I think this year I am going to purchase a Gransfors ax I am leaning more towards the wildlife hatchet as opposed to the mini. I am not to concerned with ultralight hiking as most of my trips are overnight or two days at most. Also any recommendations on a aftermarket sheaths. I plan on buying two one for a gift

Cold Steel Trail Hawk here. The head can't fly off of it.

Thanks but I am partial to the Gransfors. I have a dozen or so hatchets. But after seeing the ones posted on here they seem to be in a class by themselves

I have used the wildlife for a few yrs and it has not let me down. No experience with the mini, it looks "cute" and I can't see it being as functional as the wildlife.

I have several of the GB axes . The Small forest does the most work for the least weight. SFA goes most of the time..

Wildlife - but watch how you pack it, the blade is beyond scary sharp.

We carry one in saddle bag about everywhere during hunting season.

I have the Granfors Bruks Small Forrest axe, and feel I could have gotten away with Something smaller. For a little axe it will do some work, but its a little on the cumbersome side to carry for me. I have a Bruks and a Wetterlings, I dont see a big difference in quality myself. If I did it over I would just have gotten a 10" or 13" Wetterlings, and been happier.

The Outdoors ax for a small ax an the Small Forest for a bigger ax.

Great thread. Where is the best place to buy these?

Eric

I just realized the damn auto correct had spelled the name wrong. I think my initial thought of going with the wildlife hatchet for starters. Being able to stop at one may be the hard part

I had the Wildlife hatchet and currently have the Forest axe, much prefer the 25" Forest axe, if I absolutely had to go smaller, I would use a Small Forest axe.

the mini is really designed for breaking down moose & elk. my 9 in. siegle knife will chop wood much better although it's heavier.--cranky72

I have several axes, spent most of the past 60 years cutting wood, in forestry and other bush involvements; I like the Small Forest Axe, intend to buy one this summer. I do have two Wetterlings, choose the handles VERY carefully, the heads are not quite as carefully shaped, but, the steel and treating shows no difference that I can see.

I don't really care for hatchets, have an Estwing I used in the BCFS starting in 1969, still sound, but, a large Bowie for batoning, a "boy's axe" and a 2.5-3" Iltis Oxhead work best for me. For game I like a Wyoming Saw and a pair of D2 3-4" droppoints plus the Small Forest Axe.

I also love the 2-2.25 Lb-28-32" helved Hudson Bay Axe, but, I have not seen one I would pay 5 pence for since the '70s. I used ro have one made here in Canada and it was good, but, can't recall the brand.

If it hasn't already been said, the 'hockey puck' stone that GB sells is a must have IMO.

I looked at the mini and the wildlife hatchet. Couldn't see the mini being much more functional than a large sheath knife so I went with the wildlife hatchet and love it. Big enough to drive tent stakes and split kindling etc without being too heavy. It comes with a nice leather sheath.
While not a particularly useful skill it is also well balanced and rather easy to throw. It is fun and rather satisfying to watch it twack and stick into the side of a tree albeit a bit hard on the trees.

It's just a very nice little hatchet.

I have/had both the Mini and the Wildlife.

Sold the Wildlife because it was too much of an inbetweener .
Too big for backpacking and too small for car camping- the Small Forest will solve that.

Some outstanding vendors that have some models of GB:

http://www.treemanknives.com/

http://www.michiganknives.com/Camping_Work_Tools.html

http://www.agrussell.com/default.asp

As far as an aftermarket sheath I would go kydex.
The blade won't slice through it, it will firmly retain, and won't hold moisture like leather...

http://www.kiahdex.com/

I love the fiskars currently my favorite axe for the money. I am curious about your other two setups. The one looks almost like a machete and paring knife combo

Irving, that pic is from Kiahdex and an example of his kydex sheath work on a hatchet/ax.

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=X5W6r5U7yBE[/video]

Very good video Rob. I watched it once before I played more attention to it this time. Everyone that uses a axe should see it

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!

So that not only will I become addicted to them, so will my buddy whom I am buying one for. Thanks for the input guys I appreciate it. I think I will go with the small forest axe. Is there any difference between that and the hunters axe?

Pretty much the same axe, but the hunters axe has a polished poll. The forest axe is cheaper and it drives stakes and hammers better.

Thanks

Any of them.

Small forest axe is the cat's everlovin' ass...

Carry mine on all hunting camping trips and sometimes just for S&G's on walkabouts...

I have a KoA hatchet but I never carry backpacking. Too heavy and I cant figure out what I would do with it if I did carry it.
I do have a nice splitting maul that I leave at the wall tent for making firewood.

I really fail to understand how I'm turning it into a pissing match, Brad?

From my understanding of your posts, you've been a backpacker since the 70's, and have bought and used, and sold more gear than most. Your outdoor roots are in backpacking.

I grew up packing horses for my overnighters... I didn't get into backpacking until the early 2000's, and there was a time that I tried to invent Bikepacking.

We grew up different in our early years. I'm a hillbilly... I take my axe.

But I am younger... I probably could piss farther.

Crap...why do I feel I have a little guy on my shoulder whispering in my ear, "You NEED a GB small forest axe."

You presume you know how I grew up... you don't.

My first horsepack was in 1969. I grew up with "woodcraft" that always included and axe. I just got away from it when I took up backpacking, but I still would/do pack an axe going horseback or by canoe.

I hear ya snubbie. I have a Forest Axe, gifted by my dad. It is always in my snow machine toboggan and gets a work out to feed the wall tent stove. It is also along on every moose hunt by canoe. It isn't backpack material.

After this thread, dang if I don't think a small forest axe will fill this niche better and save some weight...and it's "only" $120!

On another note, I've been debating the hatchet while backpacking decision. We are trying to do a 3-4 night ski trip with packs this spring using a roll up stove and tarp shelter. It sure would be nice to have the hatchet along, but it sure looks heavy sitting there on my floor. The sawvivor is a given.

I have a buddy who has every GB axe that is available, but he never uses any of them.

There is a retailer a short drive from here that carries the full line of GB axes. In the same aisle are the axes made here in the U.S. by Estwing.
For my money the smaller Estwing sportsmans axe is the smallest and lightest useable axe I have ever held.

If I were buying a full sized axe today, I'd be tempted by the GB stuff.

I've done a LOT with one of the Estwing axe's. Love it,I only wish the handle wasn't hollow, and the shaft right below the head was a little beefier.

I had a guy in AK tell me that Estwings are popular there because wood handles get brittle in extreme cold. I know that's true (as it is for metal also) to some degree, but is it a real issue?

No. That's BS.

I hang an Estwing on my saddle to balance a rifle and if a horse lays on it, it won't snap and I can bend it back to useable.

I've always heard that really hard steel, like the face of a claw hammer or a file, could shatter in something like "Delta Junction/ -50F cold" but that estwing isn't made of anything that brittle.

That's his point...


Travis

I guess it depends on what one is hitting with hardened tool steel.

even frozen green birch won't be a problem.

Just don't file your hammer face at -50.

I'll try to heed that advice. I'd like to live in the interior, even Delta Junction, but the little woman ain't too keen on it. I guess I'll have to settle for Montana.

lived there for 18 years. I've had enough of that cold [bleep].

I could be a snow bird.

a have both the "hunter" ax and the belt hatchet. I don't use the hatchet much and the hunter has a rounded poll for skinning, but it's super sharp!

Looking at this stuff, I remember the Mythbusters where they tried to get a hammer to shatter. They couldn't get a new hammer head to shatter, so they tried an old one, and still couldn't. I forget the context, but I gather it would be very hard. I've dropped some very hard steel. I dropped a freshly heat treated knife blade on the cement floor more than once, and have never shattered or chipped one. An ax head would not be so hard. I can guarantee my Estwing ax is much softer. I sharpen that puppy with a 400 grit belt in a couple minutes. The metal doesn't put up as much fuss as sharpening a lawnmower blade does. It goes away fast. I put up the little video there from Ray Mears. I've got to say, I kind of made my own GB ax out of an old one I had in the garage. I ground about a pound off it, reshaped the head, and I stuck a 19" handle on it. I'm doing a bunch of brush clearing with it. I agree with Ray Mears that the shorter the ax, the more dangerous it is. I kneel down to use the little ax when I can or chop on the opposite side of the tree/log... I've had big felling axes and you have that distance from the big long handle. The little ax, you don't.

I have the Mini and the SFA. I've never found a use for the mini that a 4" fixed blade or a little saw didn't take care of. -- just like having the Mini, I guess. The SFA is a good tool and easy to carry (compared to a felling axe, anyway). If I'm camping in a rig or on horseback, I'll take a 35" double-bit every time. I've got an old Sager that I like a lot. I make my own head covers out of saddle skirting leather. You wouldn't confuse them with factory-made (I'm getting better at making them look nicer) --- But they are really stout.

If a longer handle is safer, why not get the forest axe model instead of the small forest axe when they both have practically the heads?

Other than the helve length then, the only difference between them is the minor weight difference of an extra about 5.5" of wooden handle which is about 1/8th lb. <-- that's why I'd go for the longer one

http://woodtrekker.blogspot.com/2011/04/actual-weight-of-axe-heads.html

I have one of each... I would've guessed the Scandanavian was quite a bit heavier than that.

It is in a sense... at the longer lever arm provided by the extra 5.5", which is where it gets it additional cutting power.

When it is in your pack however, you won't be able to tell the difference.

Having a friend that (nearly ie took the top of his finger nail off) and having all the GB axes mentioned and some others, I now use a Bahco laplander and a "bushcraft" knife and use that to batton.
I was finding that I was taking to many risks with cutting fire wood and kindling and had 1 or to close shaves myself then when the above happened that for me was that. Husqvarne (sp)have some very good axes which I believe are made by Hultfers (sp)

I'm surprised how many people backpack with an axe.

Is it used primarily for wood? Or breaking down big critters?


Travis

Wood.

I have used my shaving sharp gerber to open a few elk chests.....its quick, but as said, one slip and you could bleed out on the hill.

It's alright little buddy. Not everybody lives where there is trees.

I did use my Small Forest to skin my last whitetail. It works better than you'd think. You don't need a fancy polished up poll, and when you hit tricky spots, use the sharp side (duh) But these days, I pretty much use the gutless method, so I don't see me taking apart a critter with an axe anytime soon.

Hunters Axe

The Hunters Axe (on top) clearly lacks the mojo that the Small Forest has (on bottom)



Also worth noting is that the GB Small Forest weighs only 8 ounces more than the one handed Fiskars/Gerber hatchet.

True, and a very practical choice!

However, the mojo factor is even higher on the Gransfors Bruks Swedish Viking Ax -- but not quite as practical!



I don't know if Gransfors Bruks exports their historic axes, but they sell them here in Sweden. I think I need a Viking Axe for my wall...

John

So you use it to chop wood?


Travis

Split wood, make lawn furniture, build log cabins, backcountry [bleep] construction, various other bushcraft type projects, and most importantly....

Running through the trailerhood with my beard braided while yelling ODIN!!!

NICE!!!! I like it a lot The Trailerhood would never be the same.

I have seen one of their trade tomohawks before. But I've never seen any THAT cool.

Exactly.

That viking axe looks really cool jpb, I'd like to put my paws on one.

I don't get it ?

You're not alone.


Travis

For me I think its more of a nostalgia kind of like the difference between a custom knife and a Walmart knife. I like the mountain man image as opposed to the city slicker.

Nice....

Okay Travis, Gruff, and Aces.

What I meant was... In my opinion, the Small Forest axe from Gransfors Brux appeals to me more than the hunters axe. It feels more like an axe in your hands. The only way GB could make an axe uglier than that Hunters Axe is if it was stainless and synthetic. I find fat girls in mini vans wearing sweat pants more attractive than GB's Hunter axe.

Oh, and 90% of what I use an axe for is cutting on wood somehow.

Oh, gotcha. But, just so you know, there is a sharp end of a GB Hunter's Axe, so you can still use it 90% of the time for cutting wood. And, I'm sure fat girls in mini vans wearing sweat pants find you equally attractive.

My 1st ever GB was a Hunters Ax. Didn't really care for the rounded poll so I promptly gave it away. I could see the craftsmanship in the GB'S though and my collection soon began.

I would love to own one of the Viking Axes as well as the Battle Ax and of course a couple broad axes and a Froe.

GB is the best of old wold craftsmanship in a modern world.

They both sort of resemble hail-damaged minivan pilots to me.

Huh!!

I am having a hard time not buying one of their four lugged chopping axes. It is about the same size as the small forest axe (slightly longer handle), with a bit of old school charm.

Chet

For a few years I packed my hatchet that used to be my grandfathers. It's small, lite and holds a wicked edge. Used it some, but it doesn't go in the pack anymore. I've found that a small folding saw is a lot more practical for my uses.

That last line Ed sums up the reason I want to buy them.

All of them. The only thing that goes wrong with them is they get stolen if left out by themselves too much.