Axe vs Large knife / Leuku

[Siberianfury]

just wondering what most people prefer to carry as a chopping tool with their belt knife.

i can say that the axe is a little more effective at chopping hard wood, also splitting wood, but it can be heavy.

a leuku is for me more versitile, it can chop, split, dig, carve, dress game, feather wood, strike sparks and its better for clearing brush and cutting lightweight wood than an axe, however not as good for cutting hardwood or splitting.

from my observations Axes seem to be the norm, large knives used to be frowned upon, yet they are slowly gaining in popularity again.

anyway, i would be keen to hear your thoughts on which is the prefered tool for you and why.

 

[John Fenna]

I use an SFA for some tasks, bill hook for others and the Leuku for yet others.
If I had to chose to take just one it would be the billhook - it can do all the leuku can and a lot of what the SFA can and is not as heavy as the SFA but has more heft than the Leuku.
Up at my woods cutting some felled trees into lengths to haul home I used all 3 plus a bowsaw.....

 

[Man of Tanith]

i have used a leuku and didnt get on with it
for me currently its a bill hook or axe for chopping depending on what i have in mind and weather conditions

 

[silentpaddler]

Well first I had to look it up to see what a leuku was. I can't honestly see having much use for one...chainsaw whenever possible; axe on the trapline or daytrips;
trips into the bush involving portages would be just a folding saw and a knife. Mind you this side of the ocean is a lot different; you can forage enough dry firewood
pretty much anywhere without any cutting tools at all.

 

[bb07]

In my area I choose an axe, every time.

 

[salad]

I use the gransfors outdoor axe it is lighter than the sfa but in my opinion punches well above its weight, it does not take up much room in my pack and does not add a lot of weight, this is good for me as I like to do some quite long treks

 

[markheolddu]

I use an SFA for some tasks, bill hook for others and the Leuku for yet others.
If I had to chose to take just one it would be the billhook - it can do all the leuku can and a lot of what the SFA can and is not as heavy as the SFA but has more heft than the Leuku.
Up at my woods cutting some felled trees into lengths to haul home I used all 3 plus a bowsaw.....

Hi John how is miss Van de Hook these days?

 

[Xunil]

It's a sad fact that the majority of folks just don't have the time or access to a variety of kit to make their own informed choices about things like this. People lead busy lives and enerally have limited funds and so getting the opportunity and inclination to play with a bunch of tools and properly evaluate them against your own requirements is not a luxury most people have.

Example:

A Granfors axe has more or less become the defacto standard for bushcraft.

GB axes are good (I own and use several, among others) but most owners probably don't even know that they are basically a softwood axe, with design features that are geared towards softwood use. Used for any length of time in a hardwood environment and uer perspective would probably change quite quickly.

My point is that many people own a GB axe, comparatively few of them will ever give it a serious workout purely because most of us aren't in the game of woodland construction projects or processing large amounts of firewood, and these and similar circumstances form obstacles to making an informed decision based on individual needs and environments. That is not a criticism of the individual users/owners, but an observation of most of our actual use of a tool.

I try hard to like a Leuku more than I actually do. It's a tough call because they are pretty good tools in their own right but they aren't as clever as a good machete for really heavy and efficient work, and they don't really offer anythnig that any similar sized knife couldn't do, so they basically offer a step up from a small-to-medium knife without having to lug a 'proper' large blade around.

Depending very much on what i intend doing I think I'd probably go for an axe over Leuku most of the time with a few obvious caveats:

If distance on foot was involved I'd take the Leuku over an axe because I'm a naturally lazy hack and don't want to lug an axe around with me when the dispersable weight of the Leuku is easier to carry.

If this was a general weekend out and about trip I'd be happy enough with the Leuku.

If I was out on an extended trip and provided I wasn't doing long distances on foot, I think the axe would be a more logical choice.

No one tool fits the bill all of the time and most of the tools we commonly use in the outdoors are a collection of contradictions and compromises: knives in particular fall well within that description.

I like the more socially acceptable aspect of the Leuku and the ease of carry, and it makes a great brush clearance tool for hide building and whatnot. For processing a lot of wood (and assuming I haven't got a saw handy) I'd rather have a good axe.

Circumstance and environment should dictate tool selection to a large extent, but most of us allow personal preference to take a higher place in the priority list which also demonstrates that we have the luxury of choice meaning, by definition, that we rely less on our tools for our lifestyle choices than those who live by them.

A billhook would actually be high on my list but I've not mentioned it until now since you didn't list it in your alternative options.

I'll get my coat...

 

[Highbinder]

I don't own an axe, I can't really justify the need or the weight For the dead wood I collect the majority can be split with my knife. Anything larger I will break using two trees as a lever if I do not have a saw with me. Recently I've been reading up on the use of wedges which I believe is the traditional way of splitting wood rather than batoning with a knife, so I will give that a go next time I come across a piece of wood too large for my knife.

 

[flexo]

hatchet or/and axe.

 

[BarryG]

Now i like a small axe/ hatchet myself. Find it easier to work with. I get more welly behind the tool.

 

[John Fenna]

Hi John how is miss Van de Hook these days?

Oh - she still sexy!