Knives as axes and axes as knives

[AimlessWanderer]

Three questions.

1) If you were going to pick one knife to cover all your axe chores, what would it be and why?

2) Same question reversed - which axe would you prefer for knife chores if you didn't have a knife, and why?

3) Overall, which single tool would you prefer to cover both bases

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Got to be a decent Kukri, as in my experience that's the only knife type that can replace an axe

My GB belt hatchet is a pretty reasonable knife at a push

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[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

As for a single purpose tool, I'd go for my CS Ghurka Kukri as its brilliant at everything

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[dks]

I am not really an Axe or Batoning expert/user. Usually I use a saw or chainsaw for wood.

So for Q1 and Q3 only:

Maybe a chainsaw or

A Wenger Ranger model with saw.

[lister]

Maybe a short version of this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seax

[Syph007]

1.  Trick question!  Only the fat guys in cold steel youtube videos think you can chop down a tree with a $300 knife.  Correct answer is a good axe or hatchet.

2.  Good all purpose high end hatchet.  GB has lots of options to pick from.  Wild life one maybe?  I really love my all steel Estwing hatchet though too, but doesnt hold an edge as long as GBs do.

3.  An axe is the only correct answer unless you really want to spend $300 on a knife that works half as good as a $30 hatchet.

Edit: And while Im at it. Mini rant re: the guys that baton with their big fancy knives instead of using a proper tool like oh an axe always say well yes we'd use an axe but this is what you do if you ONLY have your knife with you.  OK.. well if you ONLY have your knife with you, where do you get those neatly sawed logs you are batoning to start with eh?  Last time I checked the forest wasnt filled with neatly sawed logs ready for you to baton just like you saw on youtube.  Show me one video of knife batoning, where they actually cut the log with the knife they are using....

[AimlessWanderer]

  Superb little chunter mate  Here's my own thinking so far

1) My ideal substutibe for an axe for wood processing for a fire would be a Bahco Laplander or Opinel 120. It would be trickier to notch or put a point on something though. But that wasn't the question  Let's assume you'd headed into the woods with an axe and a knife ... but your axe handle breaks or the head comes loose ... which knife would make you happiest you could carry on doing whatever needs doing - granted it's not ideal, but realistically are you going to be trying to harvest an 12" diameter tree anyway? I'd suggest not.

Mine would probably be a Chris Caine Survival Tool (pics later) ... but I'm working on a few limited range of choices on the bigger knives - though up to say 4" diameter, I could use my Warthog (with a baton) quite effectively I reckon 

2) Personally I think this is trickier to answer. For fuel/shelter/carving it would probably be a Roselli as it's a bearded axe so you can get right behind the head for better control. I'd hate to think I was trying to do any food prep with it though - for that I'd rather have my Vaughan Mini - but I would hate to try and process anything above 2" diameter with it (even though Old Jimbo on other sites has split a 16" trunk with one). Best compromise between the two would be GB Wildlife Hatchet for me ... probably ... maybe 

3) ..... still undecided ..... 

[Santos]

I think the answer the one that is with you. Got a budget? Get an axe and a larger neck knife, fab a fancy sheath for the both and jump on forums talking about ideal pairing

Sylph i understand your rant is porbably induced by northern extremes. If you where in say tropical regions you would be asking yourself Why spend $30 on a heavy hatchet that will only work half as well as a $10 machete.

Just depends whats the priority. In northern climates chopped wood equals warm. Tropics requires a much smaller volume. Tropics have hardwoods too... but do you need to process it in volume?

Also while we are on the $300 knife rant has anyone noticed whilst travelling internationally that the people who use their knives and tools the most tend not to have any brand just the local basic steel goods. They aren't pretty items but that get used for years till they are nubs

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

In general, I agree with Robert, I'll take an axe or hatchet over a big knife any time for wood processing.  That said, I can also see the usefulness of a big knife in terms of weight and space savings for a BOB or for a backpacking trip.

To answer these questions individually, that is, not assuming my answers to any one of them would affect my answer to the others:

1)  A good parang.  (Condor makes one that is a great price and getting outstanding reviews.)  Might not chop as well as a beastly kukri, but it'll do a lot of small camp chores better because of the lighter weight and the blade shape of the parang.  I wouldn't want to have to make a hearthboard or a spindle for a fire bow with a kukri.

http://www.condortk.com/productsdetail.php?prodid=72

2) A high quality large hatchet / small axe.  Something with a handle in the 15" - 18" range, and a head weight of about 1.5 - 2 lbs.  I'd want it to have a large toe/beard so I could choke up on the handle for small chores, and some curve in the bit as well so it wouldn't totally suck for skinning.

3) Right now I've got my eye on another big, high-value camp knife from Condor, the "Lochnessmuk".  As I've said in other threads here, it's either a hyperthyroid Nessmuk skinner, or a midget bolo, depending on how you look at it.  It's more a big knife than a small machete really, because it's got a thick (3/16") blade with no distal taper.  It's got that Nessmuk camel-hump on the back that combined with the blade thickness should work well for batoning, and also could be used for digging, or hammering.  It's also got enough belly to use for skinning and other kinds of food prep, and other game processing as well.  I'm planning on getting one as my next "one tool" big knife.

http://www.condortk.com/productsdetail.php?prodid=4