Is the Axe outdated?

I have to say I would rather cut into a tree for firewood with a chainsaw, but I love my axe, splitting maul and wedge. I find that I feel more like a man after chopping wood with an axe than I do pulling a trigger on a chainsaw. that is just me. I do not however think the axe is just a mountain man tool.
 
Awesome posts, everyone. Thanks to all. Moose:D
 
demoteamone said:
BATON & CHOPPIN today It seems to have become the new standard for some reason whit a Knife, when a Axe do the job much better & fast.
Actually I find a knife outdated not the axe:eek::D
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See, there's a lot of differences.

I find batoning safer and easier for a lot of small wood processing- like with kindling.

And I have no problem with chopping. Tell Joe the machete is "outdated"!!
 
Another cool thing about axes re: being outdated, is if you look at the shape of heads through history, they really haven't changed. The materials they are made of have, but the shapes haven't.

You could say the axe is the one tool men got right the first time.
 
I don't think that the axe is outdated. Hell, the basic axe design is being used, albeit tomahawks, by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
 
Cpl Punishment said:
Another cool thing about axes re: being outdated, is if you look at the shape of heads through history, they really haven't changed. The materials they are made of have, but the shapes haven't.

You could say the axe is the one tool men got right the first time.
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Frome the stone head tied into a haft of wood, the basic concept has been a hit!
 
hm, I expected to see a few "yes's" somewhere in here...maybe the hatchet is more outdated than the axe with all the machetes around...:eek:
 
Heck no! Axes are good for more than just chopping trees... look at search and rescue rigs and firefighters, for example. The axe is one of the simplist, oldest and most effective tools in existance, and that's not going to change anytime soon.
 
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Nokoff said:
hm, I expected to see a few "yes's" somewhere in here...maybe the hatchet is more outdated than the axe with all the machetes around...:eek:
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I would agree with that. I have tried a hatchet vs machete contest and the machete wins in my opinion. I have no use for a hatchet. Axe, yes, machete, yes.
 
At six, the future 1st president of the US stood accused of slicing up his father's favorite cherry tree. "I did cut it with my hatchet, I can't tell a lie." The gifted painter Grant Wood's rendering of the Washington myth with biographer Mason Weems pointing the finger has forever cemented that anecdote in US history. I wish I could tell what brand of axe that was, but it was likely of european origin. Axes are still with us and remain a tool amongst the Gods. The US was founded on an axe, hammer and a saw.
 
Nobody who heats with a wood burning stove and owns a Gransfors Bruks axe thinks axes are obsolete.
 
As big of a machete nut as I am I'll be the first to say an axe is a right handy tool, and far from outdated. If I was doing extended wilderness/primitive living or homesteading a good axe would be absolutely crucial. I prefer to carry a machete when out in the woods because it's lighter and more versatile (it'll handle everything from grasses to hardwood and WILL fell or split wood), but it's no replacement for an axe. When you're processing a lot of wood, whether it be for building a home or a fire the axe is the way to go.
 
My first reaction to this thread was:

"Seriously? how can anyone who has been out in the country for more than 2 days ask this?"

BUT, the conversation and actual thinking I had to do to generate a response have been fantastic.

Thumbs up to the OP
 
I don't think tool as basic as the axe get outdated.

Is the hammer obsolete because of the nail gun?
Not really. It's just used used in a slightly smaller set of circumstances.
 
I am actually looking at getting some new axes the more time I spend out doors. I have some machets, a kukhri, BK2 and some other good knives. But, I want the right tool for the job, not the okay tool that will get the job done in a while.
 
Granfors Bruks makes 2 axes that work extremely well as a pair for a LOT of work, the SFA and the ... SFA.

Confusing!

The Small Forest axe is a 19 inch handle (about like your average 'hawk), with a 3.25 inch cutting face and a 1.5 pound weight.

The Scandinavian Forest Axe is very close to a traditional timber cruiser's axe-- but single bitted! It has a 3.5 inch cutting face and a 2 pound head weight on a longer 25 inch handle. While this isn't a full on lumberjack's felling axe, it does the job much better than a "camp hatchet."

Most Camp hatchets don't have the mass to work as an axe, or the geometry to work the way a chopper (knife) would. They make okay splitting wedges, but since anyone with a knife and wood can MAKE splitting wedges, why bother carrying one?

I personally wouldn't go much, if any, under 2 pounds in an axe. hawks, and the small GOOD hatchets like the hunstman, have their place and work out quite well, but they are more specialized tools. (with the caveat that I've doen a fair amount of firewood work with a french pattern hawk from a maker on BF that has enough mass and face to do the work)
 
I think where all this is coming from is the popularity of big blades. The world is becoming a smaller place, and all these traditional designs of large blades from cultures all over the world are now manufactured with a mainstream twist... so we're seeing things like Khukris which traditionally are up to half an inch thick taken down to .15 inches (like Condor) and traditionally thin South American machetes being beefed up. Societies where large blades were used in the niche of an axe (which was the norm in western culture) are now available to us. The axe isn't outdated in any way shape or form, I just think these other alternatives are now getting more attention than they used to.
 
No no you're all wrong...;)

A couple of years ago I watched youtube and there's this man who says....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-M78KIy19E

"Some armchair critics and car campers, sometimes inexperienced in backpacking, will tout the axe as a much better wood chopping and splitting tool than the survival knives I review and show in use.....but rarely will it make a good backcountry woods tool.....As Nutnfancys proven in real world, wilderness videos, theres just better, more efficient systems to use".

:rolleyes:

Someone needs to tell Ray Mears because he's doing it all wrong! :D

I've got a GB Mini and a Small Forest.

Unbelievably the Mini packs the same kind of punch that most knives to 9 inches do. It can be carried in a jacket pocket and looks fairly none threatening (as if that should matter:o). I got broken into after the New Year and a Police woman came round to dust for fingerprints. She saw the Mini on my bedroom floor and said "that's a cute little hatchet".:thumbup:

In the UK we can get a Small Forest for less than an Izula and for that amount of money I think there's no excuse not to own one!
 
I used to think large knives are better or at least as good as an axe, but after some time using both tools I think (as many above have mentioned) that both have their advantages and disadvantages. Large knives can be hard to pull out of the wood again. I like a medium heavy axe, say 700gr. with a long handle , maybe 50 cm. That gives a long lever and combined with the small head I feel I can work very precisely on larger tasks like felling or chopping up small trees etc. It is also great to be able to hold it with both hands, that means more power with less effort.

Just my experiences.

l.
 
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