Growing up we had a what we called a “kitchen axe” that was bigger than a hatchet, but smaller than a felling
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Gransfors Bruk Small Forest Axe Review
Kitchen Axe
I hadn’t thought much about the kitchen axe until I needed just such a tool. In my stable of axes and hatchets
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Related: Review of the Gränsfors Bruks Outdoor Axe
The Gränsfors Bruk Small Forest Axe is an ideal compromise when you need to carry your own tools or space
Like many of my kind, bug out kit is always on my mind. So having a great dual-purpose chopping tool that picks up where my big knife leaves off lands near the top of my bug out list. Sure, it would be ideal to have the perfect tool for every job, in reality if you are carrying you own load, you want to maximize the utility, and minimize the quantity. So packing the Gränsfors Bruk Small Forest Axe is an ideal choice.
Forged with Love
Gränsfors Bruk is known as one of if not the best axe maker in the world. Each tool is handmade by an expert
Being a smaller axe, the Gränsfors Bruk Small Forest Axe is also a perfect size for those smaller in stature including kids mature enough to use such sharp swinging tools and women who are more comfortable with a tool of proportional size to muscles and swing radius.
The Gränsfors Bruk Small Forest Axe has a gracefully curved handle of perfectly oriented grain Hickory. Lesser axes have seem to care less of the direction of the wood grain orientation. Ideally the grain visible at the base of the axe handle should be parallel to the axe head. If you check out the inexpensive hardware store axes, you will see grain orientation in any of the cardinal directions. Routinely you can find axe handles showing grain orientation closer to perpendicular to axe head direction than to parallel to it. And even some a perfect 90 degree off the direction it should be. That’s 100% bad. Striking wood with that kind of low quality is just asking for a catastrophic failure.
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Value Added
Compared to other axes, this Gränsfors Bruk Small Forest Axe is on the expensive side with a street price
Related: Review of the Council Tool Apacalaxe
The generous palm swell knob on the far end of the handle is plenty to hang on to, but hardly noticeable when ignored. The shoulder of the handle just below the bit is streamlined but strong. And the lugs under the axe head cheeks add strength and orientation during the strike. Chopping cylinders and trees uses both the wedge to slice and the wedge to split all in the same move. The initial angled strike of the axe on the tree cuts into the wood while the triangle of the wedge forces the wood chip from the tree body sending it flying out of the way.
The blade cover is the classic bikini Gränsfors Bruk uses for most of its axes. It’s little more than a riveted
Real Life
In the field the Gränsfors Bruk Small Forest Axe preforms like a champ. It hardly takes up any space and weighs little, but does all the work you throw at it. The minor weight the Gränsfors Bruk Small Forest Axe adds to your kit is more than made up by this tool’s talents. Wrapping your hands around the axe smooth linseed-dipped handle gives you feelings of superpower. Any bug out wood needing work can be handled by the Gränsfors Bruk Small Forest Axe even if the tree is only be nibbled away at by the medium size of this striking tool. Any smaller jobs are quick and painless. So much so that might wonder how the rest of the world gets along with axes too big or survival hatchets too small.
A true bug out kit has only one chance to do things right. The axe is a tool with thousands of years of
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I have a couple of each single bit and double bit axes as well as hatchets and all together they cost less than this ONE. not saying it is not a great ax with great metallurgy just I need other items.
I hear you. Price is definitely an object with this one. But quality axes take time to deliver their talents to their owners. Even the ten-spot Home Depot chopper will make it through one camping trip The real use, however, is downstream perhaps years. Some folks will make do with substandard kit. But others will keep on rocking when the professional aspects of the gear finally gets to show its stuff. Like pretty much everything, it is that final 10 percent where quality is found. But when it's found, it sure feels good.
The old adage of "buy once, cry once" is definitely in play here. I have the sub-$50 solid steel Estwing in a similar length, and a Husqvarna axe about the same. But compared to the Granfors Bruk Small Forest Axe, the other s are like toys, or tools, or totally fine if you don't plan on using them much.
In the end, we here at Survival Cache are just bringing quality gear to your attention. Of course YBOMMV (your bug out milage may vary).
Doc, I have to agree with the poster above.
Your obsession with super high end tools and equipment
is both unaffordable and unrealistic for the average prepper.
Thanks for the read Unknown. Point taken.
In most cases I've worked my way up to the expensive stuff so I have plenty of more affordable options around the house, in the bug out vehicle and all over the bug out location. Like the duct taped axe in the first picture, you can see that my spectrum of outdoor and survival tools runs deep. Got any special requests for gear (specific or general) to be reviewed?
Stay tuned….
I agree. This tool is actually affordable for me but it appears unnecessary. Is there something special about this axe that makes it better than others? Improved metallurgy? Better handle? weight that is not available from other manufacturers? Different type of head to handle connection? I don't believe that price = value ( just look at handbags).
If I'm going to spend $130 bucks on an axe when there appear to be similar options for $60 I would like to know what the difference is. I've been using an old axe that I got from my grandfather 40 years ago and Its probably something he got at a local hardware store in 1930. Its nothing special but it keeps on working.
Superior in almost every conceivable way. better metal, better smiths, better wood, better shaped handle, better fitted axe head, I really could go on. Its like comparing a Kian Rio, to a BMW M5
My Estwing axes have never let me down so I'll stick with them, thanks anyway!
I bought a Gransfors about 10 years ago and have to say it's not necessarily any better than any other axe, but it is taken much better care of. I don't forget and leave it out in the rain, I don't forget to sharpen it, I don't pry too hard with it, I don't swing too hard with it, I don't hit it with a framing hammer, I don't misplace it, I pull it out of my pack and dry it if needed, and most importantly it has been on every camping/pack trip I've been on as it's the most revered tool I own. I use to buy a new metal axe about once every two years because of the above laziness, and realized I might have doubled my savings just because I put an effort into taking care of it.
Been using chopping tools (axes, hatchets, tomahawks, etc) for over 60 years. Boy scout years I learned how to use axes and hatchets, sharpen, cut, etc. Military experience opened up different ways to use hatchets and hawks. In retirement still use them for choppin firewood. Have several GBs and they are a fine tool and have outlasted many of the others.
I've had my Grans Bruks along time now and it's one of my most prized possessions. I do agree with a lot of your comments about price, however I'm a Scout leader and avid bushcrafter and have many friends new and old in Scouting and the Bushcraft scene and have seen many axes and hatchets that they've bought along from the smallest of budgets to the latest in technologies! I've never looked at another axe in 20+yrs and wondered if only? I'm very lucky that my lovely wife purchased my Gransfors ironically after an evening spent with Mr Ray Mears on his recommendation for an upcoming birthday present. I would like to add though that a moto often used in Scouting is the best tool is the one you have!