Best budget camping axe?

Redhand Jack

Tenderfoot
Jan 25, 2021
62
57
Devon
If your after value for money you can't beat the Bacho hand axe. Sure it's cast rather than forged but it does the job well, I payed about £15 for mine at the local farm shop. I use it for light snedding and occasional firewood but with a regrind apparently it can make a decent enough wood carving axe.
 

Erbswurst

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 5, 2018
4,079
1,774
Berlin
Did anyone already managed to break the ugly yellow Aldi hatchets with plastic handles?

I know that in skillfull hands also not so good tools survive pretty long, but I see a lot of them in my garden colony and on my brother's farm also is flying one around that gives me a pretty robust impression.
Unsure, but if I remember it right they did sell them for 6 or 7 €.
 

GreyDog

Full Member
Mar 24, 2021
49
25
57
Holmfirth
Did anyone already managed to break the ugly yellow Aldi hatchets with plastic handles?

I know that in skillfull hands also not so good tools survive pretty long, but I see a lot of them in my garden colony and on my brother's farm also is flying one around that gives me a pretty robust impression.
Unsure, but if I remember it right they did sell them for 6 or 7 €.
I have one. I think I was given it so don't know the price. The metal is very soft, I don't think the edge is tempered at all, so whilst I did get it sharp once (after a lot of re-profiling) it lost its edge very quickly. Seems strong though - good for hammering pegs!
 
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MartiniDave

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 29, 2003
2,355
130
62
Cambridgeshire
I have one. I think I was given it so don't know the price. The metal is very soft, I don't think the edge is tempered at all, so whilst I did get it sharp once (after a lot of re-profiling) it lost its edge very quickly. Seems strong though - good for hammering pegs!
I found one in a remote field while out walking last year, so obviously picked it up and took it home. On close inspection the handle was fractured inside the eye of the head - it seems this one was a wooden handle over-moulded with plastic. The metal of the head was terribly soft, worse even than my old Bahco. I use the head now with a mallet, as a crude splitting wedge. Based on this I wouldn't buy one.
 
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Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
944
1,024
Kent
I suspect that part of the problem with cheap axes is iffy QC. I have a cheapy that has served me well so far, splitting seasoned hardwood logs for a couple of hours. But maybe the next one on the peg had a weakness or was misshapen, etc, so I'm wary of recommending something based on a single purchase.
 
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R_Fonseca

Tenderfoot
Jul 6, 2021
84
65
38
Dublin
www.fonseca.ie
This may be unpopular opinion, but I say don't spend too much money if you don't have to. Over a year ago I bought a 600g hatchet from the hardware with a fibreglass handle and an axe file. I thought I'd upgrade after a while, but I find it hard to justify. Granted it took a bit of time to get the edge sorted out, but now it's easy to keep shaving sharp. I use it once it twice a week in winter for kindling and not so much in summer.

Edit: actually 2 years. Done 2 winters already
 
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Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,669
McBride, BC
What's it for? Daily use or a few forest trips for overnight per year and no camp fires? I confess there's days when I just need to sit and make chips.
I think it's a mistake to buy economical and find out that the steel you will depend upon is really poor and soft.

All of the different shears that I use in my grapes are Fiskars. Not the most expensive but their durability is impressive. Some bypass shears I have been using for 20 years. They might need sharpening but I have heard no complaints.
The handle designs are quite fatigue free when I've been pruning all damn day.
They market a 32 oz hatchet which is by no means cheap. But besides being a fool and losing it, I doubt that I would ever need to replace it with anything I was told was better.
 
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spandit

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 6, 2011
5,594
308
East Sussex, UK
Did anyone already managed to break the ugly yellow Aldi hatchets with plastic handles?

I bought 2 of their splitting mauls because I thought they'd break but after a few years and a lot of abuse, they're still going strong, although the handles aren't really long enough
 
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Erbswurst

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 5, 2018
4,079
1,774
Berlin
The Fiskars X7 hatchet is in my opinion without any doubt the most sensible low budget hatchet, because it is relatively cheap, as good as indestructible, relatively lightweight, perfectly designed, nearly maintainace free, and I think it will last a lifetime.

And it is a European product. That means that you can trust in the quality and warranty and have a chance to get your money back sooner or later, in this case especially because Finland surely doesn't live autarkic. The chance that a couple of Fiskars employees will buy a Landrover is relatively high, and with a bit good luck the Landrover employees will become your own clients.

If you send your money to Asia you surely will not see it back so soon!
 

Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
944
1,024
Kent
On the one hand there are people bemoaning soft steel and on the other hand there are people extolling the virtues of the aluminium "woodsman's wedgie"
*Shrugs*
 
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Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,669
McBride, BC
What's a "woodsman's wedgie?" If you're a real woodsman in the forest industry, employed as a faller, all your wedgies will be Delrin. (Except for one you might endure in camp). The most bash-worthy synthetic material that I have ever used.
 

Erbswurst

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 5, 2018
4,079
1,774
Berlin
But don't you need to be a specialist to see the good stuff?
When I was sixteen we went every week to the flea market and bought nearly all equipment there, civil and military equipment.
Nowadays I usually find nothing usefull anymore. WW1 and WW2 are sold out of course. Cold war stuff usualy too. And also the civil things that are offered are mostly pretty young, and not the good old stuff anymore.
 

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
8,461
8,337
Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
It's true, there are fewer and fewer good buys out there now. But, there are only a few makes to look out for and the quality stuff always had the maker's name on it. I still manage to pick up the odd piece - not that I need any more :)
 
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