Well, I'm not a big hatchet fan, but one of my grandfathers was. He carried, in his car or on his belt when he was in the woods, a roofer's hatchet. The head is heavy enough to be a hammer (watch the upstroke), and the handle is a little longer than most of the lousy hatchet's I see around thesse days. <br><br>A good one, maybe with a spiffy-keen rot-free and non-conductive fiberglass handle, shouldn't run you much more than 25, 30 bucks at your local True Value or Home Depot. And in case of national loss of common sense, it's only a carpenter's tool, not an evil "survivalist thingy". :)<br><br>Heck, if a drywall hammer takes and holds a decent axe edge, it's even more common place.