I'd say I carry an axe on about half the trips I make - depending on where I'm going, how I'm getting there and what I plan to do.
On a daily basis it's used for splitting logs and cutting kindling and I miss it sometimes when I've left it at home.
I only carry a little knife which isn't much cop for battoning and am not the biggest fan of battoning anyway. Been using a hand axe since I was a kid(maintaining a pile of dry kindling was one of my pocketmoney jobs) and while I've cut myself a couple of times I've done worse slicing cheese with a kitchen knife. Any sharp tool warrants care.
The firewood I burn is generaly either...
...deadfall birch covered in moss. Strip off the moss, chuck it on a fire and it'll just flare briefly as the bark burns then smoulder away hopelessly. Split it and it'll burn far nicer.
(This pic isn't of firewood by the way, it's way past it and lying too low. Does give you an idea though of the moisture levels I'm talking about)
...or deadfall pine/spruce snaffled from plantations.
....which again can be starting to rot on the outside yet solid and dry inside.
...or driftwood, which on the whole is the least likely to need an axe run through it.
On occasion though a big ol' branch or trunk will wash up that needs split simply to get it down to size. The branch at the back of the pile here was logged and kept us going for days - was the best burning of the lot.
Sometimes I like pottering about making things(and I know I'm not alone there
). It just feels nice to whittle away an evening then the chips keep the fire bright and cheery when the sun goes down.
Made a paddle once. Turned out nice, first paddle I tend to reach for these days.
...and have roughed out a few bows at camp. Full logs are too big to transport even in the wee canoe so really roughing out on site is the only way to get them managable enough to take home for seasoning.
Then there's maintenance. On a trip last year I was cutting some birch that were threatening the walls of an old cottage. May have used a saw to bring them down...
...but used the axe to reduce them to three piles - one of brush for burning(disposal), one of firewood branches and the other of trunks(some of which we used straight away to shore up a corner while we partialy dismantaled it to tie the stonework back together, the rest will be used to make a wee scaffolding this year to help tidy and remortar the caps of the walls).
(the other piles are out of shot)
The axe came in useful during the rhodie clearing as well - along with pruning saws, bowsaws, chainsaws, billhooks, secateurs......
Each had their use and their place in the toolkit.
Oops, almost forgot smackng in the 'chute pegs...
So there you go, there's why I (sometimes) carry an axe when I go camping.
On a daily basis it's used for splitting logs and cutting kindling and I miss it sometimes when I've left it at home.
I only carry a little knife which isn't much cop for battoning and am not the biggest fan of battoning anyway. Been using a hand axe since I was a kid(maintaining a pile of dry kindling was one of my pocketmoney jobs) and while I've cut myself a couple of times I've done worse slicing cheese with a kitchen knife. Any sharp tool warrants care.
The firewood I burn is generaly either...
...deadfall birch covered in moss. Strip off the moss, chuck it on a fire and it'll just flare briefly as the bark burns then smoulder away hopelessly. Split it and it'll burn far nicer.
(This pic isn't of firewood by the way, it's way past it and lying too low. Does give you an idea though of the moisture levels I'm talking about)
...or deadfall pine/spruce snaffled from plantations.
....which again can be starting to rot on the outside yet solid and dry inside.
...or driftwood, which on the whole is the least likely to need an axe run through it.
On occasion though a big ol' branch or trunk will wash up that needs split simply to get it down to size. The branch at the back of the pile here was logged and kept us going for days - was the best burning of the lot.
Sometimes I like pottering about making things(and I know I'm not alone there
). It just feels nice to whittle away an evening then the chips keep the fire bright and cheery when the sun goes down.Made a paddle once. Turned out nice, first paddle I tend to reach for these days.
...and have roughed out a few bows at camp. Full logs are too big to transport even in the wee canoe so really roughing out on site is the only way to get them managable enough to take home for seasoning.
Then there's maintenance. On a trip last year I was cutting some birch that were threatening the walls of an old cottage. May have used a saw to bring them down...
...but used the axe to reduce them to three piles - one of brush for burning(disposal), one of firewood branches and the other of trunks(some of which we used straight away to shore up a corner while we partialy dismantaled it to tie the stonework back together, the rest will be used to make a wee scaffolding this year to help tidy and remortar the caps of the walls).
(the other piles are out of shot)
The axe came in useful during the rhodie clearing as well - along with pruning saws, bowsaws, chainsaws, billhooks, secateurs......
Each had their use and their place in the toolkit.
Oops, almost forgot smackng in the 'chute pegs...
So there you go, there's why I (sometimes) carry an axe when I go camping.
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