^^^This^^^ lol
Kinda like my neighbor: "Why do you need such a big, gas guzzling, 4x4 pickup truck ??? My minivan is SOOOO much more sensible & versatile, hahaha." Fast forward to winter time: Storm-3' of snow, power outage-cold-temp inside house dropping rapidly. Knock, knock. It's the neighbor. "Can i plug into your generator ? NO, you can't, as it is only big enough to power my fridge, freezer & furnace. Why don't you jump in your sensible & versatile minivan & drive to the home center & buy your own. He tried & got stuck. So, i ended up driving him there & he was simply amazed at how i just drove right through the snow with ease. He no longer makes fun of the truck, cause trucks get sh*t done !!!
Completely off topic, but this story reminds me of another, again related to environment dictating the best tool for the job:
I live in the Wisconsin's Driftless region.
In the Summer and Autumn droughts, the Prius drivers pull alongside the 4x4 drivers and mock, "So, what kind of gas-mileage are you getting on that monster?"
In the Spring and Summer floods and the Winter blizzards, the 4x4 drivers
pull over onto the shoulder and ask the Prius drivers
in the ditch, "So, what kind of gas-mileage are you getting?"
On topic, I've compared the cross-grain chopping ability of hatchets to 10" bowie-style knives on 3"-diameter seasoned oak. It takes me the same number of chops, same amount of time, to accomplish the same task with EITHER tool. The knives usually possess thinner geometry for better penetration, while the hatchets' thicker geometry pops out chunks of wood more easily but to a shallower depth. The force of the swing doesn't enter the equation as the results are the same even if I swing as hard as I can. The heavier hatchet heads require more energy to swing and maintain control of than the weight-balanced knives - the hatchet is harder to start swinging and also harder to stop should the need arise (e.g. limbing a branch, cutting without a back-stop). Add to this that the hatchet handles tend to be fairly slick and round, allowing the blade to twist more easily on a glancing blow. On smaller branches, the reduced penetration ability of the hatchet requires more force per chop than the large knife. When cutting without a back-stop, if the target is able to bend away from the blow, the hatchet tends to plow it out of the way rather than cutting, whereas the knife can behave like a machete (assuming an appropriate design). Finally, the knife presents a much great length of cutting edge to work with.
This last point, along with the distributed weight and reduced blade height, increase the versatility of the knife well above that of the hatchet, such that the knife can perform the duties of a small knife much better than the hatchet, e.g. food-prep, whittling, draw-knife, etc. The knife can scrape away wide swaths of bark if needed, can filet fish, and can also pry and dig (depending on design) better than the hatchet. Indeed, the ONLY tasks at which the hatchet excels is
splitting where the thicker geometry helps wedge the wood grains apart.
This is purely because of the region I live in. Here, in the harsh desert, an axe is less than worthless. It's dead weight. All the extra weight you can manage must be in the form of water(I always love hearing people talk about how they will just simply find water here). A big knife easily chops what I need chopped, and more importantly is a brush clearer. Here, nearly everything growing has very nasty spines or thorns so clearing is important. Safety, again, is critically important. Because of the distances and terrain, if you bury a hatchet in your thigh you are very likely a dead man.
