In this episode of the Primitive Camping and Bushcraft Podcast, Chris Speir explores the essential cutting tools for camping, focusing on the differences and uses of axes, saws, and multi-tools. He shares practical tips on selecting the right tool for various tasks and highlights the importance of keeping them sharp for safe and effective use.
Welcome back to the Primitive Camping
and Bushcraft Podcast.
My name is Chris Speir,
and I'm gonna be your guide
to enjoying the great outdoors.
So have you ever got into
the woods and you realize,
hey, you needed to bring
your ax instead of your saw
or vice versa, and
you just had to make do
with what you had?
So today we're gonna discuss a little bit
about cutting tools,
and we're gonna talk about
the differences between
different cutting tools.
So this one's not gonna
probably be as long as typical,
but we're just gonna discuss it anyway.
So the single most
important item that you can carry
with you into the
woods by far is a knife.
And I covered knife selection
in previous podcast episodes,
and we went over it in great detail.
And we also went over it in the book
in the introduction section.
So we're gonna
discuss axes and saws today.
So a good axe or saw can be just as
helpful in the woods,
and especially for larger trees and logs.
Now, when it gets to axes, we're gonna
talk about this here
in a few minutes, is that axes can be
classified differently.
They got your campers
axe, they got your boys' axe,
they got felling axes,
they got your hatches.
There's so many different varieties.
You got your little two-pound axes,
you got your four-pound, your five-pound.
It depends on what you need it for
and what you're looking to do with it.
If you're looking for
an all-around robust axe,
we're gonna get into
it in different detail.
But there's so many variations of an axe,
and each one has a particular
design for a specific reason.
Now, an axe that I use
may not work for you,
and the axe that you
use may not work for me.
And I heard once that an
axe is like a pair of shoes.
I think it's awesome,
but you may not like it,
and you may hate it.
It may be uncomfortable for me to swing,
but it may give you blisters.
It may be comfortable for me to swing,
but it may give you blisters.
And just like a pair of shoes would.
Some people, I don't like cowboy boots,
but I like lace-up boots,
but I do not like the
pull-on cowboy boots style.
I don't do that.
Now, I never could.
They give me blisters,
but some people don't
like the lace-up stuff,
and they go for the cowboy stuff,
and they don't get blisters.
So I've used a utility axe for years,
and by utility, I mean
that this axe is used
for more than one thing.
And I've cut trees with it.
I split firewood with it
and do some carving if needed.
Now, an axe, you can
do carving with that.
You can cut up game.
You can process your fish.
You can, with an axe,
you can keep a very sharp edge on an axe.
The felling axe is
one of the typical axes
that you'll find when primitive camping.
The felling axe is
designed for chopping trees
and cutting through tree branches.
Now, this type of axe,
the head is heavy enough
that combined with a long handle
can be swum very powerfully.
And the handle of the axe
is usually made from hickory,
but there are also synthetic handles
so that you don't break them when
splitting logs as easily.
Now, they also have little patches
or little bumpers or
whatever you want to call it
that slide up through there
to where if you hit something,
it's not going to
damage the handle as well.
This particular style
axe is an excellent choice
when you decide to bring
an axe with you camping
and are bushcrafting trips.
And as with any axe, the
only drawback is the weight.
And I've found that to be
true on plenty of my excursions,
especially hiking trips,
overnight, a couple of days or stuff.
Sometimes I don't even bring an axe
because the weight of it is so much.
You're looking at two,
three, four, five pounds.
Depending on the type
of acts that you brought.
And that's just two or three
pounds is just the axe head.
And then you have the handle,
the weight of the
handle and stuff like that.
So what I've found to be very easy for me
is the S-wing, the camper's axe.
And it's a small axe.
It's all one
stainless steel construction.
It's all, it's not as heavy
as some of the axes out there.
But it's not really a splitting axe.
It works for splitting smaller logs,
but I wouldn't go up there
and do a big old round of,
you know, a hit oak or a sweet gum.
You know, you'd never
split a sweet gum log with it.
I don't think so.
But it does great for
whenever you're chopping
little things here and there.
And then same thing with a hatchet.
Now the hatchet is a multipurpose tool
and is the type of acts
that most people think about
whenever you're going camping.
As with any other gear item,
hatchets can range from cheap to
extremely expensive steel.
They can be beneficial around your camp
from pounding in stakes into the ground.
And you could do the same thing with a
regular axe as well.
You know, use the backside
of the axe to act as a hammer
or something of the sort to
pound stakes in the ground.
You can also cut small diameter trees.
Hatchets are small
compared to other axes,
but can still be used
to split smaller firewood
around the camp for
other tasks like carving.
For instance, I've seen
individuals only bring a hatchet
with them and not a knife.
And they actually did all the carving.
They made notches.
They carved stuff for the, what was it?
The pot creams, stuff like that.
Made notches on the pot creams.
They actually made a clip to where,
a bushcraft clip, tarp clip,
where they split the log in half.
They did some carving and everything.
And then they tied it up and they put
their tarp in in there
and they tied it down
and put a wedge in there.
And, you know, it was pretty cool.
It was one of the first
time I've ever seen it.
And then after you've seen it,
you see it on the internet everywhere.
You know, it's one of those situations.
But, and they also use the hatchet to
clean their wild game
and process all their food.
Now, it looked kind of funny
cutting up a fish with an axe,
but hey, it worked, you know?
And that's, you can't,
if it works, it works.
You can't knock it if it works.
So I personally, I'm gonna
use a knife for that test.
You know, I'm gonna leave
the axis for chopping the wood.
But then some people do it.
They, you know, why
would you use your knife
to split your firewood?
And so, a touché, you know?
East Wing makes a good little axis,
the long handle camper's axis.
And it's somewhere between
a felling axe and a hatchet.
And like I said, that's the
one that I've used for years.
And I got it for
Father's Day gift one year.
And I have not looked back.
I mean, this thing, I've
left this thing out in the woods
for weeks on end,
come back, be rusted up.
I polished it down, you know?
And actually in the book, if you can see,
that's the actual first
axe I ever got right there
in that picture on
the cutting tools page.
If you're following along
in the book, on page 52.
And so that's that
East Wing axe, you know?
I never really understood how to
pronounce that name.
But, you know, it's 26 inches long.
And this axe is one that
I've used for almost 10,
over 10 years now, going on 11.
And it's lightweight
enough to carry in my backpack.
And it's just the right
size to do hatchet work.
But it's long enough to cut
down larger trees if I need.
And the camper's axe can also be picked
up for under 60 bucks.
So that was one of the
price things that I liked
is that it's under $60.
Now with the inflation and
everything going on right now,
I haven't really priced it,
but whenever I bought this
thing, it was under 60 bucks.
And usually you could
pick it up like a Home Depot
or some kind of home improvement store
and anywhere they sell hammers.
And they have two variations.
You know, they have the axe
and then they have the hatchet.
And, you know, they look the same,
but one's just like a
third of the size of the other.
So doing a little
research for the type of axe
you wish to take
camping takes a little time
and plenty of retailers out
there that have what you need.
Once again, you don't have
to spend hundreds of dollars
on gear.
You don't have to.
You could spend 20 or 30
bucks on an axe or a hatchet,
and it'd be just as
effective as the $200 one.
A lot of it is just
like name recognition,
a lot of it's popularity contests,
and I don't play that game.
I'm gonna do what
makes, what I get by with,
what I can have fun and enjoy with.
So remember, you wanna select an axe
that's good for multiple tasks,
such as chopping down
trees, split logs, and carving.
So something that's gonna be
easy for you to manipulate,
something that's not gonna be
too broad to like splitting,
like a log splitting axe.
They got them out there.
I wouldn't recommend
using that to carve with
because it's gonna be five
or six pounds in your hand.
And one of the things that you wanna do
while you're out there is
you're always wanting to keep it sharp.
That's one of the things
you always wanna consider
is how are you gonna keep this knife,
I mean, this axe sharp
while you're out in the woods
because a dull axe is a dangerous axe.
A dull knife is a dangerous knife.
But I found that using a puck,
and it's a little
sharpening stone like this,
and it looks like a hockey puck,
and it weighs less than a pound,
and it could fit in your bag,
and you can use that to
sharpen your axe or your knives
or your hatchet or whatever with you.
They have a smooth
side and a coarse side,
and you can use that to sharpen it.
But I mean, like we discussed sharpening
in our previous videos or podcasts
is that you can use a stone,
you can use a log with some mud on there
like Zack Fowler did on
ALONE and stuff like that,
but you don't
necessarily have to bring some,
heck, you can use a porcelain cup,
the bottom of a porcelain
cup to sharpen your knives
or stuff like that.
A small stone from a creek,
anything like that
can sharpen your knife.
But now we're gonna move on to saws,
and saws are another fantastic item
to carry with you on your trip.
Now, a lot of times I
only bring a knife and a saw,
and those two items
right there are essentially
all I need to do the
tasks that I need to do.
Most of the time I'm not filling a tree,
I'm not cutting down large trees
or chopping out a canoe
or whatever with an axe.
There's so many variations of saws
that it can be very confusing
as to which type that you need.
And when it comes to saws,
do you intend to cut large diameter logs?
Or do you plan on cutting smaller
and smaller diameter trees?
And just making utensils around your camp
or your cooking
appliances and stuff like that.
When it comes to saws, you got buck saws,
you got bow saws, you got
blades for cutting green wood,
you got blades for cutting dead wood,
you got folding saws, and like with axes,
the options are pretty much endless.
So this is where I have chosen
the relatively small folding saw,
like the Baco Lapplander.
Now, these things are
relatively small, they're economical.
I think the blades
only like 10 or 11 inches,
something to that effect.
And this saw folds up nice and neat
and it's perfectly, it
fits perfectly in my pack.
It fits perfectly in my survival pack.
So if I'm going on a scouting trip or
something like that,
I could throw this saw in my bag
and I have a different
size bag whenever I'm hunting,
that it just has the bare minimal
survival kit in there,
like a water filter, a light, a saw,
an, I mean, a knife, a compass, the map,
and some other light, not matches,
but Ferro-Rods and a BIC lighter.
Now, these items are
easy to carry with you
and it's stuff that I
would carry with me anyway
whenever I go hunting or
scouting or anything like that.
But this saw folds up
nicely, it's very compact,
it fits perfectly in the
side pocket of my backpack
whenever I'm heading into the woods.
It cuts small diameter
logs up to six inches
with minimal effort.
Now, there's some
that's gonna be a push-pull,
there's some that's gonna be push
and there's some that's gonna be pull.
And what that means is
this is gonna cut on the push
and the pull strokes, it's gonna cut on
just the push stroke
or it's gonna cut on the pull stroke.
A lot of good saws cut on the pull stroke
whenever you pull them.
Now, a lot of these
good saws are designed
to actually cut green wood.
And they cut green wood like in a flash.
I mean, they will cut
through it real quick.
But when it comes to dead
wood, they're not gonna cut it.
It's not gonna cut it.
It'll cut it, but it won't
cut it as fast as it would
if it is green wood.
Explain that to me.
I am not into the
chemistry and the biology
and all that good stuff.
So I don't, maybe
somebody can leave a comment
and let me know how
that actually works out.
But these particular
saws cut up to six inches
with minimal effort.
And it allows me to
make potcrains and notches
for cooking with green wood.
And I've gone 100%
primitive and used the blade
from the bow saw before
just to make a buck saw
or make my own bow saw
while I was into the woods.
With the saw blade,
you can cut you a handle
and make your own saw out there.
Now I've also made my
own buck saws as well.
And those are pretty, a
little bit more elaborate,
but they allow you to
process larger volumes of firewood
while you're out in the woods.
Buck saws are designed to cut larger logs
and then you have to split.
So it works in tandem with an axe.
So if you're gonna
bring, they have buck saws now
that are completely foldable, classable.
And you can make these dudes into,
they fit into your
backpack, so out of aluminum frames.
Silky has more extensive
versions of the folding saw.
And you see these a lot
on TV shows like Alone
or Outlast or Outkal or whatever it is.
But these folding saws are
designed to cut very large logs
like 12 inches in diameter or larger.
And still for my personal preference,
I use the Laplander.
It's a small saw.
I don't need to cut
large material like that.
I'm not actually quote
unquote living in the woods
for the duration or
undetermined amount of time
like they do on the TV show Alone.
And a good quality saw can also be used
as a striker for your ferro rod.
And you can use that
dude to start you a fire.
In the event that you break your knife
or lose your knife or
something like that,
you can use the actual spine
on your saw to start a fire.
And it is a multi-use item.
And I use a cheap bow saw
from the local home
improvement store for many years.
And this bow saw, I mean,
it's just a cheap bow saw.
It's one of those Fiskars brand.
I got it from Home Depot, I believe.
And it was like 10 or 12 bucks.
And I've used it.
I actually still have it.
I actually still use
it from time to time.
But once again, you don't have to go out
and spend $500 on a saw
or a piece of equipment.
Do not go through, don't get gas.
Gear acquisition syndrome.
It's easy to do.
You can do it no
matter what niche or hobby
or whatever you're in
when it comes to filming
and recording and doing videos and stuff.
You can think that you
have to have this and that
and the other, and you
end up buying cameras
and tripods and lights and
microphones and recorders.
And you could spend 30,
$40,000 before you even know it.
And all you needed was the
camera on your cell phone.
And then the same thing
can happen with camping
and primitive
camping, bushcraft survival,
is you get caught into the gear
acquisition syndrome
or gas and you end up
buying a bunch of stuff
that you really don't need.
You buy gear that you
really could have spent $15
on a saw instead of $100
or $200 or $300 on a saw.
It comes down to what
are you willing to do?
What are you willing to do?
Do you want to spend
hundreds and hundreds of dollars
on the gear or do you just
want to go into the woods
and have a good time?
Me, I want to go into the
woods and enjoy my time.
So I don't have to
have very expensive stuff.
My approach with equipment is
to get more bang for the buck.
And that's why I choose
to go with folding saws
and compact multi-use items and stuff
that I could store in my backpack.
So that was just a little down and dirty
when it comes to cutting tools and gear.
Now, I know we just, all
we did was go over the saw
and the ax, but I want
to give you one item here
when it comes to
cutting tools is a multi-tool.
A multi-tool is extremely versatile.
And I use the multi-tool most of the time
as my backup cutting
tool, as my backup knife.
So I'll have my Garberg on my side.
And then a lot of times
I'll have the cutting tool,
like the multi-tool either
on my belt or with my Garberg
or I'll have it in my backpack,
depending on what I'm
carrying at the time.
And the appeal of a multi-tool is
basically in its name.
This item can accomplish several tasks
around your campsite.
And you can modify a
multi-tool to do certain tasks.
Like when you're out into the woods,
you're not gonna need many screwdrivers
because there's not many screws.
And so you can use the
flathead screwdriver.
You can put a angle
on it, sharpen it down
and use it to cut and
use it to help carve
another one is with the can opener.
You can carve the can
opener to actually use
as a spoon gouge to help you carve spoons
and other utensils while
you're out into the woods.
Another item that you could do is
the Phillips screwdriver bit.
You could sharpen that down
on the each side a little bit.
And then all of a sudden
you can make a little drill
to where you can use
that to cut little holes
into whatever you want to drill through,
stick, stuff like that.
And you can also do it
with the point or all,
AWL all or other
items on that multi-tool.
But the multi-tool I
did in here in the book,
I did an example of the multi-tool
and it took a picture of it.
Now this particular multi-tool
is the $12 Maseo brand
multi-tool from Walmart.
Plain as simple.
I didn't have to have a $500 multi-tool.
Now the difference between
this and the expensive ones
is when it comes to the wire cutters.
The wire cutters on
these $12 are horrible.
So if you're looking, if
you're gonna be putting yourself
into a position where
you're setting traps
and stuff like that
with some trapping wire
and you're having to cut a lot of wire,
I would go ahead and
purchase a more reputable brand
such as Leatherman,
which I have several of the
Leatherman brand multi-tools.
But there was a specific
reason I put this multi-tool
into the book was because to demonstrate
that you don't have to have
the more expensive stuff,
but you can get by
with the cheaper items.
So if you're in a position
where you're just starting out
and you don't have a
lot of money and yeah,
go ahead, pick you up a $12 multi-tool
to take with you into the woods.
It's still gonna help you out.
It's still gonna be there
to do multiple things for you
and help you do multitasking,
but it's not gonna break the bank.
And then save up for one in the future
that you're gonna use later on.
So these concepts that
people are going through
is basically it's all about,
hey, you're not cool
unless you can afford this.
And that's a bunch of bull.
It's a bunch of malarkey.
Do your research.
There's plenty of items out
there that are just as good.
I mean, if it wasn't the case,
then the website TeamU wouldn't exist.
You know what I'm saying?
I get it.
I understand.
I understand completely.
A lot of people are like, hey, love it.
A lot of people, those
are copyrights and patents
that they copied.
I get it.
But it's cheaper quality stuff.
And sometimes cheaper quality stuff
will get you by in the event.
So, but anyway, I figured
we're gonna go over all that today
and then we'll leave it here.
We'll stick a pin in it
and then we'll come back
and we'll go over some
more stuff a little bit later.
Now, in the next episode,
I'm gonna go over cordages.
We're gonna break down
some cordage real quick
and we're gonna break it down real good
and discuss various types
of cordage to bring with you
on your camping trips.
So I hope you enjoyed
this video or this episode,
depending on which one you're watching
and or listening to.
Go ahead, hit that like button.
Go ahead, follow along.
Hit the follow button on
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you're listening to and
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Go ahead and subscribe,
follow, like, whatever.
And I will see you in the next video.
God bless you.