SOG Base Camp Axe

[Grant Lamontagne]

Some of you may remember that I purchased the SOG Camp Axe a while ago and that I was pretty impressed with it. 



Well, I carried and used it a few times, and I did like it, but I gave it to my father, so I needed a new axe.  That's when I saw the SOG Base Camp Axe and decided that I needed to have it. 

Last week when we finally got out camping I had the chance to try it out!



SOG Has this to say about it:

The simple elegance of its design is rivaled only by its durability and strength, making this Axe an ideal tool, bound for your basecamp and beyond. Its forge head features a cutout to decrease friction while chopping and a flat back for hammering home pegs and stakes. Full-tang construction adds legendary sturdiness, while a co-molded handle ensures a secure grip in all conditions. It won't make you a lumberjack, but it'll make you feel like one.

Out of the package I was a bit surprised by it- the Camp Axe had come absolutely shaving sharp but the Base Camp came with a duller edge, and, even more confusing, there were Sharpie marks around the edge.  I contacted SOG to see if somehow this one hadn't been sharpened and found out that it wasn't supposed to be as sharp as the Camp Axe, and that they had no idea what the Sharpie marks were for.  They were happy to replace it, but I figured I can sharpen it myself if needed, and a few Sharpie marks aren't going to bother me. 



I didn't bother sharpening it, wanting to see what the factory edge was like first.  In the above photo you can see one of the Sharpie marks near the beard.  The others were worn off as I chopped a pile of kindling, which you can see on the fire grate in the background.  This was taken the second day, and by then I'd probably chopped 2-3 times as much kindling with it.  Yes, I chopped way more kindling than I needed, but hey, I was having fun with a new toy!   



It did a great job of taking regular hunks of wood and turning them into smaller hunks of wood, which is exactly what an axe is for, so that part is all good.  I didn't experience any fatigue and really only stopped so we wouldn't be burning kindling all weekend instead of logs!  What I did experience was a bit of chipping at the top of the edge.



Now this very likely happened a couple of weeks ago when I was chopping wood for my Bio Lite in the driveway, but I can't be 100% certain.  In all likelihood that was the case, but I will sharpen it, clean up the edge and do more chopping with it to see.  Regardless, the chipping didn't seem to get in the way of this thing powering through the fire wood, and that's what really matters!

I actually do like this little axe.  It won't do a great job of splitting whole logs, but then it's not meant for that.  What it will do is split your kindling and firewood quickly and effectively right out of the box, and look good doing it. 

I would absolutely get one of these again if I lost or gave this one away.

Def

[zoidberg]

I contacted SOG to see if somehow this one hadn't been sharpened and found out that it wasn't supposed to be as sharp as the Camp Axe, and that they had no idea what the Sharpie marks were for.

WTF kind of rubbish excuse is that!

"Bluntness is our new feature, that's why it costs more than the sharp one."

[Syncop8r]

Well they have to pay someone to come along and blunt the axe that someone else has already sharpened. 

[Nix]

You guys are killin' me here.......

I'm laughing out loud and Mrs Nix comes over to find out what is so funny. Now she doesn't know a bit from a cheek from a beard, but I read her Zoidberg's comments and she's now ROTFLOL.

 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I don't know, I've had a lot duller axes than this one in the past.

Def

[TazzieRob]

I imagine you'd need to hold the handle higher when using the poll to hammer with? 

[Nix]

I don't know, I've had a lot duller axes than this one in the past.

I like a sharp axe. I always expect to sharpen a new axe. No problem as you described it. Does it hold an edge?

[Grant Lamontagne]

I haven't put an edge on it yet, so I really can't say.  The factory edge, other than where I may have dinged it some, doesn't seem to have been affected any by the amount of chopping I have done with it.  So far I have split a half dozen or so logs into kindling.

Def

[styx]

I suppose it is another way of saying that some people to reprofile an axe and put their own edge on it from the get go. Key word there being some

[Grant Lamontagne]

I probably would have, but that would defeat the "out of the box" testing I like to do, and honestly, it worked quite well as is.

Def

[Syncop8r]

I suppose it is another way of saying that some people to reprofile an axe and put their own edge on it from the get go. Key word there being some

"Like" or "prefer" is probably a key word too.... 

[styx]

I suppose it is another way of saying that some people to reprofile an axe and put their own edge on it from the get go. Key word there being some

"Like" or "prefer" is probably a key word too.... 

very true. although what is worse hitting yourself with a sharp axe and getting a cut or cutting off a few fingers or hitting yourself with a dull axe and getting a bruise or a few broken fingers (since it is a small axe I'm narrowing it to fingers). don't forget that one of the rules is - it isn't a bug, it is a feature. in this case it might be a "safety" feature (although we know that sharper is safer)

[Grant Lamontagne]

I still haven't sharpened this axe and it has handled all of the summer camping trips so far with no issues at all.  It's been on three or four weekend camping trips and split several logs into 3-4 inch slivers for use in the Bio Lite stove, and hasn't caused any undue fatigue or accidents.  It was sharp enough to give me a small cut on my knuckle at one point, and it has split some sizeable logs.  It probably would have cut more, except apparently chopping wood is discouraged in campgrounds these days, and there are no chopping blocks to chop wood on anymore.   

When I was a kid every campground had a fire place or pit and a huge old stump for chopping wood on.  Since those appear to have been removed, I didn't feel overly confident taking a whack at larger logs.

All in all, I am still quite happy with this axe.  It has quickly become my go to axe for camping, and I am quite happy with it.  When the season is done I'll bring it home, clean it up and put a nice edge on it for next year. 

Def