Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Which Gransfors Bruks Ax?

I invested in a small forest axe.Fits in my pack and handles most large tasks well

I like the Small Forest axe,I find the mini to small to be of any real use
Tim

For most people, a saw is a safer tool if cutting wood is your primary intended use. I have a couple Gransfors and Wetterlings and think that they are excellent. The Gransfors have more finish to them, but we're talking axes to be used, not hung on a wall and admired.

If you want to spend a lot less money for what looks like it would be a sturdy little axe, Council Tool's twenty-eight ounce Hudson Bay style specs out very close to Wetterlings' Small Hunting Axe, but it isn't hand-made and it isn't Swedish.

http://www.neemantools.com/en/products/axes


Or if you want a mercedes step up to the stalwart....

If owning just one I'd say the small forest axe is it. Small enough to carry and will still do big work if you need it. I also have the Scandinavian forest axe and probably use it more around the house, but the small forest is the best do it all in my opinion. I know Dan Adair and EdT have a newer model that is like a hatchet with a metal handle guard. Don't know the name but it would be worth a look to.

Get the Husqvarna.

It's made by Hultafors and it's about a 90% GB but for HALF THE PRICE.

Mine was perfectly helved and the bikini mask it came with is my preference. I've had 3 GB's and a Wetterlings but the Husky is my favorite.

It took about 5 strokes on each side to get razor sharp.







I'm going to get a couple more...

If I could have only one GB ax, it would be the Small Forest ax, but beware, GB's are addicting. I have something like 6 or 7 with several more on the want list.

Now that's funny!

It seems like anymore, the wetterlings are so close in price to the Gransfors, you might as well get the Gransfors. I didn't know about the huskys, I'll have to look into them.

Nice thread, engaging opinon's, etc. Hatchets are great tools, I've got several...

But who actually carries a hatchet backpacking?

I don't. Maybe for an overnighter but realistically, I have no real need for one. Unless it's an essential piece of gear I'm not carrying the extra weight. Of course, I'm still sorting out what is "essential".
My GB is a nice little toy for me that is mostly used in the backyard around the firepit.

I carry one often.

doubtful very far in a backpack but pretty likely in a canoe or kayak

I take my Gransfors Hunters axe everywhere when I am out and about on the snogo. Keep it in the boat during the summer months.

I carry a gransfors mini alot on day hunts. Between it and the neck knife I can do anything needed.

For my outdoor use, a hatchet and a big knife are sexy, a saw is a must. Leaving them at home let's me justify carrying a Mystery Ranch pack (really been lovin' my G6000). I have the GB mini and the Hunter.
Don
PS I've found that my Trioxane tabs will overcome poorly dressed firewood, to make a nice campfire in almost any situation

Brad and Ed are spot on the money... The Small Forest is a bad ass all arounder, and I carry mine a lot. Especially when I bowhunt in The Burns, standing dead Lodgepole is about all you're going to find to make fire of any kind there and the SF's ability to split that better than a true hatchet is why it goes along. Plus, on longer trips I take it just for use around camp. You give me an axe, rope (or 550 cord), and whiskey and I can build anything you can imagine with an axe.

It's hard to find much cataloged about the new "Outdoors Axe" that GB is making, but it's light years better than any hatchet on the market (including their other 3) The handle is just enough longer that it "can do some damage" as EdT puts it.

Anyhow, digging through my archives on Photobucket, I found this pic of EdT's axes brother. From our Fireworks thread a while back.


GB's are addictive. I'm up to 3 of them, and already eyeballing a splitting maul

The Husky Hultafors Brux axes are a good value. I'll admit it. They too are forged and can be nice and sharp. They make 3. The Carpenters Axe (which sees tons of use with local loggers) The Multi Purpose Axe, which is pretty much a GB Scandanavian Forest axe and a great "truck axe" Then they have the Hatchet, which is a pound and a quarter and has a 15" handle, it's also the most ill handling blocky piece of [bleep] they catalog. The Husky axes are a good value, but they don't feel near as good in the hands as the GBs, not even close. The most handy in the group is the Carpenters axe, and I keep one in the truck. It's a pig at 2.2 Lbs, but you can do lots of cool [bleep] with it and a pile of driftwood when the flyfishing sucks.

I never go anywhere overnight without an axe along of some variety.

But then I "grew up" different than you in the outdoors order of things. I started out living in wall tents, and packing [bleep] into Deckers on mules. I just made "essential" gear lighter and less bulky in my kit.

I'm not a "geeked out" backpacker kind of guy.

Plus, I have a woodstove in my tent

Dan, only you could take a legitimate question and turn it into a pissing match.

Don't just eyeball...buy without reservation. They are awesome!