Estwing Sportsmans Axe | 3 Year Field Review

Description

Krik of Black Owl Outdoors gives his 3 year field review of the Estwing Sportman's Axe. A great companion for processing firewood, carving wood & general camp tasks, the Sportsman's Axe is a great tool for the price.

Estwing Sportsman's Axe - http://amzn.to/25krh0E

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Tags: Estwing,Sportman's Axe,Hatchet,Field Review,Axe,Bushcraft,Woodcraft,Carving,Backpacking,Hiking,Camping,Survival,Wood Carving

Video Transcription

hey what's up Turtles its Creek here with black outdoors I think it's time checked in on the estimating sportsmen acts that we first did a video on it's been over three years now so how I've been using this in the past three years has been basically use the pound in stakes wooden stakes I'm not using any metal I would never use this particular axe to hit metal with the pole of it only would I've also been using it to split up firewood or basically for whatever reason I need to split down some small rounds to techniques I've used it I don't even know the name of the one but basically you know you're seeing it where the holding the hatchet parallel to the piece of wood hitting it against a log that technique works really well for small types of axe and hatchets and I've also used it in the way of with the baton like I would a knife but some circumstances that just lend itself to use use a baton with it and that's worked really well as well and the last sort of main way I've been using the hatchet is through carving or stock removal on larger pieces of wood whether I want to you know carve a 10 steak for instance or a spoon utensil so anything in that manner where I'm using it more of to you know get a shape out of the piece of wood and it's worked really well for that with that being said what I want to do now is get some close-ups of the features of the Sportsman's axe and tell you what I like and maybe some things I don't like about it let's start the sheath since it's on it's a nice vegetable six or seven ounces this is a sheet that comes with it and I really didn't see anything wrong with it enough for me to make my own and put it on here I'd like to but the pragmatist in me what's the point of you know taking this off and when it works just fine the only thing I'd do with the sheath was right here is I just cleaned up this edge it wasn't really nice and a bit burnished like this so I I don't even think I use a bevel or I think I just take some sandpaper knock down the the burr if you will and then just burnished it guys has to back up for a second let me say so this is a sportsman's axe and this is a larger version of the two and it's widely available in most hardware stores and big box hardware stores and it's going for around you know thirty five US dollars which in my mind it's a pretty accurate for for what you're getting the price is at one point so this is a sort of a single piece of metal design coming down from the handle going the whole way through the leather stack and it's pinned over on the end I haven't done anything to the handle a lot of people say it's in your best interest maybe take off the protective service they put on the leather stacking and it's understandable why they would put a really hard sort of thick coating on this for shipping purposes just to keep it nice before it gets to the customer but I haven't sanded any of this off anything like that because it never gave me hot spots it never gave me any blisters and that's one sort of common theme I hear about when people talk about the esportes men's axe and the leather stacked handle version in general or specifically is that it's so smooth that you're going to get blisters I don't know if just my calluses are in the right place in my hands but I've never had hot spots or any issues with the handle as it came so as I mentioned earlier before it's a single piece of metal design and specifically I want to talk about this area right here is when I wouldn't handle hatchet or axe is that you have meat to grab one too if you want to choke up because this is so thin you really don't have that opportunity or comfort if you want to but on the opposite side of that because this is such a lightweight hatchet when I just sort of choked up and sort of hold hold right here

I have plenty of control that if it were a little bit heavier and I'd want to get closer I need to I don't ever have that issue because I have enough control just going this far the handle and since we're talking about the topic of handling it not being a wooden handle it's just easier to maintain on your end as opposed to a wooden handle now that can be a plus or minus in your book but it's worth mentioning that there's definitely less maintenance on this design of a hatchet like I mentioned before I've been using this to do some carving and stock removal and yes it's not a dedicated carving axe or hatchet but because the cheeks are so thin coming from the bit it works really well this is a convex edge on this and it might not be the best for carving but like I said because coming from the bits through the cheeks because there's no I in here shooting there's no I in here for a wooden handle that it stays really thin back into the pole and like I said it's lightweight so doing that kind of carving test that you've seen me doing already in the beginning of this video it works really well and I have really no complaints I don't really find the need to purchase a more expensive dedicated carving hatchet this works just as well for me the amount of carving I do for me I see this sportsman's axe there's just an all-around sort of companion hatchet or axe and like I said it might not be the best for certain tasks but for me a skill not always we usually will trump the tools that if I feel like if I'm increasing my skills and only using you know not the best equipment that if I do graduate towards specific tools are already being a better position because I learned how to use something that's not quite the best for the job if that makes sense my closing thoughts on the Sportsman's axe are as follows I think it's a good buy for the price the fact that it's made in the USA this particular sheath on this one was not and I mentioned that in the first video I don't know sort of where that came from

but it's made in the USA it's widely available it's been quality well it is quality it's held up well the handle really isn't

falling apart at all there's no wooden handle to maintain and for some of us that's a plus I really like the fact that it's thin cheeked from the bit going down to the pole as I mentioned before lends itself I think it does a pretty decent job for carving at least how much I've done it so if you have experience with this sportsmen axe let me know how have you been using it how is it held up for you I've seen people using these things that look like they've been in a in a dumpster for 40 years and they're still putting edge on it and swinging it so you know I think it has the history and it has the credibility that it's a decent tool for the price if you liked this video please give it a thumbs up like it it really helps us it really does it puts us in better standings with YouTube and it just encouraged us as well that you like what we're doing in the next video this is Creek with black outdoors later Turtles