Pocket Hatchet for driving stakes and wood gathering chores

Thank you for sharing. That’s really light! And their shipping is very reasonable :)

13 ounces is really light.  I’ve found, though, that really small, short, light axes need a lot more exertion to do any particular task than a larger axe does.

If I’m expecting to burn wood or might cut some overhanging branches from the trail, then I’ll bring a 42-gram Coghlan’s Sierra Saw  ($7 to $9, available at Walmart) and a 17-gram “Little Vicky” paring knife.

If I’m expecting to do trail clearing or am in Great-White-Hunter mode, then I’d bump the pull saw up to a Bahco Laplander and the knife up to a Mora Basic in its plastic sheath.

Yes, the smaller the axe the smaller the kind of work you can do. I like this one for driving tent pegs in frozen ground (it competes in weight to stand alone stake hammers), fire prep, and making wood stakes and poles.

Last fall I was out in a recent large burn area after a wet snow and neither my knife nor my pocket saw was good at getting to dry wood for a warming fire. All the small wood was wet thru. I needed something with more oomph. A large saw, hatchet or machete would have been the ticket.

With the increase in wildfires, leave no trace principles and plain old weight, I can’t find a justification for hauling a 13 ounce tool. Rocks or sticks are more than enough for driving tent stakes.

I picked one of these up and took it on a week-and-a-half trip to the south end of Kodiak to help a friend do some field archaeology. For the first half of the trip we were less weight limited as we were kayaking, so we had a standard Gerber camp hatchet as well as the Marbles, and my saw was a Silky Bigboy 2000. For the second half, we backpacked up the outer coast and to save weight I just brought the Marbles (and my Silky 180 saw).

For our wood stoves, I cut 8” rounds of driftwood and then split it as needed. We look for dry stuff up to 8” in diameter, reasonably clear of knots. Red and yellow cedar branches are our favorite stove wood. The Marbles worked well in this application and there were only a few pieces I might have split with the heavier ax that I skipped with the Marbles due to knots. I made a minimalist Kydex sheath for it.

More pics here.

Wow, great photos!

“With the increase in wildfires, leave no trace principles and plain old weight, I can’t find a justification for hauling a 13 ounce tool. Rocks or sticks are more than enough for driving tent stakes.”

Depends on where you camp. Camping late season in the middle of miles of burned over area, or a dog hair thicket, with snow covered, frozen ground is different than summer along the PCT at 10,00o feet with a growing season of 2 months.

13 ounces is a lot to lug,

I have one of these that I re-handled with American Hornbeam to 15.5″ (39.5 cm) and that now weighs 15.5 oz (431 gm).  The extra leverage makes it a much better chopper, though you might wish to choke up for accurate stake driving blows.  I can’t remember the last time I needed anything more than my feet and arms or two tightly spaced trees to break up firewood, but I do like hatchets.

geoffrey

Another good use for a hatchet is chopping thru ice for collecting water on cold trips.

Thanks for a very interesting thread.  I am always on the look out for new tools.

But already own one too many Mora swedish knives…

@btolley

Regarding new tools, I am a big fan of the Fiskars brush axe. At 17 oz. it is not light, but it is utilitarian. Great for digging holes, cutting through ice, chopping wood, and holds my lighter and kitchen knife. I keep mine mounted to the front of my pack via neodymium magnets.