Any decent axe should work. Stay away from the $10 chinese junk. The Boy Scout axe I got as a kid held a decent edge. They still need to be sharpened though. The steel is purposely not that hard so that it isn't brittle. I use a file.

I agree. A good handle and keeping the blade out of the dirt is what's important. Keep a small file in your fishing tackle box for touching up both the axe/hatchet as well as fishing hooks. If needed more aggresive sharpening can be done at home. I like the hatchets that have a hammer head on one side. Make a much more versatle tool.

Those Granfors are supposed to be good axes although I have never used one. I was just looking at buying an Estwing axe. They are made in the US if that is important to you. They are the small camp size, about 2lbs and ~12" long. I am not sure if that size will work for you. I think they were $34 at Home Depot here. A little more than your budget, but what I did like about them is that the handle is steel. I bought a small hatched with a wood handle from a logging supply company. It lasted one job, although I was using the hammer end to help pound in a wedge.

Nevada_walrus, are you talking about the shingle hatchet? They have an axe head with a notch and traditional hammer head on the back side, not just a flat spot.

Gerber makes some fine camping equipment. I have one of their camp axes and have been very satisfied with it. It cost US $42.95 and at the time i got it they had free shipping. Well balanced and holds an edge well. www.gerberstore.com

masiman
Shingle hatchet, could be but it sounds possible. Dad had one when I was very young and he did some construction. He always took it on camping trips. We used it for chopping firewood and hammered with it to drive the tent spikes. Handy tool.

Dad has now gone to his maker but I still have that old hatchet. It's had several replacement wood handles over the years but still works good and is probably 50 years old now.

Hatchets with a hammer head are also known as a riggers axe. A shingling hatchet can look an awful lot like a drywall hammer so be careful if buying one on-line, be sure you know exactly what you are getting.

I had the opportunity to use a couple of the Granfors camp axes when visiting a friend, they are obviously a quality tool.

Yeah I did a bit of searching and discovered the shingle hatchet has a blade only half the size of what I was referring to. Axe/hammer seemed to be the name that most closely reaseambles the tool I was thinking of.

Thanks for the help! I just ordered a small forest axe made by Gransfors Bruks. I also considered the wildlife axe.

The el-cheapo ones just don't hold an edge. A dozen strokes or so and they're dull already. Modern designs like Gerber or Kershaw just don't appeal to me (yea, I'm nostalgic).

Although we have all used our hatchets to pound in tent stakes, I'm always baffled by the design that puts a hammer on one end of the poll. The reason I'm baffled is the poll of either an axe or hatchet is just not strong enough to stand up to the abuse of hammering or worse, driving a wedge. But each to their own.

The design, balance, and straight grain in the hickory handle won me over on the Gransfors. Just might have something worthwhile to pass on to my grand children :)

I agree about the axe poll not being designed for hard striking, at least on the small hatchet I was using. I just wanted something lightweight to take up the tree for setting a wedge. Trying to keep my kit weight down a little. I don't need wedges climbing very often but sometimes they help get the chunks over.

Enjoy the Granfors!

You've gotten some very good suggestions, but in my 40+ years of camping I've never really found a need for an axe. When I was a Scoutmaster I taught the boys how to use one, but we picked up all the dead wood we needed for fires. I found that a folding bowsaw was much more efficient if I ever needed to cut green wood for some reason (and they're lighter for backpacking).

Of course, your camping style may be entirely different.