The axe is my favorite camping tool. I go camping just so that I can process wood with this amazing tool. If I had to carry only one item on a survival show like Naked and Afraid, it would be an axe — not a hatchet, but an axe.
For the purposes of camping you want to carry an axe with a handle of at least 18″ in length, with a 1.5 to 2 lb head to process cut logs with substantial girth and heft.
Hatchets are miniature wannabe axes both in weight and length — with a handle length of 10″ to 14″ (or less). The smaller mass of the head cannot do the same type of justice as its larger brother on large diameter logs. You want to process all sawed logs and most branches with an axe in order to have a comfortable, magnanimous, yet tranquilizing campfire that will last well into the evening. (Of course, that is ultimately the real purpose of this entire website!)
A quick note on chopping wood: Obviously use only deadfall – don’t kill a live tree for your fire. A live tree’s sap will cause lots of sparks to fly out at you — this is the tree’s “thank-you” gift to you, for cutting it down. If you aren’t wearing a natural fiber like wool or cotton, then you will inevitably get initiated with ember-burns all over your cloths.
Birch is buy far the easiest to split (plus you get birch bark as a bonus). Remove the birch bark before trying to split birch — it will be much easier to split. Birch is a hardwood, so it will burn much longer and hotter than soft-woods like pine, spruce, poplar/aspen — which grow straight and are easy to saw into logs, but burn quickly, which means you need a lot more of it.
You want to split and stack your wood ASAP, for it to season. Try to do this as soon as you get to the campsite (after you setup your SHELTER FIRST). Seasoning split logs, even for 1 to 2 hours will make a huge difference in reducing the amount of sparks and hissing it will make from the collected moisture the log has absorbed (from rain/snow, fog and general humidity in the air).
Now back to the topic.
There are only two rules when it comes to axes:
RULE #1: Buy the best axe you can possibly afford
RULE #2: Respect it by learning how to use it properly and safely
Spending in excess of $90+ will buy you a proper tool ONCE for a lifetime, that you can pass on as a family heirloom to your children. You should become intimately acquainted with every aspect of your axe — from its balance, how it swings, to sharpening and storing it properly. I strongly encourage you not to loan out this fine tool to others while camping, as it has a tendency to become abused in the field.
The very best axes are made in Sweden (Granfors Bruks, Wetterling, Hults Bruk, Sater, etc) because the head is FORGED and not cast, like everything that is produced in China (and sold in the big-box hardware stores). Although there are indestructible handles made of polymers, a traditional hickory handle is the best, due to the superior shock-absorbing properties of this wood, and the proper weight and balance that it adds to the axe. Yes — you do need to be more careful how you swing the axe, so that you don’t mis-hit the block of wood, but that all comes with practice. The hickory handle should be treated once a year with boiled or double-boiled linseed oil, as is the mandatory end-of-season sharpening. Simply wipe the linseed oil on generously let it soak in for a minute or two, then wipe off the excess. Tt will take a few days for the linseed oil to fully cure, but the handle will be much better prepared. It should be noted that the handle should not have a varnish (factory applied) coating on it to begin with. You need to sand off this coating with some 80 to 120 grit sandpaper first, after you purchase the axe, if that was the original factory finish. Axe manufactures typically varnish a wood axe handle because it looks good for marketing purposes and acts as a protective coating against knocks and dings during shipping — not because that’s how its supposed to used. It’s like the clear plastic wrap on toys and packaged vegetables. You wouldn’t use those toys/food with the wrapper on… Adding the linseed oil coat strengthens the wood fibers and acts as a true weather protection for wood. Unfortunately this type of “old-school” tool preparation has been lost on the consumer as they want instant gratification these days, so manufacturers of wood handled tools have responded with the fast and simple solution of varnishing to appease the consumer that they’ve “prepared” the wood for use (since curing it with linseed oil is more expensive and takes so much longer).
I’ve also started treating the axe head with FrogLube to prevent rusting while in storage, since a proper forged head is made of carbon steel. It also helps clean off any sap that may have made it onto the axe head from any coniferous trees like pine or spruce, that are readily available in Algonquin. Any vegetable or machine oil or WD-40 (water-displacement formula, 40th attempt) would do the same trick to prevent rust.
At this time I carry the Husqvarana 26″ Axe AND a Granfors Bruks Hunter’s Axe (18″ handle with a rounded poll), whenever I go camping. In the right hands and with proper technique, both axes are remarkably capable of handling logs as large as 16″ in diameter. The Husqvarna axe is a well crafted and very well priced alternative to the more expensive but notably refined Granfors Bruks or Wetterling offerings, if you are price conscious. I also bring along a couple of 8″ ABS plastic felling wedges to simplify getting out of any axe binds that inevitably occur with processing larger diameter logs.
The axe is a fine compliment to the pruning saw that I also carry. Both the axe and saw come in handy if you can afford to carry both.
The US Forestry Service provides a step by step instruction of how to sharpen an axe (website) or download the PDF, as does homesteading personality Wranglerstar with his multiple Youtube videos.
The late Arthur Black of CBC Radio One fame, once wrote a fantastic short opinion piece about chopping wood, which I epitomize.
