42, your thoughts on the Rinaldi Calabria versus the Snow and Nealley Hudson Bay please? The length of the handle I may cut down on the Calabria but wanting to know your preference. It will be for a packable woods axe for hard and soft woods. I'm leaning to the Calabria. In the market for a nicer axe now that I have learned on a trainer axe from the feed store.
I like both (obviously, or I wouldn't carry them) but I prefer the Calabria. Rinaldi just works magic with their heat treatment, and I've come to love their geometry and their ability to hit harder than their weight would suggest. The ability to break down the axe in seconds thanks to the slip-fit handle is useful, especially in a camping or survival situation as it allows you to pack the head with a short handle and then use it to fashion a longer handle in the field with nothing more than the head itself if you had to. Also, no head loosening issues like Hudson Bay patterns tend to have to contend with due to their short eye. The nature of a slip-fit handle makes it impossible for the head to ever fly off the end.
Head weight/size and handle length. Ranging from a 350g head (hand axe) to a 1300g head (heavy duty axe.) The 350g model is about the size of a tomahawk while the 1300g is the size of a full-sized axe. The 700g is much like a large boy's axe or small standard axe.
Laid waste to a row of trees today. Worked like a charm. Still cant believe how deep this thing cuts.
Which would you recommend for dense wood? West Texas is nuts for real dense wood. In fact most of our trees are really just shrubs that think highly of themselves, scrubby cedars mostly. The Mrs asked for more Christmas ideas and I think a new axe might do the trick. I've got a cheap as **** Chinese made axe head that I rehafted but the edge holds for about a minute. I've also got a Fiskars that is so-so and I keep it in the work truck. It proved useful for emergency road clearing following a slew of tornadoes one night but it too isn't quite holding up as much as I'd like. Both are pretty much wedges with handles. Is there a better option out there?
Probably full-sized. It'll be used more for breaking down trees and then I'll process them at home with different tools.
Probably something like the Italian Racing Axe would do well for that. It's a bit much for me personally for horizontal swings, but boy howdy does it ever demolish trees once they're down! Others to consider are the Cadore, Trento, or Calabria.
Hey, you still liking it? Was looking at getting one (would have too but my edc flashlight bit the bullet so had to redirect funds). Really would like to hear your thoughts as you’ve had it more than a few years now.
Was considering it for more trips up north (pine and small oak country). Something lite and carry-able.
