Tomahawk instead of a big knife or machete

[neeman]

I have gone the GB Wildlife Hatchet route
I have no vines or grass to cut so I have no need of a machette type blade

I find a dedicated axe head on a very comfortable handle is much easier to use than a hawk head with a stick handle
Where the shorter comfortable handle makes up for the length of a hawk handle

I cut length with a folding saw, and split length ways with the axe
Slicing lengths on the side if the piece is too thick of easy splitting

A 18" GB or Wetterling would out power a hawk or a knife
But if battoning is your main style then a long knife or machette will be easier to use

 

[collecter]

No vines in my new area either but the vegetation is "bushy". A heavy axe wouldn't be much use plus it's hot so the less weight is better for carrying.

I used my short machete a ton in the northern forest and for it's light weight it was very good. Wrist size and smaller birch and specked alder were easy to chop down with it. The frontier hawk works just as well for those trees and it's better for side splitting.

I first started using a machete as a surveyor to cut lines in the woods. We rarely used a big axe because if a tree was too big to machete we would use the chainsaw.