I'd like to state the case for a Vintage Elwell No 3 head from eBay, a Faithful Hickory axe handle from Amazon in any length you find suitable, a wedge from a packet of axe wedges, and the inclination to think about what you want from your axe and then roll your sleeves up and get your hands a little dirty and tinker with it.
Result: around (or even under) £30 all-in and the pleasure of working with a superb old tool, giving it a new lease of life, and customising it to fit your own preferences. The end product should easily outlast its owner.
There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all; what suits me won't suit you and vice versa.
I am 6' 4" and about 230 pounds (ish) and my frame and large hands allow me to use axes that others would not find comfortable in use.
Personally I have a lot of time for Wetterlings, if you don't mind spending some time on the bevels. I don't find the various GB axes have any particular advantage over the Wetterlings counterparts I have other than a slightly better off-the-shelf grind. In fact, the Wetterlings I have owned have performed better once the edge is properly established than the GB counterparts, and they seem to have been better heat treated. The vintage Elwell (and similar) heads are great winter projects that you can truly customise to your own needs.
A mate of mine thinned down an Elwell no 6 at the edge on my belt grinder and also took a bit of weight off the back with cutting disks on an angle grinder in his own workshop and ended up turning a great felling axe into a stunning limbing/light felling axe which more suited his needs. Cost was nominal (other than the time spent) and the result is entirely individual. Consider it the end product of his own very personal requirements analysis.
I picked up half a dozen various size Elwell heads at a car boot sale recently for £20. Most of them are the larger felling axes but if you are patient you can still find the smaller heads now and then, and the little Elwell 11/4lb carpenters axe is a great little hatchet for those looking for a small pack axe for kindling and shelter poles etc and the 2 and 3/4lb Elwell is an almost perfect pack-axe.
I have two of the felling axes restored and helved, ready for one of my friends who is a forester on a large estate. The others will follow during the coming weeks as time allows - happy days
From the bottom in the following picture, to compare sizes: Elwell no 6, Elwell no 5, Gransfors Bruks Scandinavian Forest Axe, Wetterling Carpenters Axe, my own hand forged Damascus hatchet with Cocobolo handle, Gransfors Bruks Wildlife Hatchet. For the sake of discussion the two hatchets are lying over three laminated longbow blanks (Hickory over Lemonwood, bamboo over Ipe, and bamboo over Lemonwood), and I use my Damascus hatchet and the Wetterling Carpenters Axe to do the majority of the roughing out when making my bows.
I'd be keen to see pictures from the top of the head of Rays new axe to get a better idea of edge geometry but, on the surface, I don't see anything radically different from the Small Forest Axe other than the potential for a little more power to the cut. Frankly, I think most people could match that extra bite by adjusting their technique with a Small Forest Axe instead of replacing it with a more expensive model, but maybe that's just me.
And for the record, for anyone who needs anything bigger than a hatchet (if you do, what the heck are you doing, and where ?) I still think that the Gransfors Bruks Scandinavian Forest Axe kicks the tar out of the Small Forest Axe in every way.
I'll get my coat...
