I love my GB mini

S

SouthernCross

Joined
Jun 25, 2008
Messages
1,484
For me the versatility of the GB mini makes it well worth carrying the weight.

It provides me with a hammer:
Hammeringinthetentpegs.jpg


It splits smaller limbs for kindling:
Splittingkindling.jpg


And with a change in grip, it makes an effective wood plane for detailed carving of wood....
Shavingthechoppingboardside.jpg


....utensils for the campsite, including a combination chopping board and dish:
Choppingboardside.jpg

Dishside.jpg


and an scrapper/stirrer for the camp kitchen.
Eggscraper1.jpg


I also use it to strip bark.
UsingtheGBminitostripbark1.jpg



Yeah, I love my GB mini :D


Kind regards
Mick
 
Great pictures. Your GB mini looks like a great tool to have around camp.
 
Looks about as much fun as my old Norlund or my Estwing 14a. I saw a Wetterlings mini a while back but haven't been able to locate anyone who carries them. Gotta love those small hatchets their utility is much greater than appearrances suggest.
 
great post mick...:thumbup: i love my GB mini axe... i picked mine up last april... they're insanely sharp... and capable of many bigger camp chores than most perceive...
 
Good pics to show what a little axe can do. I have a smaller Wetterlings myself, got it off Ben's Backwoods. I usually pass on the axe and take a bigger blade, but you are giving me food for thought.
 
Mick,
I don't have the Mini but do have the Wildlife. If down to one tool and and the Gransfor was it, you wouldn't be lacking at all.
Ed
 
Hi Mick Great pics of you using your GB mini.
I am a hatchet fan myself and have carried a GB mini for several years now.
I have made a couple hatchets in the last few weeks but mine are a little different than the BG mini. Here is a pic of them. my BG mini weighs in a 15 and 3/8 oz. the orange handle one is 3/8 ozs heavier and the tan micarta is a 1/2oz heavier than the GB.

101_0997.jpg


They are a thinner profile and I think cut better than my GB.

You are right about the little axe being a good planer. and as for stripping bark I think it is easyer than using a knife to. But I think one of the best virtues of a hatchet is they can chop through ice way easyer than a knife.
Kathy and I went to a walk along one of the creeks we have here on the farm. I told kathy watch this I got out on the ice ( it was about 2.5" to 3" thick. I took out my little orange handle hatchet and started chopping a hole in the ice in under a minute I had a hole big enough to put my steel nalgene bottle through so if I needed I could get water. I told Kathy that looked pretty easy huh. She said well ya i guess. ( women LOL ) I then said check this out I took out my TH Bushcrafter with it's 5" long blade that is 5/32" thick
just your average length for a meduim knife.
here is a pic of it.

101_0963.jpg



I said to her now watch I am going to chop the same way I did while making the cuts in the ice with my hatchet. I said to Kathy now watch what happens with the ice chips and what direction they go. I made my first chop and got a face full of ice chips I did several more and still got the ice chips in my face I then piced up the hatchet and chopped again and no ice, the hatchet when striking the ice make the chips go away from the person chopping. Also I chopped a few more times with the knife then did the same with my hatchet and the difference in the hole size can make one a believer in the hatchet. Well for chopping through ice anyways LOL

Plus when out it the bush a hatchet and knife just plain go together I think.
A hatchet is not for every one, just like a big knife is not or a small knife.
But for me and where I live and the stuff I do out in he timber it works for me.

It looks like and sounds like a hatchet works for your to Mick.

Great post,

Bryan
 
I broke down and bought a GB Mini earlier this year. IMO it is more than worth the money I paid. It does all that you ask of it, from splitting wood, pounding stakes, skinning animals etc. Best of all, and the primary reason I bought this model, it weighs virtually nothing so I knew I wouldn't hesitate to pack it along where I might leave behind a heavier axe/hatchet. I'm glad you like yours as much as I do mine. I look forward to years of great use from it.
 
I got one last year as well. I also love it for the hammer aspect when camping. I also find it extremely sharp and easy to sharpen. My only gripe is that I suck at splitting wood with it. I find it gets stuck in the wood wayy too often and I often find myself wishing for a larger blade to baton with.....that's just my lack of skills though. I'm still glad I have the axe....very tough and versitile....
 
G'day jackncoke

jackncoke said:
... I find it gets stuck in the wood wayy too often and I often find myself wishing for a larger blade to baton with.....
Click to expand...

If you find its getting stuck, try splitting from the outside in (rather than through the middle). This way slabs will cleave off the outside, especially if you add a slight sideways movement of the handle (to the outside) once the head is engaged.


Kind regards
Mick
 
Great, add another GB to the want list...:o

Nice pics and illustration of uses.

My first and only GB is the Hunters Axe. I love it. It's hard not to love a GB though.
 
Rockywolf said:
Good pics to show what a little axe can do. I have a smaller Wetterlings myself, got it off Ben's Backwoods. I usually pass on the axe and take a bigger blade, but you are giving me food for thought.
Click to expand...

See this in when you say "GDamn this site, makes me second guess everything!" :D

I was holding a mini wetterlings at a local hunting shop, nice litte tool overall, but man it was in bad shape, and $40. Not bad compared price of a GB, but man im not forkin out that much for something I have to work on that much either!
 
I'm beginning to rather despise the things. I can't knock them from a performance point of view. They're not my thing as I prefer something with a tad more clout, but I can appreciate that in the hands of a skilled user there must be considerable appeal. My beef concerns the buying / selling of them. I've only owned one, a Wildlife, and while it is great it is not so great as to command its price. That was the first reason that got me on the road to retiring it. Since then I've got to wonder a whole lot more about the marketing of the Mini. The price seems incongruous even compared to other GB offerings: The Mini is more expensive for me to buy than the Wildlife, the Small Forest Axe, the Scandinavian Forest Axe, the Small Carpenter's Axe. Some of those have in excess of 100% more materials so how does that work, are they hitherto inexplicably so much harder to make. Doubtful. I am more minded that a vulture somewhere caught on to the popularity on the reenactment scene here and jacked the price. That wouldn't surprise me. One sees enough threads with: if you could only have one folder – Sebenza, one fixed – Nuclear Battle Sodomizer in beige, an axe – GB Mini. Sure, folks should be able charge what they like for what they make, but given the spike in popularity, the sudden price hike, the disproportionate cost of that model even amongst its siblings, and I'm smelling a rip off. Wetterlings doesn't help ease that 'being fleeced' thing either. Below is a Wetterlings Mini. It would also be too small for what I want and it is clearly more crude than the GB Mini, but still. I think loads could be coaxed from that with a bit of skill.

Weight – 0.5kg
Length – 12.4”
Cost – Less than 4*Gallons of gas or 4*packets of cigarettes.

v-12-19_091152219.jpg
 
baldtaco-II said:
I'm beginning to rather despise the things. I can't knock them from a performance point of view. They're not my thing as I prefer something with a tad more clout, but I can appreciate that in the hands of a skilled user there must be considerable appeal. My beef concerns the buying / selling of them. I've only owned one, a Wildlife, and while it is great it is not so great as to command its price.
Click to expand...

I hear you. I paid approximately HALF what the mini costs these days.

I have broken one before, and I have been told that the high price was due to the fact that they replace more of them.

At the current price I'd have to say I would probably try to get a custom.

IMO the mini can go toe to toe with a big knife of the same size and is probably more useful.

However if I am gonna pay 150 I'd rather go for a custom that was closer to my specs.

For instance the mini is great for ultralight carry. But is too light(not too small) for chopping anything over about 4".

The Wildlife is one of the best made hatchets there is and so well made. As good as any custom. The only problem (for me) is it is just a little too heavy.

If I had the money for a mini now I'd instead get a custom that was somewhere between the mini and the wildlife. Something in the range of 12" OAL and 1 lb to 1lb 2 oz weight. For me that is about the ideal range.
 
If I had the money for a mini now I'd instead get a custom that was somewhere between the mini and the wildlife. Something in the range of 12" OAL and 1 lb to 1lb 2 oz weight. For me that is about the ideal range.
Click to expand...

The Wetterling Wildlife Axe measures 12 1/2" overall, with a 5 1/4" axe head, and a 2 3/4" cutting edge. It weighs 1.25 pounds, and comes with a leather blade cover which has a belt loop. The axe handle comes with a lanyard hole. Not bad for $43.00

Look like just what Hollowdweller would find ideal.
 
hollowdweller said:
If I had the money for a mini now I'd instead get a custom that was somewhere between the mini and the wildlife. Something in the range of 12" OAL and 1 lb to 1lb 2 oz weight. For me that is about the ideal range.
Click to expand...

Same as that if I wanted something traditional. If you're going to pay custom prices because you like the natural flavour and charm of the traditional then go the whole hog and get a custom.

Heft wise, the ugly modern thing I'm using now has a 1lb 4oz head. That's about my ideal. Makes it worthy of me picking it over the #2, but isn't so much that it's a drag.
 
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