ESTWING Camper's Axe - 16" Hatchet with Forged Steel Construction & Shock Reduction Grip - E44A

Very sharp, sex ax yes I said it it’s sexy AF!!! I’ve bought for myself, step dad, brother in law they both love it. My step dad’s a ex-logger, farmer, manly man and loves it. It’s the perfect weight anyone that can safely handle an ax can used. Perfect for camping and everyday uses.

This is a great hatchet for making kindling at the fire pit. At 16in, it requires some hand and forearm strength to wield one-handed for any length of time. You can hold it near the head for finer control. I clamped the hatchet in a vise and sharpened up the factory edge a bit, then I used it to carve a baton (wood mallet).I carved a smaller diameter hand grip on one end of a 4" diameter, 14" long piece of hickory. This is a fairly heavy baton and is great for striking the hatchet. I'm using the hatchet in place of a froe. I take wood that has already been roughly split with the big maul, and make smaller kindling with the hatchet.I stand the log on end, and hold the hatchet in my off hand, placing the hatchet blade on the log where I want to start the split. This holds the log in place and keeps my hands far away from the tools, then I strike the hatchet on the hammer face with the wood baton. Warning - do NOT strike this hatchet with a steel tool! Use only another log or purpose-made wood baton to avoid damaging the hatchet or creating flying metal shards.The narrow head and sharp blade profile make it easy to split off 1/4” to 3/8" thick oak and hickory chips from a short, 4" long piece of cut log, for use in a smoker or for re-kindling an old fire from coals.The nice thing about this hatchet, being all one piece of forged steel, is that if the hatchet gets buried in a longer log before the log splits apart, you can strike the handle next to the head to finish the split, similar to using a froe. The thick rubber handle helps reduce the shock you feel in your off hand when you do this.Of, course, you can use this for chopping like any other hatchet, and the extra length and heft allow you to chop more forcefully than with smaller hatchets. Since the handle is so strong, you can pry with it as well, without worrying about breaking the handle off. The nice stickers and paint will get scuffed up and rubbed away with use of course - this is a real working tool. I laughed when someone complained about that.The stitched and riveted nylon sheath fits snugly, with 2 secure snaps. The hammer remains exposed, so you can use this to drive stakes or other things with the sheath in place and blade safely covered.The handle has a hole at the butt end, which you could use for a loop of cord to hang it on a nail. Don't be tempted to use it for a wrist lanyard though, because if you ever lose your grip, it will swing around on the lanyard, pivoting back toward yourself, and likely hit something you won't like!

Great quality

This axe (which is more of a hatchet, really) is an excellent tool for camping. It is relatively small and compact, which is great for any gear. Despite its small size, it has pretty good head weight and can chop pretty well through anything you might use for firewood or shelter. It is too small for cutting any large timber, but will get through logs a foot in diameter (and probably bigger) without wasting too much valuable energy. Obviously, as a camper, you will rarely if ever cut through logs of that diameter. This is a great tool for acquiring firewood and for cutting and prepping wood for making shelter.The full steel construction is a great feature on this product. The axe will not break and is a very reliable tool. Under heavy load, the shaft has some flex between the head and the handle. You probably won't be using this tool for prying, but it's good to have some flex in a steel handle to prevent breakage. For any throwers out there, this axe is a little harder to throw than a lighter hatchet or one that is more head-heavy; the steel handle on this axe shifts the balance away from the head slightly compared to a wooden-handled axe. It is still fun to throw and not too hard to stick, and will do a lot more damage than a smaller axe or hatchet because of the weight (not that you should be assaulting anyone with an axe).The steel is pretty good as well. The problem that the manufacturers of chopping and heavy-duty cutting tools face is that the tool must be very strong and rigid, hold up well to the elements and a lot of abuse, and hold an edge well all at the same time. The steel is some sort of stainless, though I'm not really sure what kind. It holds a decent edge; there are tiny chips in the edge after about a month of moderately heavy use but that is to be expected of a chopping tool. The blade is pretty easy to sharpen. The axe is very rigid and strong, and has light flex in the shaft as mentioned earlier.The handle is made of some sort of rubber compound. The grip is great, and it fits in the hands very well. The rubber held up well to impact; it took some practice throwing and getting this thing to stick into the target, so the rubber experienced plenty of hard hits on solid wood and ground. So far, no missing chunks of rubber and no ripping or tearing.Overall, I would say that this tool is a great blend of size, weight, durability, and usefulness for the camping enthusiast. I have camped with it, but I haven't used it for backpacking yet; I will probably take it along next time because I am confident that the extra weight of this axe compared to a small hatchet will be made up by the energy saved by its chopping abilities. 5/5

This is a good brand of axe! Came in time and packaged well. I'm sure it will last a very long time!

It's almost too sharp, gets stuck in wood quite often.Quite heavy as well. Kind of wish I went for something smaller, but it's accurately advertised.Good hatchet!

seems good. We'll see how the steel holds up

This one surprised me with quality lol it's actually made in USA and they overdid their selves with this beast. I haven't used it yet but I'm sure this will do the job of any axe. It's very well made and has sharp edge and hammer on back that will work great for your tent stakes. It's perfectly balanced and has a nice handle. My only complaint is the paint rubbed off already just touching it, and where barcode was it peeled off completely. They didn't do paint well at all, in fact I'm gonna sand blast it off and give it the right coat. Not that paint matters but they could have done way better job for what it costs. I love this thing and can't wait to try it out. 100% recommend this one but not the paint.