If you lend your hatchet, lend your suture kit as well :-).

I prefer to give inexperienced users a saw. Faster, lighter and safer for most purposes. For backpacking, I bought a spare saw blade from an outdoor shop. The kind that cuts on the "pull" stroke, used in those folding saws. Used a grinder to remove 3" of teeth and create a handle, which I wrapped with cloth first-aid tape. Works like a hot darn, and weighs less than 2 ounces.