Carrying an axe on camping trips: Is it essential?

golok

golok

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Oct 20, 2000
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I know it is almost standard practice to carry at least one knife in an outdoor adventure, but what about an axe?

Not much is said about the usefulness of an axe (preferably short-handled ones) for trips like these?

Is an axe an essential part of camping equipment? Besides chopping firewood, or little trees, what are the more specific uses for an axe on a camping trip?
 
golok, the way you put the question in a camping senario then with modern camping equipment you don't need an axe at all. Large expeditions may carry them but then they will take all sorts of additional equipment. However, if you are trying to practice traditional woodland living, which has many survival connotations, then an axe is indespensible.

Basically an axe is a tool to turn natural wood resources into building and fuel material. The decision to carry one is all to do with your needs for these. My answer is rather simplistic, but others might want to add some practical applications.
 
I don't think an axe is a must, but I do enjoy using a small hatchet. I even take my little Gransfors MBH on local day hikes. I enjoy using either a large knife or hatchet, so I allow for the extra weight on my pack as well. Plus, that's what I want to have in case there's an emergency. I think it's just a matter of your own preference.
 
A small axe or hatchet can be indispensable tools for making / setting up camp, as well as a myriad of other chores. Some of the tasks mine have been called upon to do:

make tent stakes,
drive tent stakes,
drive nails,
crush ice,
limb pesky branches / twigs,
aid in skinning large game,
chop frozen meats,
chop holes in ice to get water or fish,
split wood for tinder and kindling, to name a few.

I've relied heavily upon a heavy Snow & Nealley hudson Bay Kindling axe and a Vermont American USGI hatchet for years. Recently, I acquired a Gransfors Bruks mini hatchet, which can do all of the above and is a pleasure to pack or tote at 12oz.

Mike
 
If I'm going into high altitude, wet or cold conditions, I take a small hatchet or a big knife. Especially if it is with dayhiking equipment but at times I'll take one backpacking too.

At times they can be very indispensable.

My favorite is the Granfors Bruks Mini Hatchet too.
 
HI all,

I have been well served by the following:

18" Ontario Mil-spec machete
small saw like those by Gerber (very aggressive edge fast-cutting)
'Old' Style KA-BAR (7" blade)
S.A.K. Soldier slip joint
multi-tool
stone\file

Not much I can't do with the above. I usually don't chop down trees though :). I find the machete more usefull than either a small hatchet or an axe for my needs.

If I was going to go true 'wilderness style' camping I would probably substitue a Woodsmans Pal for the Machete and KA-Bar and carry a quality folder like my Benchmade AFCK instead. This would lessen the weight factor without sacrificing anything.

All depends on how primitive you want to go, and whether you will be 'living off the land'. Of course you would need a good skinner in that case. Fire building\tending becomes an issue also. Most times I use a propane stove so the fire would be just for the kids or for an emergency if necessary.

Most camping around where I am you could go with just a S.A.K.

Mongrel
 
Not much I can add to the above. If I'm car camping, rafting or horse packing, then I always bring one because weight isn't all that critical. For backpacking, the specific conditions determine whether I'll go with a machete, large knife, khukuri, and/or axe. I'm too much of a fatboy to haul everything!
 
food, water and warm gear are the most important, along with navigation tools.

For some Camping trips sure a hatchet would be nice- but most of the time its illegal to chop anything (at least around here).
 
...than to need and not have...

Just some food for thought... ;)

Mel
 
I grew up in the good old 'cut some wood & make a campfire' days, but backpacking around here usually involves hiking in a no-burn zone so I don't often see a reason to carry an axe. Instead I carry a 12" or 14" machete, useful if I want to dig a cathole, clear a few campsite stobs or ward off bloodthirsty alien invaders. On canoe trips, I try to camp on gravel bars (islands) where I can have a campfire using driftwood. I carry a Snow & Nealy 'Hudsons Bay' camping axe AND a small bowsaw, if I lost the axe and had to replace it I'd get a Scandinavian Forest Axe.
 
Backpack trips I usually leave the axe at home. On ATV trips I add the Scan. Forest Axe to cut trees to get out of mudholes, deep water and such...
 
For most modern camping especially with "Leave NO Trace" a SAK is sufficient.
Having said that I almost always carry a axe of some type. Most recently a Firestone or a GB Hunter. The reason is for emergencies. I am usually with a group of scouts and with the axe I can always secure dry wood, make a splint, rig a litter or whatever is needed from natural materials available.
In he military I always carried a Randall 15 but then again the mission was different.
Hope this helps.
 
Depends on what type of acmping I'm doing and where I am going. If I am with my vehicle and will usually have a 3/4 axe with me. Even going to a camp like a deer camp or something where you are in an improved structure, a full or 3/4 axe is a good thing to have around. I've banged nails, split wood and opened coconuts with them.

If I am with a canoe, horse or other implement where weight is not a significant factor I will also have an axe, but it will be the 3/4 size, not the full sized.

When backpacking, the a a SAK and a Busse Natural Outlaw are about it. In some locales I may even go smaller with a Busse Basic #5 or a Chris Reeve Mountaineer II or something similar.

Don't get me wroong, axes and hatchets are very valuable tools, but sometimes they are not worth the weight if you have a capable knife and little need for heavy chopping and splitting.
 
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