Gerber Bear Grylls Survival Hatchet.

[Chako]

Here is another BG item that just came to my door today.

Now this one I really like. No, I am not being facetious. I really do like this hatchet.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I do love the colour scheme, and also the tactile rubber grips of the whole Bear Grylls lineup. On this product, it is sharp looking and feels very good in the hand.



The hatchet comes with a nice nylon sheath. The sheath is very well stitched. I like how they even colour coordinated some of the reinforcing stitching. The front features a Velcro flap and of course all of the usual branding. The back offers you a loop or belt carry. My biggest complaint of the whole product is a minor one, but it annoyed me to no ending. Your annoyance levels will vary and this may or may not be a relatively minor thing for you. For me, I swore every time I got the hatchet stuck while trying to get it out after strapping it on my belt. You see, there is an edge finisher which catches the back of the axe every time I try to slide it up and out of the sheath. I can wiggle it out with some effort...I have to move the back edge away from that overlapping edge border...but what a pain. I think with lots of use and a bit of modifications, I can get that hatchet to slide out nicely.



Now that is my only complaint...and to be honest, it is a somewhat minor one. I just want to whip it out without having to do the washroom dance to use it. But that is just me. 



Once you get the hatchet out, you are treated to something that just feels awesome. The hatchet has a nice weight to it. The handle material is simply sensuous and better yet, has a nice tight finish. There is no looseness or wobble evident in this Hatchet. It all lends itself to a nice warm fuzzy feeling of quality. I like warm and fuzzy feelings.





Close-ups of some of the branding. You seriously didn't think you could get away without looking at the branding bling did you? "D





This hatchet has a full tang. There is no mistaking it, and the tip even features a lanyard hole. Sort of surprised there isn't one with the usual Bear whistle included with this Hatchet.



The Butt features a nice hammering surface area, making batoning easy.



Adding to the overall quality feel of the hatchet is this. Every metal surface has beveling. The hatchet also features nice finger guards/placements. This adds to the high comfort of the tool.



There you have it. This BG Survival Hatchet is very nice. Oh before I forget...it does come with the usual BG mini survival guide. The balance pivot point of the hatchet is located on that finger separator ridge that is closest to the blade in the above photo. Makes swinging and working with this one handed hatchet a pleasure to work with. Is it right for you? If you can get over the branding, the grip and balance is just perfect. Yeah, I like this, and I am not afraid to admit it. Now where is that BG 12 step program?

[Breezy12]

I actually like this model from the BG line too... thinking of getting one to replace my current hatchet/camp axe. 

I really like the way they left the area right under the head clear and free of any of the rubberized grip.  Any handle material that gets placed there inevitably gets shredded on most hatchets.

[AimlessWanderer]

  Did they get one right? 

On the face of it, this looks a very well thought out and well made piece of kit. I must say that I am slightly worried about the longevity of that handle though. I am pleased to see a screw there to stop the metalwork flying out of the handle into a dense undergrowth or into your mate's head, but am a little sceptical as to how long it might hold up to continued use. Other than that I am really quite impressed with the looks of this one, and I do like how they have allowed for choking up on the head.

As to the blade itself, it looks like a good tool for crosscutting smaller boughs, but looks like it could get stuck a fair bit if splitting logs. Looks like there could be a lot of contact area there. If I didn't have so many axes already  I would be seriously tempted to get one and try it out

I actually like this model from the BG line too... thinking of getting one to replace my current hatchet/camp axe. 

I really like the way they left the area right under the head clear and free of any of the rubberized grip.  Any handle material that gets placed there inevitably gets shredded on most hatchets.

Agreed 

[ducttapetech]

I have to admit, i like it.

[Rs217]

That reminds me of the Gator Ax. I always wanted one.

[enki_ck]

This one does look nice. Just wish the head was a bit thicker. This way it's more of a tomahawk head than a proper hatchet and as Al said, it would get stuck if you tried to do some log splitting.

[Syph007]

Looks consistent with the rest of the BG treasures to me!

[Breezy12]

That reminds me of the Gator Ax. I always wanted one.

I have the Gator axe... it's the one I'm considering replacing.    it's certainly cool having the knife in the handle, but the quality of both the knife and the axe were compromised to accommodate that feature.  I've had the axe for a few years, and used it mostly on camping trips (3-4 times per year).  I've never put it through any really hard use, but it certainly looks worse for the wear.  the "Gator grip" is coming apart, and the knife blade bent under only moderate use.  On the flip side, the replacement knife was only $10.  I think I paid around $30 for the axe in the first place, but this BG axe looks like a better value -- I really like the full tang construction. 

[leigh.ratcliffe.5]

It's a hatchet, not an axe. I am sometimes mystified why people expect a small tool to do the work  of a big tool?
Asuming that it has not already happened it won't be too long before someone posts a video on YouTube of themselves  using this tool to chop a tree down and failing.  Something that really calls for a full sized Foresters axe or a chainsaw.
You know what I'm talking about.
I think the BG axe is a good choice for a camper/hiker who needs to split kindling for a fire and other small tasks.

I do notice that the design looks perfect for batoning wood.

[Grathr]

It looks like it would be excelent for chopping meat, splitting bones, and separating joints.

[Gareth]

While I do think this looks well made, I have to say I am not a huge fan if this style of hatchet.  I always feel the weight of the head isn't right for chopping and, as Al and Nik have said, the very flat cheeks look like they'd add a lot of friction when splitting.  All that said, there are many other jobs an axe can be used for and I don't doubt it would be good at a lot of them.

Sent from my GT-S5830 using Tapatalk 2

[wonderwolf]

They had these on sale going into Christmas at wally world, I was not sure what to make of these, First off its BG line which I don't care for the majority of these offerings but I digress, The Gerber "fiskar" style ones are just fine, This however is a sorry hatchet, the rubber handle goes too far up the shaft and impedes in any splitting the comparable sized "fiskar" could handle.  Its very thin....and yes fast to swing but its so light. I think wally world had these at $9.95 or something along those lines. Lack of a head wedge makes splitting anything difficult I could imagine.

I don't have one of these "survival hatchets" but if you were in a area with a lot of soft wood you might get by with it, shelter building or processing game as mentioned above. I don't see how Bear would have helped designed something like this and said " I would take this in the wilderness with me...yep"  I think there are better choices for a lightweight hatchet. This looks no better than a thick butchers knife on a long handle.