Can a big blade replace a hatchet/axe?

Just to bring back up a subject no one cares about, but what about the lean to fire? I've always found it pretty easy to get a fire going using that method.
 
Here’s today’s big blade. Not much of a chopper, but she’s great to have around for utility work. Some tennis grip finished off with electrical tape really improves the grip.

DPiPsTK.jpg
 
Depends. A big felling axe is a big felling axe. But a hatchet can be replaced with a good chopper, like a Parang or something similarly big, thick and heavy. Otherwise make sure your big knife can be batoned really well.
 
I knew this fella one time, took a Cold Steel ATC Kukri out camping with him for gathering firewood and such.

Legend has it that he found this downed alder in the riverbed, stepped up to about a 3-4 inch thru section of it and took a mighty swing.

As the story was related to me, the Kukri went straight through the alder, continued downward in an arc, hit this poor chap's shin and laid it open to the bone through his pantleg.

I limped out of there to a buddy's house where he patched me... I mean, "the guy"... up with a surplus suture kit.

I'm not saying there ain't knives out there that won't "process" wood... there are, and there are plenty.

But I've taken the hatchet every time since I (ooops, since that guy) had that experience.

I gave that LTC to the buddy I was camping with at the time. He had it stolen from him a couple years later. I told him I'd buy him another some day.

But that day hasn't come. You see the price on that dang thing? Sheesh.... you'd think it was made of pressure treated 2X6 or something. :eek:
 
There is a certainly a overlap in design and application, but a knife and an axe are different tools for different tasks.
 
The closest I've ever come to "survival" tool use was when I was too stupid to make fire BEFORE I was getting borderline or early stage hypothermic. I've been to some very remote spots and basically joined blade forums years ago to hang with knife phreaks, and to learn some survival skills. I love to whack wood with a big chopper knife. It turns my crank to whack my way through an old over grown fur trade trail. But I have screwed up and scared myself a few times back in the day, that being outside is no longer a joke or a lark. Now I ALWAYS plan for the worst and hope for the best. Cold or cool weather means an axe or hatchet. I found that it takes me longer to make fire in cold weather and that time was not always on my side. Axes or hatchets get things done way faster than a knife. I remember trying to hack a tree on a blistering winter day in the north, and all I did was roll the edge of my Becker Brute. ..... Back to the OP's question of a big chopper or 4-5 inch knife and axe or hatchet ? Definitely the last pair. You can get a really nice inexpensive hatchet from a Husqvarna dealership. Probably one of the few still great deals out there.
 
No.
I don't see myself splitting as much wood with a knife as I do with an axe
But I won't prep a breakfast with my axe
why choosing?
 
To speak to the OP... and the thread title...

As the OP says, yes, it can "stand in for"

as the thread title says, no, it cannot "replace".
 
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