Utility Hatchet?

[Readyrod]

I really like the Japanese hatchet but you probably get what you pay for. I would imagine being where you are that 40-50 bucks would buy a serviceable tool.

It's well built but not full tang. Still looks and feels solid tho. How are they for using?

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Garrett Wade

Garrett Wade has a good assortment of hatchets, axes, and brush clearing tools (including the Woodman's Pal).

Here's an interesting little number, for about $70.

Compact Brush Clearing Tool


From their description:

Perfect for trail clearing on extended trips

A real campsite utility tool – 12" long overall with a very comfortable rubberized handle, a 3" “axe” blade and a 6" long shaped clearing edge on the opposite face. It excels for clearing heavy brush on a trail. Weighs about 14 oz. but its shape gives you great effective power. Comes with a belt-loop leather sheath that protects all cutting edges. This is one really neat tool.

I think I'd like to try one of those, just for grins.

 

[lobo9er]

If you can find sugar cane machete they are another great tool for clearing brush no much good for splittting wood though

 

[pappy19]

When you look at the blade length of a Woodman's Pal vs a hatchet, it isn't even close. Plus, the hook blade allows you to cut smaller brush, vines and up to 1" seedlings. Try that with a hatchet....it doesn't work. Once you try a Woodman's Pal you'll throw rocks at a regular hatchet, and a regular machete isn't heavy enough for most woody plants but the "Pal" will do it all.

 

[Inhimwelive]

hatchet

My vote goes to the Estwing e24a sportsman's axe you can buy one for $30-35.. I like the old boyscout axes but they have a flaw in the handle design.. The metal under the wood scales is thin and will break with heavy use..

 

[md7]

I use an Estwing 20 oz. framing hammer at work, and have used an Estwing hatchet before. (not at work) I like em both. I know we aren't on the subject of hammers, but both of my co workers use Estwing as well.

There may be better hatchets, I'm no expert. I just know what I like. That's Estwing.

 

[Ole Coot]

Gotta go with Eastwing camper's axe. Small enough to use with one hand, long enough for two for more serious chopping and fits nicely across my ATV rack for $40.

 

[Gordon]

The hammer back on the Estwing or Bruks and other "conventional" hatchets has been very handy for me around camp or around off road vehicles. Brush clearing is a different issue , hatchets are not good for that and a different tool like a Woodsman Pal or a machete ect. is called for. I use a hatchet to split kindling and set up camps ,about a 2 pound weight works very well for that.

 

[Gary G23]

I got an Estwing yesterday at Home Depot.

 

[hso]

Different tools for different tasks. No one tool handles everything.

I have a Finnish brush hook the size of a hatchet that does more than a machete and nearly everything a hatchet will, but not as much as a light axe. Lacking a hammer pol it won't hammer as well as a hammer, hatchet, or axe. It spans the cutting role of the machete and hatchet.

 

[Rmiller31]

+1 for estwing. I love mine.