"The Gransfor Mini has to have the worst performance-to-cost ratio of any hatchet on the market! That aside, its weight is poorly distributed, the handle is too heavy. There's simply not enough mass there for it to be a useful tool to split wood…."
These small hatchets were traditionally used more for butchering large game or in a kitchen for splitting wood stove fuel. IMHO, ALL small hatchets lack the heft to do any real chopping and are rather dangerous in experienced hands, with a tendency to bounce off the target and back into the operator's arm or leg.
All in all, I cut cut far more wood in less time and effort with a small saw at 10% the cost and 25% the weight with greater safety. My cheap Gerber saw will go through a 6" log quickly and little chance of hurting myself.
As far as splitting goes, you can baton small stuff with a knife, although banging on a blade is anathema to me. It is easy to cut a branch halfway though with a saw and then split it by bending it to expose the dryer insides. As others pointed out, small stuff can be broken off by hand or by heel. In a pinch, bigger stuff can be slowly fed into the center of an established fire without cutting or splitting any smaller than what you can comfortably carry.
Carving and shaving wood is best done with a sharp knife. A hatchet is handy for making points or notching, but not much else for wood-craft. When you get into real timber making, there are broad axes and adzes that come into play, but they have no place on the trail.
So what it comes down to for me is that a hatchet is certainly better than nothing at all, but not really the first tool I would reach for. They have a nostalgic appeal, but we're supposed to be over nostalgia and fashion when putting together our UL kits.
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