Hatchet as a primary tool choice

I'm in the fixed blade, saw, and sak crowd but I've always thought that if I was going to go back to the one tool option that it would without a doubt be a small pocket axe. They're extremely versatile and can tackle things beyond what you thought were possible for such a small tool. I laugh when someone says a gb mini or similar axe is just a "toy". Can your busse suv-csi-rofl knife do this? :D

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Shotgun said:
I'm in the fixed blade, saw, and sak crowd but I've always thought that if I was going to go back to the one tool option that it would without a doubt be a small pocket axe. They're extremely versatile and can tackle things beyond what you thought were possible for such a small tool. I laugh when someone says a gb mini or similar axe is just a "toy". Can your busse suv-csi-rofl knife do this? :D

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Awesome pic. That's a good idea. Never would have thought was possible. Learn so thing new everyday.
 
Great original post and thread.

Kephart thought similarly, from Camping and Woodcraft, 1917...

A woodsman should carry a hatchet, and he should be as critical in selecting it as in buying a gun. The notion that a heavy hunting knife can do the work of a hatchet is a delusion. When it comes to cleaving carcasses, chopping kindling, blazing thick-barked trees, driving tent pegs or trap stakes, and keeping up a bivouac fire, the knife never was made that will compare with a good tomahawk. The common hatchets of the hardware stores are unfit for a woodsman’s use. They have broad blades with beveled edge, and they are generally made of poor, brittle stuff. A camper’s hatchet should have the edge and temper of a good axe. It must be light enough to carry in or one’s knapsack, yet it should bite deep in timber.
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More Kephart Notes on Hatchets and Handles HERE.
 
Cool thread :thumbup: I'm not really a "hatchet guy", but I do understand your points.

I'm reminded of the old cliche' , "Beware the man with only one beat-up old gun". It just means that when a person really understands his favorite weapon/tool of choice and practices with it a lot, he's likely to be very effective with it :)

Shotgun said:
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Great pic. Please post that in every batonning thread ever! If more people who insist on splitting large timber took the time to cut wedges, they'd get a lot more work done and break a lot fewer knives.
 
One of the biggest cons I hear from people about a hatchet or an axe is that it is more difficult to use than a knife... to me this is more of a con on the user than on the tool. ;)

It does have more of a learning curve to use safely and effectively, but a well chosen axe in the hands of a skilled axeman can chop, split, carve, slice, notch, and accomplish anything one could ask of an edged tool in the bush. As Mors Kochanski said, "nothing contributes more to comfortable bush living than the axe".

JGON

 
I've found that a super lightweight tarp + emergency bivy and a reliable wood stove like the Emberlit (that can be pressed to fuel tabs and alcohol) is a lighter and more versatile approach for the wet woods of New England.

Here's a shot from a family xc ski tour earlier this year.

Out of the Wind by Pinnah, on Flickr

The amount of energy needed to pitch the tarp and gather and process twigs (no cutting tools needed) is infinitely less than a wood processing approach. Less damaging to the area too, which makes is more likely that I'll pitch the tarp or start the stove.

Of the cutting tools above my Opinel N9 that I'm most likely to carry out of a sense of need, that would be the Silky folding saw. I do occasionally carry a fixed blade but that's for grins and giggles, not real need and only when I can handle the weight. Big miles demand lower weight and the Opinel N9 suffices.

Different approaches. All good.
 
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