Hatchets

One of the essentials of tripping equipment is the hatchet.
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I tend to stay away from the heavy, awkward, and unruly axe. I'm not planning to cut down a tree or build a log cabin. No - the handy hatchet is the the tool I use most.

To be effective it must be *really sharp and have a safety cover. If used well you can get a perfect fire going in no time. Yes, if you really had to it could be a defensive instrument as well. There are other uses like building a shelter if you need to.

There are several good brands out there - I use the Fiskars brand.

TELL US WHAT YOU USE AND WHY.

"Give me six hours to chop a tree
and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."
= Abraham Lincoln =

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Hatchets are good, however I believe a small forest axe to be better suited for me.

This is my camp axe for splitting firewood and Jeep axe for whatever...

Had to use it last to clear some deadfall from the trail. As you can see, I'll be spending at least 4 hours sharpening this one after an unlucky strike to a hidden rock that left a nice sized scar.

My "Little Choppa" is a Gransfors Bruk Small Forest Axe that has a 19 inch handle complimented with a leather sheath.

Below are pics of the "Little Choppa" and some pics from a campout to Bald Eagle State Forest in Pennsylvania from this past April with my two kids and my brother with his two kids.



Sorry, got a little carried away with sharing the pics of the campout.

Next time I'll get some action shots of Little Choppa and share those.

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-----> Great to see you on line. The stuff you do - looks like a lot of fun and excitement. Your camping style is very much different from the conventional. Your kitchen shelter...what is it?

 

That looks to be a pretty good size chip out of that blade. Cool looking trip. I bet the kids had fun. Pictures are great. Thanks

 

Thanks, and glad to be here. We try to mix it up with the where, the when, the who, and, the what do we do - when we go camping. My niece and especially my nephew aren't up for long hikes just yet, but working on them slowly.

The kitchen shelter is a pop-up type thingamajig that is made by Clam Outdoors and has the words "CLAM" on the roof. So we just call it "The Clam".

This model is screened with solid panels that can be rolled down for cold/inclement weather.

This thing cam be erected in about a minute and staked down down in less than five by one person. It can also be taken down by one person just as easily and just as quick.

I was tired of fighting with the traditional style pop-up awnings and their bad habits of bending and rusting after a just few uses.

The company specializes in ice fishing gear and easy up shelters for that sport and have a few items such as this and screen shelters that are large enough to surround your typical park picnic benches. There are some pretty good videos on YouTube explaining some of their offerings.



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Yeah, I'm going to have to resort to the grinder for that repair or end up sharpening it a little longer than Honest Abe.

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Other than looks, does it decrease the effectiveness of it?

 

@bulldoginajeepwithacolt - Bulldog for short. I looked up the "Clam Site" - interesting. It's the kind of equipment that I tend to purchase.

Now about this Jeep Camping Rampage that you peruse - tell us more. How you got started, what attracted you etc. I know that you belong to a group of sorts that sounds interesting too.

So much to do....and so little time to do it all.

 

First post here, but I wanted to say, nice pics. My wife and i working toward getting a canoe and some camping gear so we can start camping on the islands at our local lakes and go other places to camp as well.

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Probably not, and it will serve as a constant remjnder of what not to do with an axe until I 'repair" it.

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Have Jeep, will travel.

I have owned two Jeep Wranglers, the current one since 1998.

I purchased the first one because of a few things, i thought it was cool, it was a convertible, reminded me of MacGyver and I could afford it. Helped that I lived /worked at the beach too!

Second Jeep was purchased new, still liked everything as my older YJ model, accept now I had the TJ with both hard and soft tops and air conditioning! I was no longer living at the beach. But needed something to get me to work and more importantly home, during severe snow storms as my occupation demanded.

The first 16 years or so it did exactly that while most other family duties, excursions and what not were delegated to the much larger family SUV 's, and we went through several.

About 5 years ago I, after making some aporopriate vehcile upgrades, along with the family we drove down to the hills and hollars of eastern Kentucky for our first Jeep Jamboree and HAD A BLAST!

Then I did a couple more different Jeep Jamborees...continuing the fun.

Then this past September I traveled up north to Vermont and participated in the Vermont Overland Rally. This was also a lot of fun and not only cheaper than the Jeep only events, but allowed all kinds of different 4WD vehicles participation. From Jeeps, Land Rovers, Pinzgauers and Unimogs with EVERYTHING in between.

Basically we travel to the organizer's farm, set up camp, then spend the weekend exploring the countryside of Vermont via the state's improved Class IV "roads" if you want to call them that. Along the way we stop at the local cheese farms, syrup makers, and my favorite, the local breweries make purxhases and then sample all the fruits of our travels later back at camp.

Basically Overlanding is travelling by vehicle along a long distance path to a certain or multiple destinations, while car camping each night at a different location along this path. Some Overland trips can be a weekend while others can be years long expeditions from Alaska to Chile and all points in between.

For the time being I have chosen to start small and just do a weekend or a week long trip with just one single point base camp that I travel away from and back to each day.

Last year I began exploring Bald Eagle State Forest, which is only about 2 hours from my house. Due to the large amount of high clearance forest roads, I take the jeep, the kids and whomever else and go explore.

I will be returning to Vermont again for the 2017 event and simply can't wait. It's a perfect time of year to be in the woods and up north. Meeting like minded folks, seeing there different vehicles in action, a plethora of camping gear and gadgets is pretty awesome to me.



I just learned all about this by reading various internet forums and watching YouTube videos about the jamborees and the Vermont Overland rallies.

The only negative that I have experienced thus far, which can be a big negative depending on the size of your bank account, is going out in purchasing more gear and equipment, lol!

I try very hard NOT to do that, but.....

 

Thanks, and like you I would really like to get a canoe too. Then start out with some daytrips and work up to some longer excursions.

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BULLDOG Ya...I can hear the excitement in your voice and the slight increase of the heart beat as you describe your exploits. I'm glad that you found a channel to escape the rigours of career life and an avenue to be yourself. That's what this stuff is really all about - our personal life and space. We all need that avenue just to be ourselves. Good for you man! Oh...and another thing - you don't have to buy all the fancy equipment all at once. I found it a lot more fun to take time to build up/replace my inventory. I tell you when I started out I had nothing. A good thing too. I learned a lot and grew a lot along the way. But it really doesn't make any difference. It's enjoying the trip not the destination as many folks have testified. And dam - they keep coming up with new stuff so you are never really up to date anyway.

I get just as excited about a chipmunk. ​

 

-----> Glad you joined us @Jamie296 this is a fun place to be. I am a canoe person and very much a camping guy. I'm quick to tell the masses that I have an inventory of eleven tents.

My summer Alaknak - excellent for all my needs.

 

Welcome @Jamie296. Glad to have ya.