In the southern Appalachians, where I live, fall means primo mountain-bike conditions and car camping without the mosquitos. It鈥檚 the beginning of bouldering season and arguably the best time to take a hike in the woods. But more than anything, it鈥檚 fire-pit season, which means I spend a significant portion of my time chopping, splitting, and shaving wood聽so I can have fuel聽for regular blazes. I spent my summer testing axes and hatchets of various sizes and purposes to find the best tools for lumberjacking before winter hits. Here are my favorites.
Gerber Freescape Power 36-Inch Ax聽($64)聽
Best For:聽Splitting wood
I use a sledgehammer and spike to split stumps, but once that wood is in manageable pieces, I break out the , which has everything you want in a splitting ax: it鈥檚 heavy (almost 5.5 pounds), long, and sharp. The forged-steel head slices through logs like they鈥檙e butter, but I like this tool because it is not precious. With a composite handle that has yet to show any sign of wear after months of abuse, it鈥檚 meant to take a beating. I鈥檝e ruined many splitting axes in the past due to聽missed strikes, eventually cracking聽the head. I鈥檓 convinced the Freescape will last forever, and it鈥檚 the least expensive ax聽on this list.
CRKT Jenny Wren Compact Hatchet ($135)
Best For: The backcountry and camp kitchens聽
CRKT calls the one-pound聽 a tomahawk, but I consider it a multitool. At ten聽inches long,聽it鈥檚 small enough to carry into the backcountry. You can throw it short distances for fun at the campsite, but it has three sharp edges that make it handy for slicing anything from kindling to sausage. I found the聽spiked head useful for聽digging聽out stubborn tent stakes.聽Thanks to the 聽sheath, it鈥檚 easy to strap on the outside of a pack or your belt. It鈥檚 not going to slice through large logs, but it does a hell of a job carving kindling or cutting into a branch to find dry wood.
Barebones Pulaski Ax聽($122)聽
Best For:聽Jobs that require digging
罢丑别听聽is a firefighting tool with a sharp hoe on one end and an ax-head on the other. It鈥檚 designed to chop and dig in a hurry. (Hopefully I won鈥檛 be digging fire breaks anytime soon.) Still, I鈥檝e found the Pulaski to be handy whether I鈥檓 hacking聽through roots in my backyard pump track聽or splitting wood at camp. It聽has a steel core running through the beechwood handle, topped with a carbon-steel head. At 24 inches, it鈥檚 not long, but the hefty head makes it a viable splitting tool. The hoe works wonders if you鈥檙e making catholes on the edge of camp聽or trying to divert water away from your tent. As practical as the Barebones Pulaski聽is, this particular version is also an aesthetic beauty that you鈥檒l want to hang over your fireplace.聽
Hults Bruk Akka Ax聽($179)聽
Best For:聽Clearing downed tree limbs, cutting through brush
has been making beautiful tools out of the same Swedish factory since the late 1600s, so you know its聽hand-forged carbon steel is no joke. The Akka is a forester ax, which is a niche tool designed for stripping errant limbs and overgrowth. It has the perfect weight-to-length ratio (2.2 pounds and 24 inches) to make it incredibly versatile鈥攍ong enough to split small logs but light enough to wield聽with one hand. I鈥檝e started packing it in my 4Runner on car-camping trips, and I typically use it more like a machete for clearing downed limbs from campsites and pesky scrub brush from my backyard. The handle is a thing of ergonomic exquisiteness,聽with two聽natural curves: one sits low on the handle for chopping, and the other is higher for one-handed jobs. My only complaint is that it鈥檚 almost too pretty to use.聽
Fiskars Norden N10聽17-Inch Hatchet ($95)聽
Best For: One-handed tasks, making kindling
Made in Finland, is a single-handed chopping tool built for splitting small logs and carving up wood to create kindling. I like the built-in overstrike聽protection plate at the top of the handle, as well as聽the overall balance, which is heavy (2.6 pounds) for its 17-inch length. That dense head gives you enough power to actually chop through larger branches. Hold it low for a full swing聽or up high, just below the striking plate, for more delicate work. Fiskars makes a smaller聽14-inch version, but I like the heft of the N10.