC or PVD coated blades and all come with excellent Kiahdex Kydex sheath but unfortunately all sold out and I have no clue when they will be available again.

- SYKCO 711 with a 7.375" SR101 blade, comes without a sheath which sucks and makes it automatically a lot more expensive, but the 711 goes exceptionally well with a awesome Long Spec Ops Combat Master Sheath which costs around 65 USD including shipping; the 711 itself costs 180 USD but SYKCO charges a ridiculous 55 USD for international shipping to Europe; so total costs will make 300 USD excluding 21% import taxes/customs.

- SYCKO 911 with a 9.5" SR101 blade, no sheath, 200 USD + 55 USD shipping + custom sheath, excluding 21% import taxes/customs, so ridiculous expensive but my favorite and a awesome addition to my Gunny

- Wetterlings Wildlife Axe, 33cm/13" locally available for 54.50 EUR including shipping (around 75 USD on this moment)

- Wetterlings Large Hunting Axe, 50cm/19.7" locally available for 59.90 EUR including shipping (around 80 USD on this moment)

Backpacking, camping and survival: what would you recommend?

 

[forester226]

I think the answer to the question will change from person to person on their experience and preference.

For me, I prefer smaller knives and feel that wood processing etc is best done with an axe or at least a hatchet as opposed to a larger knife.

I have a Gransfors Brucks Small Forest Axe that is similar to the Wetterlings Wildlife Axe, just a bit bigger, and it's ideal to pair with a smaller knife. The knives I use atm are Fallkniven NL5 Idun, F1, S1, BR Gunny and ESEE-4 and any of these are great to pair with the axe to cover all bases. I feel that the axe is more useful for chopping and splitting than a larger knife and then when it comes to smaller tasks around a campsite a smaller blade is more useful and easier to carry on your belt than a larger heavier knife.