This will have NO pictures, as frankly, it isn't worth it for the review I am writing. So I won this when I was in the US. It looked reasonable for a camping axe, good size, portable, and the one on display was very sharp, so I was somewhat happy when I pulled the raffle ticket and won it.
This is the axe in question - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Camco-Athle...UTF8&qid=1407150691&sr=8-1&keywords=camco+axe
I got the axe shipped to the UK at my own cost ($12USD) and was quite happy. It came through last Thursday, and I have been handling it over the weekend, and let me tell you the pros and cons of the axe.
Pros
I know it is not a thorough or indepth review, however, the axe is not worth anywhere near the money being asked on Amazon, or any other sites. For a freebie, its ok, however I would have expected that this would at least be able to keep an edge instead of needing sharpening after hour or so of use. No other axes in my possession have needed as much sharpening as this.
In short, do not buy for yourself, or for anyone else, but as a freebie do accept it. For an emergency tool (which it will be for me, a very last ditch emergency tool) it would be OK but it isn't as good as it could be, or was billed to be when I won it.
This is the axe in question - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Camco-Athle...UTF8&qid=1407150691&sr=8-1&keywords=camco+axe
I got the axe shipped to the UK at my own cost ($12USD) and was quite happy. It came through last Thursday, and I have been handling it over the weekend, and let me tell you the pros and cons of the axe.
Pros
- Light weight and reasonable balance. For a camping axe, it is very light weight (to the point my 5 year old daughter can handle it with ease) and has a reasonable balance from the head to the end of the shaft.
- Plastic sheath - Whilst not as good as a leather one, when it was raining heavily over the weekend, I put it in the sheath and it did the job. Kept the axe dry whilst I was waiting for the rain to stop.
- Good flat back side - The back edge of the blade was big enough for me to hammer in tent pegs, and even use as an emergency hammer for nails.
- Poor blade - this is really an understatement. I got the axe out, and sharpened it for about half hour, as normally you would have to put your own point on the blades. Now either I did a horrendous job (unlikely as my other axes are shaving sharp) or this blade is really bad. I am inclined to think its the latter. Once it was sharpened (3 hours later) it was dulled quickly when splitting small logs. Even feathering a small log it failed horribly at.
- Bad grip - the rubberised grip in the shaft caused me to have blisters across my thumb and finger tips. It is advertised as a non-slip and ergonomic, and I can tell you, it is exactly that, however it causes friction blisters faster than any other tools I have used. Also if you get sweaty palms, or don't use gloves, it more than likely will slip out at some point.
I know it is not a thorough or indepth review, however, the axe is not worth anywhere near the money being asked on Amazon, or any other sites. For a freebie, its ok, however I would have expected that this would at least be able to keep an edge instead of needing sharpening after hour or so of use. No other axes in my possession have needed as much sharpening as this.
In short, do not buy for yourself, or for anyone else, but as a freebie do accept it. For an emergency tool (which it will be for me, a very last ditch emergency tool) it would be OK but it isn't as good as it could be, or was billed to be when I won it.
