I was on a camping trip several years ago that included several people that I didn’t know. I opened my camp box up and placed my hatchet and machete on the lid. One of the people I didn’t know saw them and said “I see you brought weapons”. What? You brought a machete and an ax. I told him that they were tools. We would use them to gather firewood. Weapons have gunpowder and I left it in the truck.
Later there was a young boy swinging a hatchet at a piece of firewood. I got him to let me show how to split the wood by using the hatchet as a wedge and striking the head with another log. The boys grandfather thanked me.
I also carry a Seven saw.
I have a Silky Zubat. Even with work around the yard, if I need to cut something 6 inches or less, it’s easier to use the Silky than it is to mess around with the chainsaw. I’ve taken a hatchet in the past, but they scare me a bit, especially if someone else borrows it.
This question always gets a lot of attention/debate whenever asked. Interesting/curious.
It depends. If your inept, neither. If saw or axe isn’t cared for, neither. Sometimes you just don’t need either.
A longer hatchet around 2ft is good for both cutting, and driving stakes if on a longer trip where stakes are part of the deal (canopys, tents, boat tie off stakes). Good for splitting gas station wood. Hard to argue with a nice folding saw, although if I knew I’d be clearing bigger stuff from a channel or trail, a bow saw like a Bahco would be nice.
With a saw, you will only be cross sawing. With a decent axe/hatchet you can cut, split, peel, hammer…
Sharpens easier than a saw in the field.
First aid from a hatchet wound could be rough in the weeds. Very easy to severely damage or remove an appendage. Not a tool for inexperienced hands.
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Right string. I have seen two people put axes in their feet. When people start drinking hide the axe. Now I am taking blood thinners, so a bad cut starts to get really dangerous out there a long way from help.
I carry a Gerber Machete that has a very sharp blade and a saw on the back. That covers just about anything I need. I also keep an old hatchet in my bag , but I almost never use it.
For the folks who carry hatchets, try a tomahawk. I got a cold steel trail hawk and wont carry a hatchet again. It is more of a finesse tool, but you can split by pounding on the back and chop kindling IMHO faster and safer. Longer handle means more leverage. As a bonus, they are lighter. I have that and a pruning blade that I bolted a bracket to for a handle. Not a normal use thing, because I carry a backpacking stove, but you never know, so I carry them. Along with a ferro rod and Vaseline soaked cotton balls.
I love a saw. However I have thought about packing a splitting wedge and maybe a hammer for next year. I figured that cuts the potential for bad cuts. But the hammer does add one more thing to remember to pack. I think a good log could do the trick as a striker, but Murphys law will likely come into play and make the perfect striker rare.
Generally - neither. I always carry a backpackers stove for cooking. I’m in agreement with others that saws and axes have no place in getting firewood - it should be gathered, not harvested with tools, to make your traces on the land light. I find I can generally break small branches just fine without a saw - putting at 45 degrees between a rock/log and the ground and a good stamp will break kindling easily enough. Get a fire started with that kindling and feed larger diameter sticks and logs in using the star-fire method. No need for tools. Hammer tent stakes? Use a rock or stick. I do always carry a 3.5in beater pocket knife, should I need to use the baton method to fashion an emergency paddle or the like, and a smaller knife with a really good edge in my emergency kit. I have traveled with friends who carry saws and axes - I’ve never found the use to outweigh (literally) the weight carried for portages and backpacking.
I always gather deadfall, however on the east coast deadfall can be entire trees. this is usually beyond what I can handle but the limbs of said deadfall not so much.
Hence the Axe and or the Saw.
Sometimes the forestry services will log the deadfall now there’s nice logs that need splitting.
Again I harvest nothing but with yearly hurricanes there is enough stuff that does require tools.
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For sure Craig. Lots of deadfall in the woods and I prefer not to drag long pieces through the brush.
Way back in the early 1980s at the recommendation of Cliff Jacobson I bought what was then known as the Schmidt Packsaw, made by Curtis-Stebbin of Denmark, Maine. Later what appears to be the same design was sold as the “Fast Bucksaw” still recommended by Cliff Jacobson. I still have that saw and it has served me very well, although the wooden tenons that hold the frame together are starting to get worn down a little after over 3 decades of use. In addition to camping I have used it on creek clean-ups where it was necessary to clear sizable strainers.
I find the quadrilateral design of this type of bucksaw to be much more versatile than the triangular design of Sven Saws which are really limited in the diameter of wood they can easily cut relative to their packed length. The Packsaw takes a 24" long bucksaw blade and packs down to just slightly over 24" in length and about 2 1/2" in width. It can easily deal with logs up to a foot in diameter.
Back in the 1980s I always carried a hatchet for northwoods trips into the Boundary Waters, Quetico, or Voyager’s National Park, but I found the saw to be more useful and I haven’t carried a hatchet for overnight or multi-day outings for many years. But I still feel taking a saw to be worthwhile even if I don’t plan to build fires, especially in cold weather, since one never knows when they might need to build an emergency fire. But if a trip did not require any portaging I would consider bringing along a hatchet if I did plan on fires since it is convenient for splitting larger pieces of dead timber.
I just bought a Silky Gomboy 240 but have not yet had occasion to use it. I suspect that will replace my venerable Packsaw as it is significantly more compact and should be capable of sawing any thickness of wood I am likely to need to start a fire.
A lot of times on downriver trips the available deadwood at the preferred campsite locations such as gravel bars is pretty well picked over to non-existent. However, while on the river it is not uncommon to spot deadwood along the banks or even on strainers in the river. A saw is a very handy implement for harvesting this fuel for later use, and can often be deployed safely without even getting out of the boat.
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Definitely Both, they do two different things. If you are depending on or really want a fire, having both will make your life easier.
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I have a Schmidt pack saw. I collect axes and logging tools, but mostly I leave them at home on boat trips. Lots of wood around where I go in the West.
Now I take Eliquis to reduce blood clots. That makes a wound from an axe much worse a long way from help. No axes for camping. A saw might be handy.
I’ve never taken an axe in over 60 years of canoeing, nor do I use them in the hundreds of hours a year I spend processing wood on my 11 acres at home.
For whatever doesn’t require a chain saw, I now use either a Silky 14" BigBoy or 9.5" ULTRA ACCEL folding pruning saw coupled with a Condor 14" or 10.5" blade Duku parang for stripping and splitting. I also take at least one of my fixed blade knives for occasional batoning, which of course the parang machetes are more effective for larger diameter wood.
Actually, since I saw, slash and chop so much wood at home, I don’t have much desire to do so on paddle trips anymore, so I rarely make a fire. Too much work, especially since I’m almost always alone. I mostly just want to paddle, sleep and engage in omphaloskepsis, not do camp chores.
Glen… is that drawer keeper or do yuo use it in the field? I only ask 'cause I have one and a ferro rod discolered(?) the spine… I think it’s S30 and was a bit surprised at the wear after just a few fires
I enjoy learning new words but I’d have to do some gazing beyond gathering lint to remember that one.
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I don’t even know what one is.
I’ll chime in on the sven saw. I had one and liked it, but it’s easy to bend the blade. Now that I’m older and more experienced, I think I’d use it to cut on the pull stroke rather than on the push stroke. Flimsy blades should cut on the pull stroke, like those ‘japanese saws’ that are on the shelves now.
I never recommend a hatchet to anyone as they don’t cut good and are responsible for a lot of accidents due to short handle and light weight. Now there are many good foldable saws on the market where the teeth are good and sharp and the blade folds into the handle like a pocket knife. I have a very inexpensive one and it cuts great, again only on the pull stroke.
If weight isn’t an issue–vehicle/base camping–I have a mid sized axe. I used to only carry a folding saw but as I was travelling down a forest road on the side of a mountain, I came across a tree that fell across the road. I couldn’t cut it w/o pinching the saw blade, so I had the pleasure of backing up quite a distance on a winding road on the side of a mountain until I found a place where I could turn around. Since then, I’ve always had a medium sized axe in the vehicle with a file to keep it sharp. Dull blades lead to accidents.
Use one to make paddles… Useful for shaping but never carried on canoe trips.