Heavy wood cutting tool........

[kyelkhunter3006]

What's your choice?  Axe?  Hatchet?  Machete?  Big knife?  Folding saw?

[blind ear]

chainsaw .  eddiegjr

[schoolmaster]

All of these choices have their uses. Heavy wood suggests to me felling trees, so I would choose a good axe as it is a little more versatile than a folding saw. I have cut 6 inch stuff down with a Gerber folding saw but a good axe will take down the biggest tree with enough time and sweat. The rest of the tools will cut down smaller stuff easily but are not really that great at tree felling. A double bit would be most useful with one edge gradually tapered and the other more wedge shaped for limbing.

[Lurker]

I have a smaller sized double bit axe and a folding saw.

Unless I am house building, which I probably wouldn't want to do, that should suit me fine.

Why would you want to involve yourself in heavy Wood cutting, like cutting down a tree bigger than six inches in diameter anyway? Are you going to split wood and rick it up in cords, so that it will dry? I don't think that you will have the time to chop a large tree down and split it up.

Do you want to advertise your presence in an area, by making the large amount of noise that you will be making when falling and cutting up a large tree?

How long do you think you will have to wait before the large tree you have finally chopped down, dries out to where it becomes good firewood? 

Besides all of that, there are plenty of smaller dead falls, and snags that will supply your wood needs and sawing, doesn't make the noise that chopping does.

Bill

[kyelkhunter3006]

I guess I should have clarified it bit...

I kind of mean when backpacking around or you're in a survival situation.  Not sleeping at the same site for more than a couple days at most or not needing to build permanent shelter.

[SHOOTALL]

Estwing makes a small axe , would be great to use but not carry far even though its smaller than standard axes are. If I had to carry it far then a hatchet with replaceable handle.

[Norm1057]

Axe all the way!

[blind ear]

Axe, works as a weapon also if needed.

[Swampman]

I have an axe but a saw is faster and quite.  Quite is very important.

[Hooker]

I prefer a bucksaw it is the most efficient way to cut fire wood in the wilderness short of packing a chainsaw.
I use one just like this http://www.nwwoodsman.com/Product/Tools/EdgedTools/WoodsmanFoldingBucksaw.html

Pat

[SHOOTALL]

I have an axe but a saw is faster and quite.  Quite is very important.

then smoke and smell would be also , cut wood alone has a smell

[blind ear]

If you are in a situation where the sound of an axe might cause you a threat you need to be moveing on. Burn dry smokeless white woods gathered as deadwood. When you reach a place that the axe can be used without worry you might stand a chance of surviveing, till then travel in cover and avoid being skylined. eddiegjr

[SHOOTALL]

the bacon cooking would give me away

[mcwoodduck]

Some of my friends looked and shook their heads when they saw I had a Hatchet in my back pack while we were hunting.
I have a Fiscars Hatchet (same as the Gerber but with a yellow handle)  Good sharp heavy blade head with a handle about 14" long.
We have used it to quarter and split open deer to drag out of the woods easier.
When I was in scouts we had hatchets (I had a light weight western - Still do) that we used to build shelters with pine trees.
Chop down a small pine.  Skin off the branches and make a lean too out of a few trees and cover them with the branches to make shelter from snow and rain while hiking.
One of my friends saw how we used the hatchet and had one of the Cabela's throwing hatchets.  He bought a new handle for it and the sheath and keeps that in his hunting bag.  I like how it folds up.  He then showed his walking stick was the right size to hold the head and he now had a small head on a 4' handle for harder jobs or to reach and hook something.
I liked it and am now thinking that this may be the way to go for a pack hatchet.  For under $25 for the throwing hawk and then a few $ more for the sheath.  Oh and the thing does throw.  My friend that has the one, actually has three we were throwing and playing Mountain man darts with them.   He grabed a bunch of 2X4 and made an XL dart board out of them.  it was fun.

[schoolmaster]

An axe can also be used to skin and cut up game when pressed to do so. So an axe can be a make shift knife but a knife is not an axe. I have the Estwing axe and it could do in a pinch but I wouldn't want to build a cabin with one. I think a combination of a Gerber fold up saw and 4 inch stockman's knife would be pretty light and handy for back packing. You could do a lot with those two.

[The Hermit]

I've carried an axe for over 50 years and a small file to keep it sharp. Goes right in my packbasket.
I usually also take bacon and eggs with me too.  I'll deal with what ever I have to on a full stomach.
I never have had to cut a live tree other than saplings to make a shelter.
A friend uses a coil wire thing that cuts thru limbs. I never used it but it seems to work.


   The Hermit

[sachel.45]

i like the gerber axes but i always have some sort of saw near by

[bilmac]

I think a cruisers ax is what you are looking for. A light weight shortened ax, but if you keep it sharp, boy will it cut. Just right if you will be in a place where trees are your only raw material like the boreal forest. In a place where there is a lot of large herbaceous material like tropical forests, then a machete is a better choice. You can cut 6" herbaceous stems with one swipe with a machete, an ax would just mush it up. On the other hand using a machete to cut a 6" tree would take 10 or 20 minutes. A cruisers ax more like 4 or 5 minutes.

There is another small ax we used to call a boys ax, I don't know if you can find them anymore. It is a shortened lightweight ax similar to a cruiser, but the head is full width whereas the cruiser is cut down at the back sort of like a tomahawk. I think the boys ax may be a bit better choice for survival because the head would be attached to the handle a bit more securely.

 

[Hooker]

I've had an Estwing camp axe in my hunting rig for years one piece solid steel shank and head. You don't have to worry about the head coming loose. Wooden handled axes are ok until you break the handle in the middle of no where, they are not impossible to replace but getting a good fit is a bit of a pain . The tomahawk hold an advantage of having handles that are easy to replace in the wilderness. A trappers hawk is as close to a camp axe as you can get but it makes a much better weapon.
What surprises me on this thread is how many folks would rather use an axe for heavy wood cutting, when a good saw is safer and much more efficient. And all of y'all that want clean deer with an axe, What you don't own a good knife?

Pat

[TX Devil Doc]

When a vehicle is close by... a chainsaw.
In the field; hunting backpacking, etc... a Kukri Machete.

[kyelkhunter3006]

What surprises me on this thread is how many folks would rather use an axe for heavy wood cutting, when a good saw is safer and much more efficient. And all of y'all that want clean deer with an axe, What you don't own a good knife?

Pat

I was thinking the same thing.  I carry some kind of folding saw every time I'm out. I can see the axe for splitting wood, but if you have a good fixed blade, you can use a baton and split wood with the knife. 

Also, with the saw, you don't have to worry about leaving any sharp stumps on limbs or on the ground for someone to get injured on.

Honestly, I was thinking that with the current fad for BIG knives there'd be more of them in use.

[schoolmaster]

My big knife is a SOG Seal Pup Elite. Its a pretty good knife but its not an axe or a saw.

[Hodr]

I carry a Firestone Belt Axe in both vehicles.  It will hold an edge to skin, flense and cape.  It chops wood and is a totaly devestating close in defense weapon.  Past arms length it throws overhand or underhand with no more than a wristflip.  It is light enough to carry almost anywhere.  Google McGowan tools for life.  Cheap it ain't but they do have less costly alternatives and those are pretty good.

blindhari

[Rex in OTZ]

Ive found backpacking you would only need something small that you can carry on you like a small folding saw prefibly with replaceable blades (sandvik type with rather wicked rakers) if I need fire wood I go indian style I just stomp on dead old wood breaking it by hand,  Ive never really had much use for a hatchet/tomahawk,  I'd just stomp on fallen branches for what I need to feed a rocket stove for really tough stuff I bust wood in the crotch of a tree.
For chopping brush and small trees like clearing a trail through for a ATV or a camp I'd just as soon carry a corn knife or machete.
If I was feeding a 55gallon barrel stove then you bet I'd use a chainsaw and splitting maul.

[Pat/Rick]

Since I only carry a chainsaw for gettin firewood, I'll leave that out. Two things in my truck ALWAYS, an Estwing Campers ax and a bow saw w/ two extra blades. If I had to bug out I would take the ax and saw blades, winters are cold in the pacific NW. I can make a bowsaw frame from vine maple, and other stuff in my kit, like para cord and a SAK or Leatherman.

[hunt-m-up]

I have an Estwing hatchet that has seen a lot of use, so much so that the crappy sheath gave out, but I have several Fiskars folding saws and one Gerber that are always handy. The saws take up less space, are lighter and quieter and I've cut up some good-sized limbs/trees while trimming shooting lanes.