Hello gang Can anyone here recomend a good camping axe
have been looking at Estwing and Gransfors axes and need a good quality axe.
Thanks
Lee <img src="images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Camping AX?

What size are you looking for?

What will you be using it for? Firewood, lumbering, shelter building, all the above?

What type of camping? Car, Backpacking, Fleeing TEOTWAWKI?

What is important to you about your ax? Durability, Edge holding? Comfort of use? Power of Swing? Compactness for carry? Lightness for carry?

Have you done a search of the forum for AX's setting the date to all posts? There was a very recent thread about the Gerber CampAX and the Granfors Bruks have been well reviewed here as well tho not as recently.

Gransfor's are the Rolls Royce of axes. Wetterlings are another swedish axe of excellent quality at considerably less money. www.ragweedforge.com sells all 3 models. Ragnar gives excellent service and cheap shipping ( a $5 flat rate for anything you buy.) A good review of safe axemanship is Mors Kochanski's BUSHCRAFT.

Thanks all great replies what I'm using it for is camping and fire making the usual stuff.

Leemann <img src="images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I will give a mini review of a few Gransfors axes that I have.

First an image to show relative sizes.



I have the Splitting Maul, Scandanavian Forest Ax, the Hunter's Ax, Swedish Carving Ax, and the Mini. All but the Mini are described at the GB site.

http://www.gransfors.com/htm_eng/index.html

As stated above the intended purposes choose the ax.

The 5 GB axes I have are all for different purposes and reasons, but the 3 that are most appropriate to this forum, in my view, would be the Scandanavian Forest Ax, the Hunter's Ax, and the Mini.

Scandanavian Forest Ax is a 3/4 size Hudson bay type ax and best suited for truck or canoe carry where serious firewood needs would be the prime purpose. The larger felling ax would be even a better choice if major wood operations was the goal. I carry my SFA in the truck.

Hunter's Ax or Small Forest Ax are super tools for firemaking . These are the same overall size but the forest ax has a hammer poll and a slightly different shaped helve. The Hunter's Ax is my favorite GB but I would probably buy the small forest now for the hammer poll. I use this one for small fires for cooking, boiling etc.



My most recent addition is the Mini. This is a very small---coat pocket sized ax. It is very light and handy again for the lunch time boilups. I have not extensively used this ax yet but I am prediciting it will become a commonly carried tool.

So my choice for your stated purpose would most likely be the Small Forest Ax or Mini.

I recommend Daren Cutsforth as a source. Service is excellent. I also caution that GB will be raising prices significantly due to the dollar strength soon.

He currently has the Hunter's Ax on sale for $69, and good prices on the rest of the line.

http://www.cutsforthknives.com/

Here is another comparison image from Treeman Knives



They are from the left:

Mini, Carpenter, Scandanavian Forest, Hunter's, Double, Small Forest, American Felling, Swedish Carving.

From this image you can see how mini the mini actually is.

I'll pretty much just second what everyone else has said.

I have a couple of the Gerber/Fiskars "Sport" Axes, a Gransfors Wildlife (the new handle style) and Gransfors Mini, a Vaughn sub-zero (that makes the Gransfors Mini look heavy and thick), some no-name axe from Russia that was a gift, a couple from hardware stores, a whole lot of tomahawks, some of them expensive and hand-forged, and an old Estwing hatchet... somewhere.

I had read some on-line conversations about Norlund hatchets, and finally saw a two in person for the first time just a couple of days ago. Maybe they used to be better, but these were junk. Poor, squared-off, rough-varnished handles, one had the head misaligned a lot. Thick bits, poor hickory. Very disappointing. They were on sale for $14.95, and I didn't see any takers.

I don't like the Estwing much. It's heavy for it's size, the varnish on the leather-disk handle cracked and peeled quickly leaving it unprotected, and the handle is very uncomfortable to "choke up" on for fine-control tasks. It may be true that the steel-shank handle can't break, but IMHO, if you use and carry it enough, you sort of wish it would.

The Gransfors Mini and Vaughn sub-zero are great little hatchets for light use or emergency use; they're just the thing to pack when you don't expect to really need one and a heavier hatchet would get left at home. Convenience and peace of mind for very little weight. For heavy use, if you had a choice, you'd pick something larger, but they do amazingly well for their tiny size. Be aware how very small they are before ordering one, though. A lot of people are surprised when they hold it for the first time- it feels like a toy at first.

If I had to pick a single do-it-all hatchet, it would be the Gransfors Wildlife. It's about the largest I'd want to carry all day on foot... I don't ride horseback much, or canoe, so if I'm not on foot, then I'm generally not far from the car, and so I have a stove and a lot of other gear- don't need an axe at all. That's just me.

The real problem with Gransfors is that, once you get used to one, all the others don't seem very good any more.

Presumed, you make an absolute perfect point about choking up on the handle. When I am preparing fuzz sticks or splits with my Hunter's ax, my hand is right up against the head. This is just about the most efficient wood shaver position I have ever found. The comfort of the handle and the shape of the ax head allow exceptional and safe control of the tool, and for me much faster and better than any knife I have ever used. I have used the steel shafted Estwing and could not stand that handle. I totally agree with:

<img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Thanks tons the info helped alot the link to Cutsforth did well
a small forest axe will soon arrive. Another question where to get a stone for sharpening this fine axe?.

Again Thanks all this group Rocks!.
Leemann <img src="images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I also had a great experience with Cutsforth, and will deal with him again in the future.

He has the Gransfors waterstone right on his main web page:

http://www.cutsforthknives.com/

I'm surprised you missed it.

I have one, but I have to confess I haven't used it at all yet. I've touched up the Wildlife and Gerbers with a Lansky pocket stone, but at home I mostly use emory cloth or 600 grit wet-and-dry sandpaper on a rubber sanding block. It's just easier and faster.

Again, my priorities are different, and for me, weight is a big one. For travelling on foot I wouldn't take a stone, I'd take one of the thin diamond hones that Ragnar sells. I think they're "EZ Lap" but I'm not sure. I've even made a sheath for one knife that has a pocket for one of these (very flat) hones on the backside, out of sight, so knife and hone are always together. The next sheath I make is going to have a loop for a ferrocerium rod firestarter as well.

I also bought the GB waterstone from Cutsforth on my last order. Have not used it yet. I too would probably not carry it on a trip where normal firebuilding was the plan. I would carry it and a file on a major trip (say a dream 2+ month canoe trip) or in the truck though. For my normal short trips I have not had to sharpen.

I have used sandpaper on a mouse pad for my edge work so far on all my axes.

Thanks- I think "choking up" on a hatchet is an often-overlooked point, not just for fine work with wood, but as a skinner (I'm told), as a food chopper ("ulu" style) and even for slicing.. and I'm beginning to think that's partly behind the surprise popularity of the Gransfors Mini. It's amazing how many "knife" tasks it does very well, even food prep... and it chops wood much better than any knife it's weight I've tried... and it doesn't seem to alarm some people at all the way a large knife does... or, sometimes, any knife does. It's versatility makes it hard to beat for the size and weight.

The Estwing sort of reminds me of the old Dodge in-line six-cylinder cars, like the "Valiant". They were utterly reliable, and lasted forever with minimal care, but after a few years of driving one, you were looking for any excuse to get rid of it. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I've been meaning to try the mouse-pad/sandpaper thing, but the only knives I had with full-convex grinds were a BRK&T Mini-Canadian and Highland, and I ended up trading them both away. Nice knives, very sharp, but much smaller than they look in pictures, heavy for their size, and the full untapered tangs made even the Highland a little handle-heavy... and the Mini weighed more than some useful knives I have that are twice it's size. Also not quite enough point for my taste (I think Mike said they're changing the point on the Highland after the first production run), but, mostly, the handles were just a bit small for my hand.

I still have high hopes for the North Star, though. We'll see.

Has anyone tried that little Smith & Wesson axe?

I saw one at the local gun store, and it is as cute as all get-out, but I wonder if it is practical?

Now that I have read about "choking up" for some uses, I am going to try it out the next time I get to the gun shop. The price tag on it was $37.50 USD I think.

Bountyhunter

I did'nt looking for an in expensive sharpener may have to buy it though.

Leemann

Randy,

I have long lusted after the GB axes, and I plan on buying a few as the funds become available, but I have never considered getting one of their mauls or their wedges. I just can't see spending that much money on a sharpened sledge hammer and then pounding on a $50+ wedge with it. My $25 hardware store go-devil and $7 wedges work fine. Is their a difference in the performance that justifies the additional expense?

Thanks,

Andy

Chris, I couldn't find the axes on Ragnar's site. I did see the throwing axes, but that would only work if I'm splitting wood from the far side of the campsite! <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Ade,

If sledge and wedge is your normal proceedure than I would not get the GB maul. If maul splitting is your norm than yes the maul is worth it. I no longer live in a house heated with wood, but for 16 years I did heat 25-50% with wood. I have an Oregon maul, sledge, several wedges, and the GB maul. Only the last 2 years of my wood burning did I have the GB maul. But it is much sharper in profile than my Oregon maul and would split some woods much better and easier than the heavier and more wedgy Oregon.

So depending on your wood and desired splitting operation the maul may or may not be worth the money. I can only say that for maple, alder, fir, and cedar the GB maul was many times superior to the Oregon maul.

I never invested in a GB wedge, my Oregon Grenades and normal wedges always did the trick.

When I split with sledge and wedge I did not use the GB poll but another Oregon sledge. Nothing wrong with it but my Oregon sledge was heavier and that fiber/plastic handle worked very well, and could be easily and cheaply replaced should I miss the wedge.

For smaller hand axes or Hudson Bay axes though the Gransfors are vastly superior to ANY domestic hardware store ax I have ever used.

Remember the price increase is coming and it will be ~40%, so if you can now is the time to buy.

Billvann. The wetterling axes are on the axes throwing axe and knives section. Look there for wetterling. They do not sell gransfors tho. <img src="images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Leemann

Randy,

Thats what I thought. Thanks for confirming it, though.

Thanks and take care,

Andy