Best budget camping axe?

[Redhand Jack]

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]

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]

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!

 

[MartiniDave]

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.

 

[Kadushu]

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.

 

[R_Fonseca]

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

 

[Robson Valley]

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.

 

[spandit]

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

 

[Erbswurst]

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]

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*

 

[Robson Valley]

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.

 

[Minotaur]

Would not the cheapest one be at a car boot? It would also solve the steel problem.

 

[Broch]

Would not the cheapest one be at a car boot? It would also solve the steel problem.

That's where all my axes come from - excellent quality and value - some from the late 1800's

 

[Erbswurst]

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]

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