I have always used my Junglas and a 4 or 6 for the most part but I bought a Council Tool 24" Woodcraft and I am really liking the small knife and forest axe concept in my Kentucky woods. Anyone else do this rather than a big knife in the hardwoods? I think in a jungle I'd take a smaller knife and a machete so kinda the same concept. My woodcraft just does so much more than a big chopper does.
Let, me spend a little more time with it and I will do a review. I am trying to become proficient with all of its features, It's not a tool I am used to doing any more than splitting logs with. I will do a review and post it though.
I always carry The 3... knife, chopper and saw. I mostly tramp Georgia pine Forrest and some hardwood thickets but I have never felt unequipped. I busted up a lot of firewood growing up and although I've never examined why I just never felt that comfortable with anything smaller than a full size axe or maul. I did try a few times using hatchets and hawks while camping and never felt comfortable using them. While enjoying the woods I feel more at home with a Mora bushcraft black, a Bahco saw and a reworked Ontario SP-8.
Choppers can have the advantage when dealing with woody growth that's mostly around thumb thickness since you're dealing with a small target and large striking zone, especially if you're working in tight quarters. However, for larger woody targets an axe will quickly outpace it. If lush vegetation or lithe, whippy woody growth is involved, a machete will work better than either option. Context is everything in appropriately matching tools to tasks.
I switch depending on the season/environment, summer time I have a junglas or one of several different machetes ranging from a 14 inch tramotina to a 20 inch panga, also like my beat up 18 inch ontario. In the summer it's more about clearing a camp site of vegetation or clearing a trail, and then just enough firewood to cook with and have a smoky fire to keep the bugs away. Come winter time when there is less of the light leafy vegitation and more of a need for a larger warming fire I switch to axes or hatchets. For just a day out in the woods it's either my wetterlings mini hatchet or fiskars x7, if I'm going overnight I go up to a GB small forest axe or council tool 3.5 pound jersey axe. I always have a heavy duty 4 to 6 inch blade and a pocket knife as well.
Here in the north east, after much trial and error, I have found a large knife and a folding saw save some weight and allows for multiple options.
I live in dense Pennsylvania forest, and I've never felt ill-equipped without an axe, to the point that I don't own one anymore. I've always done well with a good knife and a folding bucksaw. I've used the Bob Dustrude Quick Bucksaw for a couple years and it has served me very well. The last time I visited Pittsburgh, a tree fell across the center of a small back road and it stopped traffic completely for quite a while. We were only a few cars back, and there was no hope of the municipal workers getting into there to yank it out. A few minutes with my bucksaw and we were able to get a few guys to help push the halved tree to separate sides of the road. Not to say a bucksaw is always better than an axe, since that's not true. In the bush, if all you have is the saw on your multitool, that's better than your fancy double bit cruiser you left at home.
The biggest they do. Is that 24 inches? I can't quite remember now. The Sven is a brilliant saw. You don't regret buying one!
I carry a SVEN too and a JUNGLASS II. I also retired the Estwing hatchet...it is always vying for a way to come out of retirement.
I carry a SAK bushcraft for wood working, an Izula II as a neck knife, then a PR-4 or laser strike, I carry a council tools hatchet, bacho Laplander and in the truck I have the woodcraft axe and a boreal 21 saw. I only use the truck stuff if I’m felling trees otherwise I can do any wood processing or wood craft with what I have. I took nessmuks concept of 3 tools (jackknife, small fixed blade and a small double bit “pocket axe”) and added the saw and the izula... I can process anything and fell small trees under 6” with ease.
Just depends on where you are, and what you need to do. Honestly, it's pretty rare that I'm doing anything that requires more than an average-size knife and maybe a folding saw. So while I own several axes, I hardly ever take one for a hike unless I'm doing something specific like clearing trail. Even then, I'm very conservative with what I use an axe for the backcountry, for what I'm sure are obvious reasons.
You are correct a nice saw and a good knife is all you need but they don’t make drinking from a horn as much fun! Lol I grew up using axes and when it comes to splitting and felling I prefer an axe. The saws are nice and make quick work but good axe technique does the same. I don’t want to seem like I’m arguing with you, I’m not. I agree with you just justifying my axes since you are correct. I don’t like batoning with a knife so I guess that’s why the axe stays in my kit. That and nostalgia for my grandfather.
Fully agreed. Splitting and felling are obviously the realm of the axe. My needs just don't call for that much splitting and felling when I'm in the backcountry, and I definitely have no desire to haul an axe around just for the fun of it. If I'm doing things that require an axe, I'm probably not far from my truck.
