Got an Ax to Grind?

Those that know me know that I have more axes than any one man should.  I am an ax nut.  I always have been and I don't know why.  Maybe it goes back to playing "explorer" along the creeks and in the ridges around where I grew up and building forts using my dad's hatchet.  It was both a hammer, and a saw... the first multi-tool!  Then I discovered wood splitting (thanks dad!) and cutting kindling for our wood heater.  Later, as I grew older and stronger, I was introduced to the splitting maul and sledgehammer.  Through it all though, I retained a love for axes of all shapes.  There is just something about the sing as it whirls through the air that will bring out the frontiersman in any of us!

Quite a few guys have watched me stone the edge on one or another of my axes and commented that they couldn't believe that I put that much effort into something that I was going to "beat on a log with."  Boy, if they only knew how it feels to not "beat" on a log and to actually make the chips FLY they'd sure change their minds!  A good edge on an ax makes it one of the most useful and satisfying tools you can own!

All together I probably still possess about eight axes.  Three of which will shave you at this instant.  Why not all?  Well, some aren't worth the effort and others just won't keep an edge.  So after I educate them on the different types of axes and their uses it always leads into a conversation about what my favorite ax is.  Heck, this is easy now, but if you had asked me that at different stages of my life it would have been one of several different answers!  So what is it right now?  It is the Long Handle Camper's Axe.  Yes, with an "e" because that is the way Estwing names their axes.

Yes, THAT Estwing.  Blue rubber handle and all!  Did you even know they made axes?  Hatchets and tomahawks too!  Ten varieties to be exact.  The one that has my fancy has a misnomer for a name.  The "long handle" camper's axe is 26 inches total!  That is about ten inches shorter than a regular felling ax.  However at about two and a half pounds total it is about four pounds lighter than a Collins felling ax.  Let me just say something here... if you have never cut a 12 inch tree out of a road when the tree was six or seven feet high while you were using a felling ax then you have no idea what you are missing.  Forget going to a gym, go cut trees overhead!  That was when I realized I could never replace my Estwing ax!

The Estwing is just about the perfect size for me too.  I am a bit over six feet tall and this does not feel like a midget ax to me.  Perfect.  No other word for it.  You pick it up and you know it is a real ax.  It has that solid feel and heft.  The rubber handle gives that nice tacky grip that prevents blisters and gives a solid grip.  Because it is Estwing's patented shock adsorbing grip it also isolates the vibrations and keeps it from hurting your hands on a sour blow.

The weight is also perfect.  It runs much lighter than most comparable axes this size, but the weight is all out on the head and it give it a sweet bite!  I cut a newly fallen and solid birch that was across the road not long ago.  It was probably 14 inches in diameter and we had to cut it twice... too big to move the top or the trunk so we had to cut a eight foot piece out of the middle.  Two of us taking turns finished that tree in less than three minutes.  No joke.  With that itty-bitty ax.  Actually, it is a four inch bit, so it takes a full bite like a regular felling ax.  Calling it itty-bitty isn't really fair, especially considering how it performs!

Long story short, I recommend the Estwing Long Handle Camper's Axe without any reservation.  There is one, and only one, slight modification I would make (made) to this ax.  The eight inch, slick fiberglass handle portion in front of the rubber grip I wrapped with about fifteen feet of 550 paracord so that it is more grippy when choking up to cut kindling or for fine work.

If you didn't want to do that, Estwing also makes a 16 inch version of the camper's axe that I hear is also superb!  Also, they make a four pound short handled axe (14" overall length) that is specifically for driving a wedge and splitting camp sized fire wood.  It is called the Estwing Fireside Friend and you can use it to drive the Sure Split Wedge.  You wouldn't want to split a cord of wood with these, but for a camp it looks like just the thing!