Big knives vs hatchets

Shorttime

Shorttime

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Oct 16, 2011
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The debate about packing a big knife instead of a hatchet, or the other way around, is an old argument that I'm not here to start up, especially since there's always some troublemaker who shows up and starts talking about machetes.

What I want to know is very simple: are there jobs a big knife can do that a hatchet can't, and are there jobs a hatchet can do (aside of chopping) that a big knife is just not acceptable for?

That's it.
 
What works for me might not necessarily work for you ... try them both out for yourself and make your own assessment.
 
In my experience and for my style of usage there are situations in which one will pull well ahead of the other. A quick example of each: Light, springy, or stuff that isn't very well anchored is better done with a knife of some sort. Ideally a billhook, but a machete of some type [goloks, parangs, all that included] will do. In fact I use a big ole butcher knife with a great deal of success for that as well. In short; anything quick, thin and accurate that avoids flailing hatchet syndrome. Better insight can be found by studying professional bodgers [green wood workers at work], or thatchers for that matter, and noting when they stop with one tool and switch to another. The opposite way round is winter amongst soft wood. Here I find the hatchet superb. When all the available wood is rotten and spongy on the outside and covered in moss because it so wet it can take some real pounding power to get down to the good wood in the middle. Doing that with a knife can feel like running in deep sand. A light thin knife just doesn't have the clout. A big thick knife just binds and drags through the rotten layers making it a real PIA. Brute power is the only solution and for that any kind of knife is obviously a dopey and inefficient design compared to an ax shaped object so the hatchet owns this.
 
If my goal is being prepared for the unexpected, it sounds like I should carry both, at least in the trunk, and strap on whichever one seems most appropriate when I get there.
 
Not something I do because I can usually make a fair prediction of what I'm likely to need, but if I wanted to cover a broad spectrum in a vehicle I'd have a billhook, ax, bow saw, hacksaw, shovel and rake head.
 
My go-to Ontario machete has a 12" blade. I guess that kind of blurs the line btwn big knife and machete.Still a hell of a chopper. Out-chopped my CS Trailmaster and Becker Brute in a very fair review/comparison.I use an old Estwing hatchet for splitting small firewood though.--KV
 
Yes a knife can do things a hatchet can't. I recently started carrying a 7.5 inch bladed knife over a hatchet because I found I wasn't doing much chopping beyond limbing finger sized branches, somthing the knife does well. So what I needed was a splitter/pryer. There's gonna be someone who posts you shouldn't use a knife for those things but it's a silly argument IMO. I bought a knife designed with those tasks in mind plus I carry more then one knife so that argument doesn't really hold water. Last camping trip we brought some firewood with us and the knife just plain splits wood faster and safer then a hatchet. It just does. Also, when we left we had left over wood which I stacked out of the way for future use. I wanted to protect it from rain so I went to this downed tree nearby and stripped long, thick sections of bark off and covered the wood pile with shingles. Took all of 10minutes. The trade off with a big knife is that it doesn't chop as well as a similar weight hatchet and with a hatchet you can choke up which gives you better control then a big knife allows for smaller cutting chores IMO. However, again that doesn't matter since I carry more then one cutting tool.
 
Well, While camping I have split wood AND spread peanut butter & jelly on a sandwich with the same knife. Not sure I'd be able to get my hatchet in the peanut butter jar. :)
 
C Bryant said:
Well, While camping I have split wood AND spread peanut butter & jelly on a sandwich with the same knife. Not sure I'd be able to get my hatchet in the peanut butter jar. :)
Click to expand...

This quote settles it once and for all.:D
 
Take a look at the Condor Pack Golok. I just picked one up and I believe it will do most jobs that a hatchet (versus axe) will do as well or better. Any if you try hard, you could probably spread you peanut butter with it. Make sure it is a wide mouth jar however. :)
 
I dont really see a need for a hatchet in my area. I am a "big knife" kind of guy, but lately i seem to be grabbing a 3-5" blade along with a Bahco folding saw. I havent met a situation yet i couldnt get through with that combo. :)
 
I carry a big blade over a hatchet. I can do a lot more with it, including chopping while a hatchet is limited only being a chopper and a hammer.
 
I am one who prefers a big blade as well. I can do more with the big blade than I can do with a hatchet. Though it is really all down to what your own preferences are.
 
Yep, preference, time, skill, wood types and work being done. There is a tool for everything.
 
C Bryant said:
Well, While camping I have split wood AND spread peanut butter & jelly on a sandwich with the same knife. Not sure I'd be able to get my hatchet in the peanut butter jar. :)
Click to expand...

It's refreshing not to hear to a "they're both great" "whatever works for you" "take both" "whatever knife you have on you is a survival knife" "Just get a sebenza" type of answer. :D
 
It is all relative to your situation and skill level. I can think of occasions when I "got by" with a large knife, though it wasn't the ideal tool. Same with a hawk/hatchet. On a few treks, I "made due" with a hawk when the task really call for a knife. So as "get a sebenza-esque" as it may sound, it really IS about "what works best for you".:)
 
Hatchet
-Chops very well and can split wood very easily (Especially with the 'flick' technique)
-Can be used as a hammer
-Can make fuzzies easily and can be used for finer work too (I started to shape a wooden pipe I am making for fun with a shingling hammer I just re-handled)
-Can be sharpened with a stone if you have nothing else
-Can be used to skin and process game (Seen it happen and my neighbor loves to do this)

Big Knife
-Chops
-Can be used to split (but a baton is needed)
-Can be used as a draw knife
-Can still process game (but blade length may make this a wee bit more difficult)
-Finer work like fuzzies can be achieved...
-May be suitable for vegetation cutting
-Can use spine or the edge for scraping


Really.....It is just what you are more comfortable with, where you are planning on using said tool, the situation, etc... I have never had too much experience with big knives so I am in love with my axes and hatchets (which may discredit my opinion regarding this subject). I hope that my input may help a little bit, but this is all that I could come up with.

Take care!
 
For me it's big knife or a heavy machete that wins hands down. For anything that a hatchet can do better, I don't want one. I want a proper axe. The reason is simple; IMO a hatchet is the most dangerous non-power woods tool I can think of. You are swinging a short sharp bladed object of which the balance point is not in line with your arm. Too much potential for mishap. If I had to use a hatchet it would be a double bit one that IMO I can more easily control.
 
If I had to make a lot of pegs, then drive them in to fairly hard ground.... I'm likely to pick a hatchet over a knife. Although I have to say that my military golok is heavy enough to drive pegs and I wouldn't mind hammering with the side of the blade. However, I could cut a decent baton club with my big sheath knife, then use the baton to help cut the pegs then drive them.

Safety is a big thing for me too. I've used tools a lot (I'm a metalworking tradesman) and I'm fairly well co-ordinated, but I am aware that great care is needed to make sure that the hatchet hits the target every time. It is relatively easy to miss and have a scary 'swing by' experience. Like Marcelo said, a full length axe is safer. I've fitted longer handles to hatchet heads, and I like the result. Maybe you could consider this too. You can get a decent swing going using both hands, and the overall weight isn't too bad for carrying long distances. And I've figured out that when I'm splitting firewood on a chopping block with a long-handled axe, if I keep my hands lower than the head of the axe throughout the swing, then I am more likely to be safe if the axe misses or glances off the wood.

For close-range chopping I think a big knife is safer because you have the length of blade and generally you are aiming to hit the wood or whatever with the 'sweet spot' of the blade which may be somewhere near the middle..... so unlike a hatchet with a blade that is only about 3.5 inches long, you have a blade which might be 7 inches long and less likely to miss. Plus a knife doesn't have the weight of the hatchet head at its tip, so even if you do miss the swing is more controllable. You have to be careful though.

And for chopping light scrub and small branches, a knife seems to work better than a hatchet (for me anyway). It has a thinner blade which aids penetration, and it can be swung fairly fast.

If I had to carry just one tool (which is seldom the case), I'd like to have a pointy cutting tool. One that can be used to bore holes, carve nicely, and get pushed into an animal should the need arise. A wild hog can be finished off with a hatchet, but I think I'd do it with greater confidence, finesse and efficiency using a pointed knife.

One thing I find myself using a knife for quite often is digging out splinters. A hatchet isn't so good for surgery like this.

I find that a knife is much nicer to carry.

If I had to choose between a knife and a hatchet in very cold wilderness conditions, I guess I'd pick a hatchet to ensure that I could cut branches for shelter and get a fire going. But a long-handled axe would be better.

You might not want to consider a machete, but I have found my 10" Tramontina to be very useful indeed. I ground the end of it to make it more of a pointy tool:
TramontinaPolySheath-3.jpg


Here is one of my re-handle jobs using a cheap (but very good) hatchet head. It is a nice project to hack and whittle a strong handle from a tough branch then carefully fit it to the head. It may be a good idea to file the hatchet eye to even it up and to remove lumps and sharp edges. Old heads can be found cheap at garage sales etc. The handle shown here isn't as long as I would like for some tasks, but it is longer than usual.
RehandledHatchet.jpg


A khukuri like this is a very good chopper and a stabby blade.... if you can get used to the handle not being parallel to the blade (something which I found to be difficult to adapt to). I don't own a khukuri currently. I still like them, but they were always a bit difficult to carry. I'm sure there are many folks who would pick a khukuri as their 'one tool'.
BSIandKanuka.jpg


My golok is the knife at the top of the picture with the string around the handle. This was great on the trap line for chopping work and clubbing the possums that I caught. But it didn't fulfil my need to have a pointy blade. Plus it is fairly heavy and cumbersome. I keep it under the seat of my vehicle now. It is a handy chopping, levering, and hammering tool.
Khukuri3.jpg


We generally have the luxury of choosing from a variety of tools. Our ancestors had to improvise with cruder implements like this small hand-axe that was found at a site that is well known as a place where whales have become beached over the years.
HandAxe2.jpg


So... in conclusion.... circumstances differ. Right now if I had to pick one tool for general purpose help in the wilderness it would be a pointy knife of a reasonable size.
 
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Well bud as funny as this may sound.... When I read the first post what flashed through my mind, and surprised me, was...Condor Hudson Bay. The little bugger can slice, batton, chop, whatever. To each their own right ? I have enough outdoor cutting tools, more than enough actually, that I can pick according to location\environment. But please consider this...................... I am a hard core metal detectorist that bush whacks isolated spots for fur trade relics. And most sites from the late 1700's to early 1800's in northern Canada give up trade axes, tree felling sized but more often belt axes, fixed blade knives in the 6-9 inch range tending toward the shorter end of the scale, and folding knives with a blade about 3-4 inches long. This, along with muskets, is what allowed the fur traders survive and thrive in the virgin wilderness. So basicly they packed a gun, axe, fixed blade and sometimes a folder all as standard equipment. Likely not every man carried every item, but this varied array was fairly common.
 
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