Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
Awhile back I tried out an Estwing camping axe, it was an exercise in frustration. The handle requires a "baseball bat" swing, the head bound readily in the wood, and the handle bent while prying out wood chips. The edge was also really soft, filed easily, and had a soft floppy burr. In short, it had about the worst set of properties imaginable for an axe. Its only advantage was that the one piece construction made it very durable. In that respect you have to give it credit, my brother has been using it extensively and the poll has mushroomed from heavy impacts and it is still in one piece.
This weekend I touched up the edge on one for a friend (the twenty six inch model. The edge was also fairly obtuse for a wood cutting axe, but more acute than a lot of tactical knives. The bit was 0.065" thick behind the edge which was ground at 20 (1) degrees per side. The steel was as I remember, soft, very easy to file more so than the Martindale machetes for example. It took a razor edge with no difficultly with a series of waterstones after the edge was set with a file. We then took it out for some use.
Comparing it to the GB Wildlife hatchet, the Estwing had about a 25% increase in penetration (compared the number of hits required to fell a dozen small trees with each), significantly lower than expected given the larger handle. However the Estwing doesn't have the fluid axe swing, and the edge is a lot thicker than the Wildlife hatchet. The handle on the Estwing is also abrasive in heavy swings which tends to limit power in extended use. In addition, with really heavy swings the head tends to bind as the head is hollow ground, and it tends to glance fairly readily unless the angles of attack are higher than optimal which all limit performance.
It was then used to buck up the trees, not because they needed it, as they were only 4-6" thick, but just to examine the chopping performance further. While the penetration was again greater than the Wildlife hatchet, the hatchet was more fluid in the wood and was actually more efficient from a time perspective as well as fatigue. The Estwing however did allow to work closer to the ground without having to either bend far over or kneel down which is nice. The real benefit of the Estwing for tree cutting came when limbing the trees. Due to the metal one piece design, even close ingrowth limbs could be clipped off with no concern about impacts to the handle under the head which can be problematic for wooden grips.
Comparing the two whittling woods, carving, shaping and general utility (food prep and such), the Estwing was completely outclassed. The Wildlife Hatchet was many times over more functional due to the more efficient edge geometry and more managable ergonomics, choking up on the Estwing isn't very functional.
In short, I would readily pick the Wildlife hatchet over the Estwing for general wood working, if the comparison had been between a more comparable GB product like the small forest axe, the work would have been even more lopsided. It also didn't even take into account the greater edge holding of the GB products which would give them a further advantage, plus the harder steel allows for more acute edges at a given durability.
Though I will give the Estwing more credit than previous, while it still is not as fluid as the Gransfors Bruks axes in wood, it isn't as bad as some large knives I have seen like the PAB from Strider, and in that respect I would pick the Estwing over some of the larger knives I have used, though again as noted it is readily outperformed by a decent axe. It really only shines where you need high durability in a beater, something to chop sods, roots, or just stand up to abuse from a novice like heavy pounding on the handle.
-Cliff
This weekend I touched up the edge on one for a friend (the twenty six inch model. The edge was also fairly obtuse for a wood cutting axe, but more acute than a lot of tactical knives. The bit was 0.065" thick behind the edge which was ground at 20 (1) degrees per side. The steel was as I remember, soft, very easy to file more so than the Martindale machetes for example. It took a razor edge with no difficultly with a series of waterstones after the edge was set with a file. We then took it out for some use.
Comparing it to the GB Wildlife hatchet, the Estwing had about a 25% increase in penetration (compared the number of hits required to fell a dozen small trees with each), significantly lower than expected given the larger handle. However the Estwing doesn't have the fluid axe swing, and the edge is a lot thicker than the Wildlife hatchet. The handle on the Estwing is also abrasive in heavy swings which tends to limit power in extended use. In addition, with really heavy swings the head tends to bind as the head is hollow ground, and it tends to glance fairly readily unless the angles of attack are higher than optimal which all limit performance.
It was then used to buck up the trees, not because they needed it, as they were only 4-6" thick, but just to examine the chopping performance further. While the penetration was again greater than the Wildlife hatchet, the hatchet was more fluid in the wood and was actually more efficient from a time perspective as well as fatigue. The Estwing however did allow to work closer to the ground without having to either bend far over or kneel down which is nice. The real benefit of the Estwing for tree cutting came when limbing the trees. Due to the metal one piece design, even close ingrowth limbs could be clipped off with no concern about impacts to the handle under the head which can be problematic for wooden grips.
Comparing the two whittling woods, carving, shaping and general utility (food prep and such), the Estwing was completely outclassed. The Wildlife Hatchet was many times over more functional due to the more efficient edge geometry and more managable ergonomics, choking up on the Estwing isn't very functional.
In short, I would readily pick the Wildlife hatchet over the Estwing for general wood working, if the comparison had been between a more comparable GB product like the small forest axe, the work would have been even more lopsided. It also didn't even take into account the greater edge holding of the GB products which would give them a further advantage, plus the harder steel allows for more acute edges at a given durability.
Though I will give the Estwing more credit than previous, while it still is not as fluid as the Gransfors Bruks axes in wood, it isn't as bad as some large knives I have seen like the PAB from Strider, and in that respect I would pick the Estwing over some of the larger knives I have used, though again as noted it is readily outperformed by a decent axe. It really only shines where you need high durability in a beater, something to chop sods, roots, or just stand up to abuse from a novice like heavy pounding on the handle.
-Cliff
