help me choose an axe!

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unorthadox

Forager
Jan 14, 2011
237
0
Newcastle
I've been looking at axe reviews for a while but it's not getting me anywhere.

I want an axe that will be used pretty much only for collecting firewood and building shelters, i wont be doing any carving etc

What i am after is something that can cut sections of tree trucks effectivly.

I will be carrying it in/on an army issue longback bergan, weight isnt an issue for me but i would like hte size to be practical enough to walk 5-10 miles with.


Finally, I have an upper spending limit of £35, but would prefer around £20-£25.


Any reccomendations?
 

Xunil

Settler
Jan 21, 2006
671
3
55
North East UK
www.bladesmith.co.uk
Sounds like you need a decent saw and an inexpensive hatchet with enough weight for splitting to me. Both will come in within budget and offer you far more flexibility not to mention cutting efficiency.

Example:

Bahco 396 Lap Laplander Folding Saw from Amazon at under £17 delivered.

It goes crossways through timber faster than any axe unless you're chopping like a maniac. It is light, packs well, and super-efficient at what it does, or a folding bow saw of some sort if you want to tackle bigger cuts would work. Both leave a neater cut as well which should be important to you if you want landowners to invite you back onto their land...

Any car boot fair or second hand shop will have a selection of hatchets to choose from or if you search on Amazon in the DIY & tools section for the word hatchet you will find lots of potential contenders.

If you absolutely must have an axe then try running a second search in Amazon's DIY & tools section for the keyword axe and you will find quite a few within your price range. None of them are great but some of them a fairly useful overall and it's an unusual oddity that many of the less expensive axes are ground in a fashion that makes them better splitters. You need to figure out whether you want to chop or split though, because all axes are a compromise and most won't do both of those tasks well.

Spear & Jackson - Razorsharp Razorsharp 2.5lb Axe at £18.99 could work if you dress the edge up a little. They're OK overall and have potential if you work on that edge a bit.

If you throw a few quid extra into the pot you open up options that include the Cold Steel Trail Boss which is (possibly too) big but very capable, or you might find one of the special offers on Husqvarna or Hultafors, or a used Gransfors Bruks may come on the market.

Recently Lurch was selling a Hultafors Trekking Axe for £40 delivered on this thread: http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65860 and it's a great general camp axe without going up into the silly weights and size.

To be honest I think you'd be much better off looking for an inexpensive eBay Elwell 2 1/2lb or smaller head and re-haft it yourself - there are a couple on eBay right now.

I'd strongly suggest a saw over the axe though - faster, neater, less effort and less weight on your back.
 
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unorthadox

Forager
Jan 14, 2011
237
0
Newcastle
Sounds like you need a decent saw and an inexpensive hatchet with enough weight for splitting to me. Both will come in within budget and offer you far more flexibility not to mention cutting efficiency.

Example:

Bahco 396 Lap Laplander Folding Saw from Amazon at under £17 delivered.

It goes crossways through timber faster than any axe unless you're chopping like a maniac. It is light, packs well, and super-efficient at what it does, or a folding bow saw of some sort if you want to tackle bigger cuts would work. Both leave a neater cut as well which should be important to you if you want landowners to invite you back onto their land...

Any car boot fair or second hand shop will have a selection of hatchets to choose from or if you search on Amazon in the DIY & tools section for the word hatchet you will find lots of potential contenders.

If you absolutely must have an axe then try running a second search in Amazon's DIY & tools section for the keyword axe and you will find quite a few within your price range. None of them are great but some of them a fairly useful overall and it's an unusual oddity that many of the less expensive axes are ground in a fashion that makes them better splitters. You need to figure out whether you want to chop or split though, because all axes are a compromise and most won't do both of those tasks well.

Spear & Jackson - Razorsharp Razorsharp 2.5lb Axe at £18.99 could work if you dress the edge up a little. They're OK overall and have potential if you work on that edge a bit.

If you throw a few quid extra into the pot you open up options that include the Cold Steel Trail Boss which is (possibly too) big but very capable, or you might find one of the special offers on Husqvarna or Hultafors, or a used Gransfors Bruks may come on the market.

Recently Lurch was selling a Hultafors Trekking Axe for £40 delivered on this thread: http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65860 and it's a great general camp axe without going up into the silly weights and size.

To be honest I think you'd be much better off looking for an inexpensive eBay Elwell 2 1/2lb or smaller head and re-haft it yourself - there are a couple on eBay right now.

I'd strongly suggest a saw over the axe though - faster, neater, less effort and less weight on your back.


I would use the axe for cutting, and almost never splitting (come to think of it ive never split any yet over the years), the majority of the use for basicly cutting the main body of fallen trees, most of the trees in the area ore pine i believe and have a circumference of about 30inches (about the same as a small adult waistline).

The laplander folding saw looks tempting but ive got concerns it isnt quite big enough to handle this size trunk, most video demos i see use the main branches or thinner trunks.

THanks for the reccomendations, weight isnt an issue it could be 15kg and ill be fine with it, and ill carry any size up about 30-35inches long. Im jsut after something that will do the job fast and cost roughly £20-30
 

Jinsin456

Settler
Nov 14, 2010
725
0
Maybole, Scotland
Both the Laplander and the Husqvarna hatchet will probably surprise you as they are probably the best you will get on your budget, I've cut a trunk of about 8-9 inch diameter with a bit of effort from the Laplander and the Huskie hatchet is just a great thing in a small package. Your other option would really be a GB axe but these are a bit out of you price range. Another good option would be a bow saw either an all in one unit that you assemble or just take the blade and bend a branch round, this would definately be the most effective for a trunk and relatively cheap for just the blade which would leave more money for a decent axe for splitting and limbing.
 
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Xunil

Settler
Jan 21, 2006
671
3
55
North East UK
www.bladesmith.co.uk
I would use the axe for cutting, and almost never splitting (come to think of it ive never split any yet over the years), the majority of the use for basicly cutting the main body of fallen trees, most of the trees in the area ore pine i believe and have a circumference of about 30inches (about the same as a small adult waistline).

The laplander folding saw looks tempting but ive got concerns it isnt quite big enough to handle this size trunk, most video demos i see use the main branches or thinner trunks.

THanks for the reccomendations, weight isnt an issue it could be 15kg and ill be fine with it, and ill carry any size up about 30-35inches long. Im jsut after something that will do the job fast and cost roughly £20-30


30 inch diameter logs ?

I'd recommend, wait for it, a bigger saw :D
 

Lynx

Nomad
Jun 5, 2010
423
0
Wellingborough, Northants
"Spear & Jackson - Razorsharp Razorsharp 2.5lb Axe at £18.99 could work if you dress the edge up a little. They're OK overall and have potential if you work on that edge a bit".

I bought the S&J Hatchet at £15 from B&Q and had Longstrider on BB sharpen it for me. It now slices paper!!!!!! There is a picture of the end result on this thread:

http://www.britishblades.com/forums...er-s-sharpening-service&p=1619124#post1619124

You could fit a SFA handle to it if you want to. The head is 1.5lb
 

unorthadox

Forager
Jan 14, 2011
237
0
Newcastle
Ok, thanks everyone for the reccomendations , looks like i will be going with the Husqvarna hatchet and possibly the Laplander
 

Hedgehog

Nomad
Jun 10, 2005
434
0
54
East Sussex
30 inch "circumference". about 7 inch diameter.. in hindsight probly a bad estimate.. they are closer to 10-15 inches in diameter.

If you want to cut many of them in a reasonable time I'd go for something a way bigger than a hatchet & a folding saw.

Are we talking logging 10-15" diameter trunks for firewood? ...for home/stove or just for a nights camping?
 

unorthadox

Forager
Jan 14, 2011
237
0
Newcastle
If you want to cut many of them in a reasonable time I'd go for something a way bigger than a hatchet & a folding saw.

Are we talking logging 10-15" diameter trunks for firewood? ...for home/stove or just for a nights camping?

Using the firewood for night camping.

Last yr i used a gerber sport axe which was great until the 3rd day which was a nightmare cos the owner had nothing to sharpen it and i didnt have the knowledge to do it myself. We were supplying for a camp fire for 8 of us pretty much the entire afternoon and evening each day for 3 days.

This time round we wont have the gerber and i want a decent axe for a reasonable price (i still remember the frustration using the axe when it was blunt and i can imagine a poor quality axe will cause the same kind of frustration)
 

nunzionuk

Full Member
From what i've seen of the gerber sports axe it is pretty good, but any axe will need sharpening after a days use. I would advise learning how to sharpen it, I think the 5 quid kit that is sticked somewhere would be good enough.
 

unorthadox

Forager
Jan 14, 2011
237
0
Newcastle
From what i've seen of the gerber sports axe it is pretty good, but any axe will need sharpening after a days use. I would advise learning how to sharpen it, I think the 5 quid kit that is sticked somewhere would be good enough.

Yeah ive been looking up sharpening techniques, and i really appreciated having a decent axe last time, and the need to keep one sharp in future
 

Hedgehog

Nomad
Jun 10, 2005
434
0
54
East Sussex
A sharp axe is indeed your friend. A cheap axe may need more frequent attention but a blunt axe is a blunt axe no matter how much it cost or the quality of the steel. Go with what you can afford & get a good sharpening kit together. Depending on what you buy you might need to re-profile it with a file to get the best out of it.

There is a lot of very good information about axes here if you do some searches.

This is worth a read...
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/fspubs/99232823/page15.htm#sharp
 

Longstrider

Settler
Sep 6, 2005
990
12
59
South Northants
The tool you really want for splitting logs is a maul, not n axe ;) Using an axe is Ok around camp if you have no alternative, but beware damage to the helve by having it hit logs that fail to split in a nice straight line across the top.
Either that or treat yourself to a couple of splitting wedges or a wood grenade (you can always bash at then with a log instead of taking a sledgehammer), just please, please don't have at them with the poll of an axe !
 

jonnie drake

Settler
Nov 20, 2009
600
1
west yorkshire
a second hand granfors bruks small forest axe will come out around 40 squids, and they are a great all round tool, especially for wet weather fires to split dead standing timber. But I have to say I find a good folding saw useful for thinner green wood which is more likely what you are after for shelter building. And they are a lot lighter too.
 

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