Regular viewers know that’s it’s implied on this channel that I hate axes.
And Heretical Hatchets.
The Devils Wicked Wood Whacker, whatever it is you kids call them.
I think they’re a new unproven way to break pieces of wood apart, and I’d rather have
nothing to do with them.
Give me a Case of Busch Light, and a good slip joint any day of the week, and I'll baton
and chop through wood like my grandfather, and his stupid grandfather before him.
However a subscriber contacted me and said he’d trade me a blade I’ve reviewed for
a Gransfors Bruk Wildlife Hatchet.
And since I know those are expensive axes, and I don't have any reviewed on this channel-
I did the sign of the cross, accepted, guzzled another beer, and threw on my Cold Steel hat
for another layer of protection against the heretical.
And if you mention that’s a contradictory because Cold Steel makes quite a few axes-
no one ever said a religion had to make sense.
And while a few jerks below below try and explain to me that traditionally axes are
in fact used to fell trees, chop fire wood, thrown at targets on Instagram in slow mo
to prove alpha-ness, split logs, murder teenagers doin it, and the subject of half of wranglerstars
videos, let's look at the dimensions, and we're kind of going to wing this because I
don't really know what to measure on an axe.
Like the tallness and weight, with and without the sheath.
I guess you could call it overall length if it makes you feel better.
Cutting edge, and a few other measurements of the head I hope I'm doing all of this right.
And last time I made a wrangler star joke someone asked me what he ever did to me.
Nothing.
And some handle measurements.
How about spine and handle thickness.
If he makes a lot of videos about axes than that’s a true statement.
Just like if someone were to muse these are more just a collection of crappy knife jokes,
and not real reviews.
That would be an accurate statement, if this wasn’t an axe review.
However objectively speaking though is a 12 minute Lynn Thompson joke dumber than an asshole
who sits through an entire video he completely hates.
The music didn’t even start till after the bowie joke!
So let's take a look at description on the wild life hatchets official product page.
Product pages of course are where knife reviewers get 3/4 the videos content then you ad some
likes and umm and bingo you’re at 15 minutes.
The Wildlife Hatchet is a traditional scouting and camping axe with the same head as their
hand hatchet but on a longer handle.
The smaller handled Hand Hatchet is actually $15 more on Amazon, I guess because of the
whole less is more thing.
Cue someone below talking about how smaller handles on axes are actually harder to make.
Now you may know by now I have only one other hatchet or hand axe and that's the Estwing
Sportsman axe which is one piece construction.
That means head and the handle are all the same part, in case your stupid.
I also own two 26" axes, and this one and the Hults Bruk were the sharpest.
As in knife sharp.
This one also has one of the thinner bits, and the cheeks ohaving a concave appearance.
It's light in the hand, and can be used for things like carving, chopping and general
axing things.
As everyone's axe needs are different...
I mostly do yard work and don't fell trees.
Against my better judgement I decided to peruse some of the axe talk on blade forums- and
the gist of the stuff I read is that Gransfors are for stupid hipsters who don't do real
work and need axes that are easy to sharpen.
Any axe bro knows you'd buy a vintage American axe if you need to get some real alpha work
done.
However the 201 reviews from Betas on Amazon with an average of 4 and a half stars generally
love it.
Gransfors uses their own steel in the axes which they say on their website is made from
100% recycled steel from a Swedish company called Ovako.
I found a post on blade forums where some dude quoted someone else, you know like I'm
doing here, but in 2012 and the steel is sort of close to EN9 or 1055 with a 0.55% carbon
content.
So let’s just trust that as 100% accurate.
People just don’t make things up.
The handle.
Now the dude who sent it to me, wrapped the handle with some paracord to prevent handle
damage from overstrikes, and that's fine with me because I’m an idiot with terrible aim.
As real outdoor expert internet trolls will point out from time to time.
There must be some sort of thrill posting under videos how much better you are about
the thing the person doing in the video.
Ok you’re better at hitting wood with sharp things, but not everyone who meets me wants
to instantly punch me.
I have a decent 10:3 ratio.
Anyway I like it and I'm going to leave it.
The handle is isn't super thick in the grip area but has a nice swell at the bottom, so
when you swing it doesn't fly out of your hand and into your camera.
Then you wouldn’t get these great videos…
however when 1 shitty outdoor channel stops posting another 15 pop up in it’s place.
My Estwing doesn't quite have that big swell at the bottom.
The handle is made from hickory, and according to Gransfors bruk soaked in hot sexy Linseed
oil.
The sheath.
It's alright, it protects your shit from the blade mainly if you carry it in your purse,
diaper bag, or briefcase.
You might could scratch the side with the snap, but there's a piece of leather inside
where the edge sits to keep the blades edge from dinging.
Rough on the inside of the sheath smooth on the outside.
It’d be nice if it had a belt loop but it don’t.
Who doesn’t like carrying an axe on the belt.
Oh ok I see a lot of hands.
Comparisons.
I like the feel of this in the hand more than my Estwing- I ain't gonna lie.
It feels surer in the hand, and less fatiguing.
It’s about 200 grams lighter too.
I like the Estwing don't get me wrong, but I have to axe myself should I really have
just made that joke?
Time will tell how easier the Gransfors is to sharpen, and how well it holds up.
This one does tend to get stuck in the wood a little more.
The Estwing has a slightly fatter convex edge I also have a Hults Bruk and Council Tools
with 2 1/4 pound heads on them.
I've had a lot of this review shot for months now, but still haven't edited it yet.
I really don't have many appropriate trees to fell.
I guess I could go to a neighbors yard.
I chopped a lot of wood with them though.
The Council Tools is only a $40 axe, however it doesn't come with a sheath, and it was
very very dull out of the box... the Hults had a nice sheath and was sharp out of the
box with a treated handle.
And finally the Z-Tools.
This is a gift from Nick Shabazz, the man knows what I like.
Not only is it an axe, but axe knuckles.
Sweet.
Anyway, let's do a little more chopping.
I actually prefer larger choppers like my zombie tools to my hand axes.
They have a longer edge so if I suck at targeting because I’m not a real man, it’s more
forgiving.
The Gansfors seemed to hold an edge well throughout my chopping adventures.
I think I’ll wind up using it more than my Estwing, but not as much as my choppers.
I’ve gotten so used to batoning for kindling, that hand axes aren’t as preferred for copping
up limbs.
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