Hatchet...how useful is it really?

[abo4ster]

Survival situation/ Bug out/ SHTF/ I large backpack should have a mid size axe, large knife other gear, and my edc stuff.

To me, the true "survival" situation is the everyday life stuff that you don't see coming. You what you have, and you make due. I can not carry on my person a big knife, or a good hatchet....they have to stay in the truck.

I agree with Doc on hatchets being dangerous. The larger the axe the safer it is and obviously requires less effort for use. That being said, I do on occasion carry a small hatchet and rarely a small forest axe if the weather is wet and cold. From a survival standpoint, an axe can make life much easier for starting a fire and building shelter.

If your needs are just limbing or firewood, saws are much safer and do have an advantage of being safe to use when its dark.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

I prefer a full-size axe and have no objections to carrying the extra weight. That being said even the smallest of hatchets can be readily batoned through fairly large logs--it's essentially a splitting wedge with a handle on it.

 

[Unsub]

I am not a big fan of hatchets. If weight is an issue I much prefer a hawk and if it is not an issue then a full size or medium axe with a full length handle.

Also I don't believe that ahatchet is as good as a first rate chopping bowie like my custom or the DFLE.
I will bet money that this chopper will out cut any hatchet close to it in weight. It is also far more useful for other things. However a good bowie like this is a hell of a lot more cash than an 18$ Fiskars.

 

[Fonly]

I am not a big fan of hatchets. If weight is an issue I much prefer a hawk and if it is not an issue then a full size or medium axe with a full length handle.

Also I don't believe that ahatchet is as good as a first rate chopping bowie like my custom or the DFLE.
I will bet money that this chopper will out cut any hatchet close to it in weight. It is also far more useful for other things. However a good bowie like this is a hell of a lot more cash than an 18$ Fiskars.

Mmm, I know a good machete with take a tree like that in 2 swipes. My tramontina, a $10 machete I can garente will out chop that custom as well, but thats due to size and geometry. I could cleanly take a 3" poplar in one swipe with it.

But then I think when someone starts thinking of all the bad things that can happen, as in I hear alot of "well when an axe breaks you can replace the handle, what do you do if your knife breaks?" well im not gonna fret over that, if it happens Ill find another way to get wood, thats the point of adapting.

When I was growing up, I had the classic metal handle style hatchet that was about $15 bucks and came from colemans or something similar. It was a crap hatchet, but I built shelters and rafts and all kinds of things with it, to this day that hatchet is sitting somewhere in the shed, but the more I grew to know about edge geometry the furthur back in the shed it found its self.

As too a hatchet or not, Some thing with a 12" handle and up I can find use for, yesterday while making the paddle, I thought a few times a nice hatchet would be great right now. It would have saved me some fatiguing, but it was nice to be able to have that 18" handle the few times I needed.
If I were you, Pick up a 18" 3/4 style axe, weather a fiskars, a wetterlings a GB or a Norlund what ever give it a try and see if you like it. an 18" handle really isnt that big, and I never had problems carrying one, true enough on a hike through a park a simple folding saw and fixed will work fine, but if you going out to play, or have an over nighter planned the 3/4 style is key for me.

 

[jds1]

I found this to be a great combo for ease of carry and the wide array of work you can do with it. For a bit more chopping power, substitute the GB SFA.

Jeff