Choosing An Axe For Winter Camping And Travel

Description

http://paulkirtley.co.uk

In this video I argue for carrying a somewhat larger axe than the half-length axes that have become popular in recent years...

Have a watch for the reasons why.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

More information is available here:

http://paulkirtley.co.uk/2013/axe-choice-for-the-northern-forest/

Tags: axe,camping,northern,forest,bushcraft,winter,travel,snowshoeing,snowshoes,toboggan,heated,tend,hot,tent,tenting,Snow,ax,yxe,tree,felling,limbing,snedding,sectionin

Video Transcription

I'm poor currently from Frontier bushcraft in this video I'd like to talk to you about my choice of axe for winter travel and winter camping in the northern forests in the northern forest an axe is your most important cutting tool there's a general trend amongst outdoors people to carry quite small axes such as these and they're excellent little axes these small forest axes are very wieldy yet you can apply them to quite large jobs such as felling trees as well as quite fine jobs such as carving useful implements and splitting quite fine firewood they've got a half length handle and a relatively light head the handle only comes half the way from my fingers to my breast bone here that makes them eminently portable they're easy to put into a rucksack even add a sack they'll fit into quite nicely however in the northern forest it's my view that a larger axe in this has specific advantages in winter you need plenty of fuel whether you're being out or sleeping in a heated tent with a stove you need plenty of fuel obtaining firewood in the northern forest typically means felling dead standing trees and then of course you have to process them you have to take the limbs off you need to section the trunks and you need to split the wood into manageable sections that you can put into your stove the trees here grow more slowly than further south the growing season is shorter this were a more northerly latitude the summers are shorter the trees have fewer days in which to grow that makes the rings of the tree closer together that makes the wood tougher that means you need more cutting power from your axe than you do further south a three-quarter length acts such as this gives in my opinion the extra cutting power that you need for winter travel and winter camping in this environment as I say it's a three-quarter length axe that means the handle comes 3/4 of the way from my fingers to my breastbone that gives me extra leverage extra cutting power in its own right also it's got a heavier head and a slightly larger cutting edge than the small forest axe that gives it extra weight an extra cutting power as well so all those things combined deliver more efficiency when you're using this axe as I've already said the wood here is tougher it's tighter grained it's more knotty it's harder to cut takes more effort with a small axe so a large axe like this gives you an advantage in processing the firewood that you need particularly in winter in terms of felling this is an excellent axe it's also very good very well suited to limbing and sectioning the trunk once you've brought it down the extra length and extra weight of the head also means is very efficient in splitting firewood yet you can still do the finer day-to-day jobs but you need to do such as splitting down small firewood to get your stove going despite its extra weight and size this axe is still very portable particularly if you think about the means by which you're going to be traveling in a winter environment you're unlikely to be lightweight hiking you're much more likely to be traveling by snowshoe if it's a bogging or pulk or maybe by skis with a pole or by snow machine or by dogsled taking an axe like this is not much of a problem when you're traveling by those means the benefits of carrying a tool such as this for winter travel and winter camping far outweigh the downside of its extra size and extra weight I hope that gives you an idea of the power and versatility of an axe such as this I hope it also demonstrates why this tool is my number one choice for winter camping and winter travel in the northern forests

I'm Paul Kirtley from frontier bushcraft thanks for watching I'll see you on the next video

you

in the northern forest an axiom