Wildlife Hatchet

[Black_Fly]

I'm looking at replacing my Grans For small forest axe with their Wildlife hatchet. Anyone use this hatchet? The overall weight is about 1 lb less than what I've been carrying. Not a huge reduction in load but worth considering. I'm wondering how the axe performs with the lighter head and shorter handle.

Thanks
BF

 

[ppine]

I like the small forest axe. I can make a new paddle with it.
wildlife hatchet? Is it made for butchering? Never looked right to me.
Mostly I carry an old roofing hatchet for splitting kindling. I just put the long ends in the fire and keep pushing.

 

[Boreal Birch]

You are going to wack yourself in the thigh, then bleed to death. Longer real sized axe is safer, my .02 cents worth on axes. The only scars I have on my legs are from a hatchet and shrapnel.

 

[Odyssey]

Two different size tools for two different size jobs. I don't consider them interchangeable. (I own neither of these GBs specifically but similar sized tools.)
A 19" 2 lb axe properly handled is ideally suited to various moderate wood cutting tasks such as chopping, splitting, and limbing. You can take a full swing with this axe and work with this standing. You can however tap split safely by "choking up" on the handle for more control with a much smaller swing and getting closer to your work but it can be a little unwieldy if you're not used to that extra head weight. Tap splitting is best done while kneeling IMO. Keep it sharp and under control.
A 13.5" 1+ lb hatchet is best suited to small wood cutting tasks such as tap splitting or light limbing. Do not swing it like an axe, it has neither the weight (=bite) nor the handle length (swing arc). IMO this is when people bounce the light blade off the target and find a body part at the end of the misjudged swing. I use a hatchet kneeling in camp with very firm, short swings, no more than a 20 degree arc. I won't even try to use a hatchet for a bigger job. Keep it sharp and under control.

This is all just my opinion. All sharp tools can be dangerous, the less sharp the more so. I like both tools but for different jobs. I can do more with an axe and prefer it, but when weight constricted I go with smaller and lighter tools producing smaller fuel for smaller fires.

 

[Black_Fly]

Yeah, I once hit my shin with a hatchet limbing a log, and I don't chop a lot of fire wood anymore. Fires don't make a lot of sense except on rare occasion. My twig stove gives me all the fire I care to deal with. Since I don't quarter elk anymore, not sure I need a hatchet except for driving tent stakes in hard ground or freeing up small deadfall for stove fuel.

My old GF axe does ok, but even that is small for many tasks like clearing trails and splitting firewood.

 

[Midwest Firecraft]

I have used the Outdoor axe for two tripping seasons now. It is an amazing piece of kit. For the weight it has no equal for limbing or splitting. Out in the woods I would never set a log on a stump and try to split it, especially with a short handled ax or hatchet. I either baton or use this method. I have had kids as young as 9 safely use these techniques.

 

[Midwest Firecraft]

In case you wanted to see size comparison. Outdoor axe, Small Forest, Wildlife axes.

 

[Odyssey]

Fires don't make a lot of sense except on rare occasion. My twig stove gives me all the fire I care to deal with.
.

I am travelling down that path towards smaller fires fed with smaller bundles of smaller sticks. I might get there. This past winter I was eyeing the GF hand hatchet.
https://www.gransforsbruk.com/en/pro...-hand-hatchet/

Right now for the small approach it's just too darn easy to just pick up sticks, cut small branches from deadfall with a hand pruning saw.
I'll likely keep thinking about it. To be honest I've also hankered for one of their forest axes and wildlife hatchets too for some time. Nothing wrong with a collection, different tools for different trips.

 

[Robin]

When a guy shows me how to split wood with rubber boots on I have a hard time taking him serious. Sorta like seeing a guy on a Harley wearing sneakers...

Having said that, I have split wood out there with the wrong footwear on but I wasn't posting a how to video.

You've Been Splitting Firewood with an Axe Wrong - YouTube
https://youtu.be
Shaving Cream in a Vacuum - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgjg4eN7hBQ Subscribe to my 2nd channel https://www.youtube.com/user/origami768 follow me on: ins.

 

[Alan Gage]

I've taken a hatchet along. It was handy to have. I nearly always cook over a fire but don't always have a fire just to sit in front of. The hatchet isn't needed for those small cooking fires but it did come in handy during cold wet weather when I wanted a bigger fire and needed to split some larger pieces open for dry wood. A small axe would have been better but knowing I would only be using it rarely I went with the lighter weight and shorter handle (easier to pack) of the hatchet.

I tap split everything from my knees.

Alan

 

[Iskweo]

I have discovered tht while I like to take an axe with me, I rarely use it. Moslty for limbing or cleaning portage trails. Setting up camps can involve a lot of clearing of slash and smallish trees etc and I have taken to using a machete for that. That can be pretty dangerous too if you are not paying attention to the task at hand. My go to axe when I do take one is a Hulta Fors with a medium length handle.

I like this guys technique if not his footwear. I have a bunch of wood to split up this year so will be trying it out.

 

[Odyssey]

If he ain't a Finn with a $300 axe and a car tire then he ain't the real deal. Boum.

 

[deerfly]

I have 3 gransfors axes, mini, wildlife and Scandinavian. They are different tools and I like them all. The wildlife hatchet is an excellent hatchet and I use it quite a bit, used it this past weekend to process some hickory for a smoker. It cuts well and splits well. I have other hatchets like a True Temper Tomahawk that was my grandfathers, which is better at splitting than it is at chopping and cutting. I have a Gerber hatchet too and for the money its unbeatable, but it also splits better than it cuts and chops, esp compared to the wildlife hatchet. I always have the Gerber in the bed of my truck as a beater axe and a hammer.

The wildlife hatchet of course is a finely crafted tool and I take much better care of it and use it only the way it was intended to be used. That said it is a small chore camp hatchet and if that's all you need its a fine choice. However. as Boreal B and others mentioned longer is better and safer when it comes to axes. Personally, I've gravitated to using my Scandinavian axe the most on trips. At boys axe form factor you can do real work with it safely when you need to, but its still very manageable choked up for hatchet chores and its not so big that it doesn't pack well. If I was just buying one quality axe for camping it would be the Scandinavian

 

[Midwest Firecraft]

I apologize. I kept referring to the Outdoor Axe as the Wildlife hatchet. I sold my Wildlife hatchet 2 months after I bought it. It weighed more and did not split half as good as the Outdoor axe. With so many axes out there I can't always keep them straight. I edited my posts above with the correct name for the Outdoor axe.

 

[Edawg]

I have both the wildlife hatchet and small forest axe. I actually prefer the wildlife hatchet for what I use it for, which is not much, mostly hewing tent stakes and pounding them in with the poll, tap splitting and batoning medium sized rounds for firewood, other small camp chores. It's light and small enough to warrant taking even if I don't use it much. The small forest axe doesn't quite know what it wants to be, a little too long to be good at hewing a little too short to swing anywhere near like a full sized axe.

 

[Edawg]

I once hewed a dead spruce log into a flat, short bench with my wildlife hatchet on one of the Lake Lila campsites. Last time I was back, someone must have burned it, firewood is getting impossible to find there, it's been so picked over.

 

[Black_Fly]

I got my new hatchet yesterday. Feels nice, I'm sure it will suffice for what little I use it for.

 

[Iskweo]

Old lady axe...or possibly a Canadian thing. When I have a job that needs an axe, I would rather a chainsaw.

 

[Canotrouge]

I do lots of wood processing while on trips cause we cook on fire exclusively and I cook for at least 3 of us! Plus we travel with the tent and stove 10 months out of 12... so I always bring an axe that can do everything, so 24” and roughly 1.75 to 2 pound head! I have a GB Swedish forest axe but the head is a bit on the thin side so I rehandled an old Wertelings of the same size head with a 24” shaft and man that is the best axe I’ve carried so far!! Just the right amount of thickness and weigh and length!!