Trail knife

[Wolfen]

from the knife you mentioned you are looking at big knives. I'd stay away from the one you mentioned, but would definitely go for anything BK9, ESEE Junglas, or Ka-bar war sword. The Ontario RTAK is good, but the handle can be big for lots of peoples hands. The Hoodlum has had several fractures right at the notch on the blade with people batoning wood. It appears to be a stress riser point. Looks good, but I would not trust it. Any of the ontario heavy knives will work as well. If you want a sharpened prybar, the Ontario Marine Raider bowie is that.

[Milt]

If you want a 'tacticool' 'bad-ass' blade, have fun; there are many choices ranging from moderately practical to downright silly.

If you need to do real-world camp chores, a good small axe (think Gransfors-Bruks) is vastly superior, except perhaps in desert environments, where a large knife isn't very practical, either. Try building a shelter or cutting a bunch of firewood with that big-ass 'survival' knife, then do it with the axe. You will use considerably more energy and take substantially more time with the knife.

[Not_A_Llama]

Do some batoning with a heavy duty knife like the BK2 - I personally discovered as a former axe enthusiast that a knife is easier and less tiresome than an axe, especially for wood splitting, and is a far more versatile tool overall. Cutting rope, butchering, food prep, fashioning a spear, digging, whittling tasks... All much easier than an axe.

[Milt]

Been there, done that. It's no contest with proper axe technique (unfortunately, rare today).

Cutting rope with a good axe is one easy stroke. Butchering a whole animal is also easier than with a big knife, especially when heavy bones and large joints are involved (Gransfors-Bruks actually makes a special round-flay-poll 'Hunter's Axe' for this purpose). Spear-making? Three or four easy strokes will get this done. For digging,I would never abuse a good blade this way; I'll use a shovel or make one with my axe if needed. Whittling is much easier with a small knife, but the Swedes carve bowls and other useful objects with axes (actually, my favorite axe is called the 'Swedish Carving Axe' - the edge is literally shaving sharp and well shaped for a variety of tasks).

Last year, I had to limb a bunch of storm-damaged trees - the little (two pound) carving axe enabled me to fill a stake truck in about the time it took two guys with chainsaws to fill their truck. Most of the limbs took a single stroke to remove; the limbs were mostly between one and two inches in diameter. I have also taken down a couple of medium size trees with the carving axe when I left my felling axe at home. Good luck doing that with a big knife...

[Not_A_Llama]

Share your "proper axe technique", if you would.

I'm at least an order of magnitude out from the results you describe.

[Milt]

First, find a good axe that fits your body, and has a suitable, properly sharpened head for the task. The head weight, balance, haft length and shape all affect 'fit'. Lacking someone to help who knows axes, try various axes in your hands to see which feels best to you as you slowly and smoothly make short swings at imaginary targets. One bit of good news is that the better makers have evolved their axes over many years and by following the manufacturer's suggestions, you won't go too far wrong (don't buy a three and a half pound felling axe for day hikes).

For heavy cutting, like felling or splitting, start with one hand near the 'fawn-foot' at the bottom of the haft and the other a comfortable distance toward the head. Swing smoothly toward the target while sliding the upper hand toward the stationary hand (at the bottom). After a few strokes, you will start to develop a smooth, accurate stroke. Don't try to force things - let the axe do the work.

Lighter cutting, like most limbing and small splitting, can be done with one hand, obviously employing a smaller, lighter axe. Lots of practice, again concentrating on letting the axe do the work, will pay off in saved energy and fast, efficient cutting.

For some work, you might use two hands on an axe primarily meant for one handed use. An example of this would be felling a small tree with a medium camp axe. The converse is sometimes the case, such as light limbing with a Hudson's Bay pattern axe, like the 'Scandinavian Large Forest Axe' by Gransfors-Bruks.

The U.S. Forest Service has videos and manuals that cover axe work in much greater detail and from a much broader knowledge base than I possess. Hope this helps...

[Wolfen]

Bruks makes the best. Watterling is second and believe it or not Condor makes some decent hatchets. You just need to sharpen them. A good hatchet is fully the equal or maybe a bit better at chopping than a big knife, but it is much worse at batoning or fine work. Most people who take a hatchet or axe, end up taking a small blade as well, which is an excellent combo. I personally like the gransfors bruks hunting axe with 20 inch handle.

[franktown99]

Okay so sorry for thr delayed update so I ordereed what I thought was the Junglas but turned out to be an RTAK 2 but I am still very happy. And thanks to everyone I now have a BK2, BK7, RTAK2, MORA along with other misc. blades. I think the little push in the right direction has turned me in to an addict

[anomad]

Come on over to the ESEE and Spyderco forums and we'll help you dig the hole a little deeper.

[hobowh]

I like the beker, randal, and the esee, if you are looking for something in the 5" range check out the busse pig shank as well.