Backpacking "survival" axe

mako20ft said:
I wanted to mention I followed the link in your signature. Nice stuff, solid prices and the option to have blade edges attended to for short money prior to being shipped is brilliant. I've quietly been a fan of Condor Knives for a very long time and outside of the factory edges, have no complaints. The idea that can been made right before I even see the knife... Let's just say Baryonyx made my short list of favorites in the old drop down menu
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Not to derail the thread, but thanks! I do my best. :)
 
Square_peg said:
That thing is a joke.
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We do have to keep in mind that many/most apocalypse-wannabe-survivors are young, have soft hands and have never slept overnight away from a couch or a computer screen and are pumped by the miraculous things you supposedly can do with a $300 gizmo that Bare Grillz or some other media BS celebrity (that probably lodge in 5 star hotels every night) promote. Fool-proof and disposable Bic lighters came out in the early/mid-70s and instantly made obsolete striking flints, wax-coated matches and all the other labour-intensive/unreliable junk that preceded them and yet the new age survival genre 'clowns' keep plugging the archaic stuff.
I spent a truly miserable night lost in the woods after an autumn snowfall 20 years ago (without proper clothing, no GPS, no cellphone and no go-forever LED bulbs (ie back in the 'Maglite' unreliable-light-bulb era) and was immensely thankful for having squirrelled-away two Bic lighters in my pack. No flint or 'survival' sparkler would have ignited damp birch bark or pine needles or anything else (damp TP included) that night and the second Bic was a saving grace at 3 in the morning to replace the first one when it sputtered out of fuel. There is an old American Express jingle; "never leave home without it" and tucking a few 'flick my Bic's' and some dry paper in every sack and pocket when well away from home is worth much more than anything else, knives/axes/guns/survival knickknacks included.
 
I hear you. I keep 2 bic lighters in my pack when I'm hiking. And a small tinder box filled with fat wood. Simplest way to guarantee that any local fuel will be brought to flames.
 
I've been a fan of the mini- bics for years. I scatter them throughout my gear; some in my pack, some in my pockets etc. Back in my Boy Scout days I did all the fire-by-friction stuff (bow drill, mag rod, etc.) and the overall lesson that I took from that was that it was a pain in the butt even under ideal, dry conditions and you did not want to have to depend on it if you could at all avoid it. In fact, while I'll use the bic to start a planned campfire, the emergency oh-shit-it-looks-like-I'll-be-out-here-all-night fire starters I carry are three cut-off road flares with five minutes of burn each. You chop one third off a fifteen minute flare and seal the end with wax. I'll keep carrying those until I work out a reliable pocket carry thermite formula.

The pocket saws are a novelty. I've seen videos of guys building a bucksaw out of branches and paracord to hold the chain but although it works a little better the huge kerf necessitated by having a blade made of riveted links still make for a lot of work for a little cutting.
 
Alocksly said:
The pocket saws are a novelty. I've seen videos of guys building a bucksaw out of branches and paracord to hold the chain but although it works a little better the huge kerf necessitated by having a blade made of riveted links still make for a lot of work for a little cutting.
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For awhile I did carry a novel device for sawing; a thin braided cable 16-24 inches long with carbide, industrial diamond or some such 'teeth' embedded in the line. All you had to do was rock it back and forth in a tension sawing motion with the loop ends in each hand. This thing weighed next to nothing and coiled up in a bag roughly the size of a cigarette pack. I never really used it much because it clogged quickly but knowing you did have the wherewithal to be able to saw through occasional branches and deer/moose/caribou bones was not a bad thing. Nobody wants to hike 10 miles through the bush with half the contents of a hardware store on their back!
 
Saw- On may full size SAK in pocket
Felco folder in pack
Fire- boat matches in pocket
Bic and 1/3 of a road flare in pack.

That said, I live in a temperate enough climate that even in Winter, a debris cave would get me through the night as long as I could stay dry. Virginia is seldom extreme enough to kill by exposure if you stay dry.

Bill
 
A dime store folding saw will make that cut quicker and easier. Fat kerf = inefficient. Clumsy garbage. I'm glad your friend is enamored with it. But people can be enamored by strange things.
 
rodriguez7 said:
I would say, just spend the money, and buy you a well made tomahawk. I carry a winkler combat axe on my hunts, and when im out in the mountains. It will process wood as well as any other axe, yet its dam near unbreakable. Better steel, and awesome heat treat. To me its about the ultimate survival tool. I even down graded the size of knife I carry now. The other one I carry a lot, especially when im on my horse, because of the weight is my rmj jenny wren, it chops dam well for its size, good enough for general camp chores. Oh, and never use a fiskars to chop an elk leg, it'll chip the hell out of the blade, to soft of steel. I got some slight edge damage on both the rmj and winkler from some elk legs, but not bad. No chips, or tear outs, just some rolls, and dents. Awesome tools.
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You have excellent taste, sir. I too am a big fan of both Winkler and RMJ but I have to say my TAD edition Jenny Wren has left all my other axes (Winklers & other RMJs) on R&R in the gear box. It's a perfect size for all day carry and she is a beast of a tool.
If you can get past the price, you'll never (need) buy to buy another axe.
 
Is anyone using a hammer hatchet/framing hatchet or the like as a camping device? It seems like it might be effective, especially with the real hammering poll for around-the-camp use. I'm just concerned about the chopping performance of the blade as most of them are fairly square.
 
I'm using a claw hatchet for camping and it is an all-around great performer.

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BrandonEDC said:
Hello. I have a 6 inch knife and am looking to add an Axe to the equation for my 3 day adventures. The purpose will be to make firewood and shelters. Also if a large knife would be better I have friends telling me to use a large knife but I fell having a medium knife and an small Axe will be a better pare. Any advise. I also cary a small folding hand saw. Just feeling a new team mate.
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one of my favorites for 3 days to 2 week trips is the fine forester. Depending on where you are and what season, you may need something bigger, although, I rarely ever go smaller since I like my knees.
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A large half-hatchet with a long (~20") handle and a narrow bevel is a nice pack tool. Not too heavy, and it can do most anything you need.
 
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