An Axe - Seriously?

[lowenbrau]

No question, a chainsaw it the best solution. It's just a rarity that a chainsaw is warranted (for me)... With that said, a quality bowsaw can cut with impressive speed and surprisingly little effort.

I think the intent of my question may be getting lost here... If you are going out for a week-long on a trip, everything is a compromise right? I could fit my roll-away toolbox and floor jack in my truck in case I need to make a repair - but does that mean I should? No, of course not... so I take a smaller toolkit that can get the job done, albeit not as easily.

Maybe it's just me... For various reasons, I simply don't find myself bucking alot a large firewood for a campfire.

Yup. It is all about where you are going. I only bring a 1l bottle of water because there is running water everywhere up here. I bring a chainsaw because mountain nights will drop below freezing 11 months of the year and the warm month will blow down huge swaths of trees across the trails. I don't bring a chainsaw when I go to Pismo beach.

[WJinTRSC]

Simple. An ax is light, small, easy to pack/stow, uses no fuel, spills no fuel, has no moving parts to break/replace/maintain, and can live in a vehicle full time. Any newb can go out and buy a decent ax for wheeling and be able to clear fairly good sized downed trees over trails. I've had one in my trucks since my first wheeling adventures began. Used them countless times and with a good one, it's really not that much slower than a chainsaw if you actually know how to use it properly; cutting a V-shaped notch into the tree and working your way around the tree.


Just go get yourself a good Fiskars/Gerber Brand.

Indestructible, ridiculously sharp, and super light weight. Sears carries them as well as many other stores and you can find them in every variation/size imaginable. I have three; my first one, one for backpacking, and the big one that lives in the Jeep.

[BigAl]

OK, I'm sold... who can recommend a quality axe

For zombies you don't mess around, P U L A S K I
Think double tap, split and scoop

[PirateMcGee]

In my area an axe and shovel and 5 gallons of water are required to be in/on your vehicle during fire season when traveling off pavement

[keezer37]

Pretty fun thread, zombiewise.

You bring up a good point. Though I never thought about carrying an axe in my truck, I never gave it much thought seeing them on others.
I help my brother cut wood every year as he burns wood almost exclusively in the winter. We never, and would never consider bringing an axe. My goodness, when I think about the energy we expend cutting with a chainsaw, cutting and humping wood. An axe! No way.
Folding saw & bow saw. If the wood be mightier than the saw, seek other wood for fire. I'm sure it depends on where you're at but I've always just collected fallen dead wood for fires.

Perhaps one day a huge fallen oak will be lying across my path and zombies will coming up behind me. If so, I'll be wishing I had a chainsaw and Deep Woods Zombie Cream, not an axe.

[nwoods]

I have an axe on my Jeep and I've been very surprised at how often I've used it, even here in the desert. Our mountains often experience a lot of wind, so there are often felled trees to be cleared or trimmed, and I help out with AAT stuff, and bucking trees and so forth is fairly common. I have a MAX Axe and it's been pretty solid. I get it sharpened about twice a year, otherwise its attached to my rear tire rack.

[skifsh]

The US Forest Service requires that an axe,shovel and a bucket be carried on or in your vehicle when traversing on USFS property and roads. Most states follow the lead of the USFS,also. How innovative you get in mounting them is not the point. Having them on board is.

[herm]

i carry a long handled fiskars hatchet all the time. i find it very useful for spliting fire wood, hamering in guy lines for our tarp awning and it could be very usful in an emergence if we come across another vehical that is crashed. I can see carrying an axe if i was to go to a forest, but we are usually not on forest property unless its a road.

[Corey]

That is right, I also forgot about that.
Most of my camping is on forest service land where you just go down a trail/road and find a place to camp, and you are required to have an ax/shvel, and water.

Here was my old homemade setup before I got my roof top tent.



Then I changed over to Luke's (www.fourtreks.com) setup on the rear of the rack which uses Quick Fists and his custom aluminum mounts.



Now with the tent on top, I have the Hi-Lift Handleall which is several tools in one.



4WD Toyota Owner did a review on the Handleall a year or so back, and gave it a good review too.

[htek]

The US Forest Service requires that an axe,shovel and a bucket be carried on or in your vehicle when traversing on USFS property and roads. Most states follow the lead of the USFS,also. How innovative you get in mounting them is not the point. Having them on board is.

Requires, or recommends? I just did some real quick poking around on the FS website and didn't find any language requiring these items... only recommending. If you can find it, I'd love to see it... I just went to look for my campfire permit from last year to see if it was on there, but I threw it away already.

As for a shovel and water - I think that's a no-brainer during fire season. But what the hell are you going to do with an axe? Your certainly not going to cut a fire break...