Yankee Axe - German Forester's Axe with Leather Sheath, 3.5 lb Head, Anti-Slip 31.5" Hickory Handle with Red Stripe

This is a beautiful German made axe. It is exactly the length and weight I hoped to find so it is useful for splitting yet not so long and heavy that it doesn’t transport well. This axe will be on all our future rafting trips.

Axe is very good quality and chops well! Handle is steady and well made

After reading a bunch of reviews recommending this as a good canoe axe, I decided to give it a try as I am reluctant to use any of my vintage and antique axes that I have in my collection in order to preserve them. Having well over a hundred axes and growing, I have seen my fair share of grounded down bits, but never have I seen a brand new axe have a bit so unevenly ground that the bit is already missing 1/2" inch and is past the toe and heel line, to make matters worst, the bevel is ground unevenly as well as if they were trying to make a chisel grind like the ones you'd see on roofing half hatchet. Needless to say, I was disappointed and returned the darn thing, and got myself another 2lb plumb national in excellent condition at a known auction site, only down side to that is if someone really wants it, they'd put their whole life savings onto the bid. So your better off with a council tool or snow and nealley hatchet or one of their new hudson day's. Either way both are far better than this one.

Perfect for light-medium backcountry duty including bushcrafting temporary or emergency shelters or kindling prep. Not a felling axe for anything over 5” with the light head. Extremely well made. Razor sharp as delivered with a bevel suited for its intended use. (Higher angle bevel for a bigger felling axe works but isn’t what you want for the uses I cited above)

Axe appears to be well made. Handle grain is aligned perfectly to the head and of nice quality, tight grain - shape feels good in the hand. The fit of the handle to eye is very good as well - very little if any gaps. The wooden wedge is centered nicely, the round metal safety wedge is off centered - by quite a lot, but I don't believe that will have any real effect. Sanded lightly and added a few coats of boiled linseed oil - handle looks / feels even better now. Not very sharp out of the box, but no big deal - I can refine the edge more to my liking. I can't comment on performance yet as I have not really put it to use yet.

My first axe had either a crooked haft or the eye was not centered because the axe head was definitely not inline to the haft. My replacement axe was centered in relation to the haft but the circular wedge definitely is not centered in the eye but off and touching the axe itself. So buyers beware. Otherwise, the axe handles decently once you spend another 15-30 minutes to put on a decent edge profile.

Excellent axe. Excellent quality. Will perform all camp functions. Larger than a hatchet it perfect for what it is called; a canoe axe. Excellent value.

The axe in the background thats horizontal is my Adler. I removed the paint so I could apply Boiled Linseed oil to the entire handle. Feels great now. I didn't get the Adler bag like is pictured in the product photos. Leather head cover is cheap. Doesn't have the leather weld to keep the axe from hitting rivets if I drop it. The stitching is also broken and was already broken when I opened the package. There are very few videos on the Tube but there are a few. Great axe.