Big Knive or Axe?

[Heavy Duty]

Share your opinions!

Big knife >12" or an Axe/Hatchet?

Personally I really love my big knives for splitting and processing wood.....most of the time.

[bushedbushman]

Ox Head axe for me. Does everything around camp and on the trail. It's always razor sharp.

[Ray1984]

My preference for winter is a hatchet.

[Lonelake]

Axe for me if running a hot tent.

LL

[awbrown]

I use both. Bigger stuff is split with the axe, but I do a lot of batoning with my large knife, splitting kindling.

[brianw]

Axe for me if running a hot tent.

LL

Same for me. Axes are meant for splitting. I feel large knives/machetes are best suited for a jungle type environment. I am of the opinion that winter camping with a hot tent is not a lightweight endeavour and I would prefer use the proper tool for a given task. It is safer, and more effective in terms of time and calories expended.

Cheers

Brian

[Haggis]

I’ve carried a hatchet or a Boy Scout sized axe along my daytime winter travel routes for well over 50 years, but early last winter I picked up a 9” leuku, and there’s been no looking back... Between the leuku and a small bahco folding saw, there’s but little I can’t accomplish when out for the day... A bonus is that the leuku is far less likely to bite my person in an over swing, or a miss, and the longer blade sure reduces the chance of missing my mark...

Hatchet Haggis becomes Big Knife Haggis,,, I still have trouble accepting how well it works... Then though, there’s been countless generations of far north people who found their 8” or 9” leuku quite enough...

Winter camping and feeding an ever hungry wood stove is a whole ‘nother varmint,,, big heat needs big tools...

[Smoked in Space]

Winter is my axes’ favorite time to go camping.

not sure about that apostrophe ^

[Minnesotian]

For winter I bring and axe and a hatchet. Axe for outside the tent splitting the wood into manageable pieces, and a hatchet for in the tent in case I need to split them down more. In the tent I use the hatchet like a batoning knife.

[Lonelake]

same for me. Axes are meant for splitting. I feel large knives/machetes are best suited for a jungle type environment. I am of the opinion that winter camping with a hot tent is not a lightweight endeavour and i would prefer use the proper tool for a given task. It is safer, and more effective in terms of time and calories expended.

Cheers

brian

right on!

LL

[Heavy Duty]

I know I'm the odd one out, but perhaps if I post a video of my technique utilizing a big blade will spark some interest. 😃

[Justin P.]

I know I'm the odd one out, but perhaps if I post a video of my technique utilizing a big blade will spark some interest. 😃

I'd like to see how you do it.
It's good to see other ways of accomplishing things.
I alternate between a knife and an axe.
And probably more out of tradition lean more on the axe as it gets colder.
But I also have a new custom big knife being made, so...........

[Heavy Duty]

I'd like to see how you do it.
It's good to see other ways of accomplishing things.
I alternate between a knife and an axe.
And probably more out of tradition lean more on the axe as it gets colder.
But I also have a new custom big knife being made, so...........

Sure! I use my axe at times as well. I started using it on my fatbike while hot tenting in the winter. Weight and bulk is a major issue on a bicycle and I've grown to really like it.

[mjh]

Axe for heavy work. Big knife for medium work. I'm not much of a hatchet guy. If I'm using a hatchet I'm woodcarving, kneeling, or in such a situation/position where I can't fit an axe and I need to chop something. I can choke up on an axe for some chores. I feel I have more control with a big knife for hatchet like chores. I can use the big knife for other camp and cooking chores. Don't forget the saw.........

[Old MukR]

Small to medium sized wood split up using my knife. Large logs split, or felling chores will fall to my pack axe. Batonning wood with a knife is NOT a new thing, nor is it incorrect.


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