Carrying axe's on/in backpacks

[andyn]

Hi all,

Got a bit of a puzzle at the moment and thought i would call upon all you guys to hear your experiences

Next week i am going on a hike/camp down to dartmoor and will be travelling from my doorstep in hampshire to the location on public transport.

Normally I take the car down and just chuck everything in the boot, but now I am going to have to put everything in my rucksack.

My question is, I want/need to take my axe for wood splitting and pretty sure that carrying it on the outside of my bag may cause a few raised eye brows, yet at the same time it doesn't fit in my bag so i am at a loss as to how i'm going to get it down there and think im going to have to end up leaving it behind.

Any ideas or suggestions? Or do you think it should be ok hung from the "walkingpole/ice axe" hooks on my bag?

TIA.

 

[shinobi]

Wrap it in a plastic bag or in some fabric so it's not obvious what it is. You don't want to be scaring everybody, do you?
It's bad enough that everybody thinks you're a suicide bomber just because you're wearing a rucksack, but if they think you're an axe wielding maniac as well, you could be in trouble!!!

Martin

 

[Phil562]

I had a very similar situation recently.

In the end I disguised it using a black bin bag and some sticky tape and used my ice axe loops, carried a spare bin bag and small role of tape for the return journey.

 

[andyn]

Wrap it in a plastic bag or in some fabric so it's not obvious what it is. You don't want to be scaring everybody, do you?
It's bad enough that everybody thinks you're a suicide bomber just because you're wearing a rucksack, but if they think you're an axe wielding maniac as well, you could be in trouble!!!

Martin

Hmm, yeah your right, getting shot several times isn't too appealing......

Thanks Guys, hadn't thought of using bin bags to wrap it up. Spot on. Result.

 

[jdlenton]

Got beaten too it but I’ve typed it now so I’m going post any way



I'd be tempted to wrap it up in something and disguise its shape but I’m not too sure if that would get you in more trouble than just carrying it blatantly exposed there are others on hear will no more about the legal side than me .

Can you not fit it in one side of your bag and have the handle sticking out the top wrap that up and no one will know what it is.

Ah just remembered that I’ve carried crampons ice axe and hammer set on the out side of my bag before and had no hassle but that was in Scotland and not the paranoid townie south east

Sorry if that’s no too helpful and a bit rambling but enjoy Dartmoor anyway

J*

 

[andyn]

I think, according to an article on the front page of here, that as long as i have a legitimate reason for carrying a knife/axe then the police won't arrest me.

But like shinobi said, i don't want to cause a situation where I get appraoched by the police in the first palce.

Yeah i had tried putting it in the bag upside down but then just get the situation where other stuff doesn't fit. I'm only taking a 50L bag and am going for a week and it's totally jam packed.. I've probably got a few more clothes then some poeple would take, but with the weather like it is at the moment, i've got a mixture of different seasons clothes.

 

[bloodline]

Wrap it so it CANT be used immediatley but dont hide it in a furtive way .

 

[Tantalus]

Covering it is a good idea

also if you need to go into a shop or whatever, just dump your whole bag with one of the staff

Same with the bus, put it in the luggage rack and keep an eye on it , if you feel the need , tell the driver its an axe and he can keep an eye on it too

an axe is just a fixed blade under the law, and if ya have a reason for having one its no problem

the main thing is not to alarm people with it, as if a black bin liner actually makes it less dangerous lol but people cant see it and so are not alarmed

ahhhhhh sheeple, where would we be without em ?

Tant

 

[Hoodoo]

If you are handy with sewing or know someone who is, you can make a pouch for it and sew some lashing points to the pouch so you can lash it securely to your pack.

 

[Tantalus]

now hoodoo , ya know every bushcrafter has 1001 uses for a spare black bin bag

Tant

 

[Rhapsody]

I think that covering it is the way to go. If I were you, I'd stick a flat bit of cardboard either side of the axe (to stop it looking like an axe), tape them together into an axe sandwich, then stick it in a carrier bag, or something. The law is such that you're allowed to carry these things as long as they are not stored on you in a readily useable way, so I think that'd cover it.

 

[andyn]

If you are handy with sewing or know someone who is...

That'd be the missus then!

can just about sew up a split seam, but anything more technical than that and i'd just make a mess.

 

[leon-1]

What's the pack and what's the axe??

I regularly (when I am out and about) carry a GB hunters axe inside my day sack (a Sabre45).

Bearing in mind that this has the same sized haft as the Fiskars axe, the SFA and the Wetterlings small hunters axe that should mean that I could carry any of these inside my pack.

The Swedish Army daypacks are also large enough to carry any of the above internally as it is of a very similar size to the sabre.

 

[andyn]

its a vango sherpa and the axe is a random one that i burrowed from my Dad's shed, the handle is about 14" at a guess.

If i take all my other junk out the bag, the axe fits, but with everything else it causes a rather uncomfortable lump.

Will keep experimenting, but think it will end up being wrapped up.

Cheers peeps.

 

[bambodoggy]

Wrap it so it CANT be used immediatley but dont hide it in a furtive way .

Nail on the head there Bloodline If it can't be used then you're only going to have to worry about the "Points and Blades Act", as opposed to that and an "Offensive weapons charge"...

I once went from one side of london to the other on the tube carrying two 80L bergans, one on the front (parachute style) and one on the back, a TV in one hand, Stereo in the other and strapped to one side of my rear bergan was a digeridoo and the other side had a compound bow and a tube of arrows....this was about 12 years ago but nobody really even looked twice at me then.... guess they thought if they mugged me for the TV or stereo I'd have them with the bow!!!! lol lol lol

I am surprised it won't go in the bag though...I can get my Gerber Camp Axe (about the same size as a SFA) inside my HotRock35 without any bother.....do you really need all those pairs of pants and socks? "Carry less by knowing more"!

Good luck,

Bam.

 

[Laurence Dell]

A colleague of mine had a similar problem when he had to carry his chainsaw on the train

He took the bar off and used a bin liner

 

[zambezi]

.....do you really need all those pairs of pants and socks? "Carry less by knowing more"!

Good luck,

Bam.

Bam

You are the only person I have ever seen wearing shorts on a camping trip in the UK in January. I do not think your adjudication of "how much clothing is required" will neccessarily find resonance with the rest of us.


Vince

 

[bambodoggy]

Bam

You are the only person I have ever seen wearing shorts on a camping trip in the UK in January. I do not think your adjudication of "how much clothing is required" will neccessarily find resonance with the rest of us.

Vince

Yer, guess you're right Matey! lol (Still I do often have a spare pair of shorts in my bergan ).

I did the Vildmark week course in Sweden wearing socks, shorts, t-shirt, shirt and pants....and took one identical change of clothing.....wore one set and then wore the next set while I washed the first in the lake and then swapped back and so on...never under stood why people take heaps of clothes when all it does is takes up valuble room for other toys and gadgets! lol

 

[Celt_Ginger]

Hi. When you get on the Bus, say , in a loud voice "Hello everyone, my name is Andy and I have a big chopper. Would anyone like a look?" I bet no-one will want a look, and I also bet you get a seat all to yourself!

 

[beachlover]

Hi. When you get on the Bus, say , in a loud voice "Hello everyone, my name is Andy and I have a big chopper. Would anyone like a look?" I bet no-one will want a look, and I also bet you get a seat all to yourself!

It is probably precisely because that is what he normally says on boarding a bus or train, that he is worried about overtly carrying an axe too