School Me On Mini Hatchets/Axes

Steely_Gunz

Steely_Gunz

Got the Khukuri fevah
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I tried asking about this in the survival sub, but I didn't get a lot of traction, so I'll just ask it here;)

Poking around on my Big River Wishlist, I have accidentally found out that my wife is getting me a Gransfors Bruks hand axe for Christmas. This was actually on my list as something I was interested in but didn't really, like, want-WANT:P She has a knack for that ;) Anyway, bummed because I ruined the surprise, I figured I would spend the next few weeks learning how to use the little thing via videos and asking here while working on my, "Omgg...is this?! It's a hand axe!? Honey, thank you!" Oscar-worthy performance ;) Don't get me wrong. I'm not mad she's getting it for me. I love my Forest Axe so much that it literally lives on a stand on my mantle on display. The guys delivering furniture the other day even commented on it...I'm sure they thought it was weird, but thinking doesn't move couches, so they dropped it pretty fast:)

Anyway, I have got this little axe coming, and I was hoping to get some insight on what it would be best used for. I usually have leaned more big-knife for hiking, but khukuris are sort of hatchet adjacent anyway. After swinging my Forest Axe, I am leaning very much toward team axe when it comes to cutting wood. That said, I USUALLY can pack a Forest Axe if I can pack a fixed blade. However, I do have a trip out west to Yellowstone coming up this summer. I don't anticipate needing to chop wood to survive, but we will be staying in Glacier National a few nights at a cabin and a fire might be nice since the roads still have a chance of being iced over even in June. My issue is that I am flying out there, and while we are planning on doing laundry and all that, we still need everything to fit in a couple of suitcases. That means, I can't take a clutch of half a dozen things nor even a small full-size axe. So maybe this little 10" dynamo might do the trick?

I don't see myself needing it much of the time. Most of our hikes will probably be on the most heavily traveled trails. So my tools I plan on packing are a leatherman multitool, a solid folder like a Cold Steel Recon 1 or Benchmade Adamas, and maybe this little axe. I was gonna pack a fixed blade but maybe this GB makes more sense? I figure that if we ever decide to go more off-road, a 10" axe will lash just fine to the pack. If not, it can live in the car.

Does anybody have any thoughts, techniques, or resources they can recommend when it comes to using these little bruisers? I think I have a pretty good handle on them, but I am really interested in tricks to make a small axe perform as best it can.
I'm pretty excited to try this little fella out, and I am not going to lie, there is something kind of fun about forgetting super steels and locking mechanisms and all that and just using a piece of well-crafted carbon steel stuck to the end of a piece of hickory to do your cutting, so any trick of the trade would be more than appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
 
One nice trick a lot of folks completely forget you can do with a hatchet is baton it. Similarly using the "boy scout method" of splitting smaller stuff works very nicely for kindling prep, and for making curls for firestarting, sinking the toe into a stump or log as an anvil surface and drawing the wood into the slanted edge works very nicely. Those are probably my most used techniques when using a light/small axe outside the obvious. Also, kneeling can be helpful for safety purposes.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
One nice trick a lot of folks completely forget you can do with a hatchet is baton it. Similarly using the "boy scout method" of splitting smaller stuff works very nicely for kindling prep, and for making curls for firestarting, sinking the toe into a stump or log as an anvil surface and drawing the wood into the slanted edge works very nicely. Those are probably my most used techniques when using a light/small axe outside the obvious. Also, kneeling can be helpful for safety purposes.
Click to expand...

Excellent points. I was figuring I could also reverse the reverse engineering behind a lot of what the tracker style knives are used for using a lot of the techniques where the axe bit is stationary and the material pulled through. I think i'm going to have a good time playing around with this thing.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
One nice trick a lot of folks completely forget you can do with a hatchet is baton it. Similarly using the "boy scout method" of splitting smaller stuff works very nicely for kindling prep, and for making curls for firestarting, sinking the toe into a stump or log as an anvil surface and drawing the wood into the slanted edge works very nicely. Those are probably my most used techniques when using a light/small axe outside the obvious. Also, kneeling can be helpful for safety purposes.
Click to expand...
Very well put!!
 
I think it is a super gift! I frequently choke up on my GB forest axe, and also use a tiny hunters hatchet. Very convenient for splitting kindling into smaller pieces, stripping bark, using as a push-blade, and great for knocking off smaller spruce branches (by edge or butt) and can still pound in tent stakes or bust things apart. Nice for cutting roots while kneeling/digging.

Your wife is very thoughtful!
 
beeinak said:
I think it is a super gift! I frequently choke up on my GB forest axe, and also use a tiny hunters hatchet. Very convenient for splitting kindling into smaller pieces, stripping bark, using as a push-blade, and great for knocking off smaller spruce branches (by edge or butt) and can still pound in tent stakes or bust things apart. Nice for cutting roots while kneeling/digging.

Your wife is very thoughtful!
Click to expand...

I would agree on all accounts ;)
 
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Thread 'The Mini Hatchet'

Over the past few years along with my appreciation for axes I've developed a bit of an obsession with tiny axes/hatchets. These axes are referred to by many names Bag Axe, Trappers Hatchet, Pocket Axe, Sportsman's Axe, Sounding Hatchet, Mini Hatchet, Small Hatchet, Belt Axe, Child's Axe, Kitchen Hatchet, and even Salesman's Sample Axes though I find that in most cases that is not their true intention.

My obsession began with my desire to have a lightweight tool that could chop and split wood on trips into the mountains where a heavier axe just couldn't be justified. I'm not a fan of...
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A great gift, congratulations.

I believe that regardless of the size of the axe, it can be very useful.

Here is a video showing how to use a simple 10' axe with a polymer handle, cutting thicker wood very well.

It is in Portuguese, but go straight to the 7-minute mark and see what can be done:

 
That's a great video G Gato do mato , and I actually just remembered that I have a Fiskers hatchet I cut down short years ago. The end of the handle broke at the lanyard hole and left a flexible crack, so I just hack sawed it off so it wouldn't pinch me. I should dig it out and mess around with it. It's no more than 9-10" long. I think I semi-retired it because it was showing a lot of gouging and wear around the polymer holding the head on from where I used it to demo some sheet metal on an above ground swimming pool. I think I've had it nearly 20 years or more and beat the hell out of the thing.
 
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