There are things that can come in handy on any hike, but you can carry them in a backpack or carry them in the trunk of a car for several years before the opportunity arises. And there are devices that are extremely necessary, without which no overnight fishing, hunting, or outdoor recreation in a tent can do. Without them - just nothing!
Ode to the Ax
Of course, one of such important tools for the forest is the tourist hatchet. It is difficult to overestimate its importance for a proper trip: chop wood with branches for a fire, and put up a tent, hammering pegs. And you can also successfully use it as a shovel for digging a small hole, for example. And for self-defense, in case of emergency. And some avid tourists, if the tourist hatchet is sharp enough, say that they can even shave in an emergency. But I think that there is a certain amount of exaggeration in this to create a legend.
The possibility and necessity of choice
In general, a tourist hatchet is a very useful and multifunctional thing, useful, we repeat, in almost every trip or hike. Or maybe for a trip with friends to barbecue? It’s the same if a bag of store-bought coals is not enough for frying meat, and there is a lot of firewood in the form of dried tree branches around.
That is why the need for the most careful choice of such a useful tool is brewing, fortunately, today there is plenty to choose from, not like before.
Soviet version
But in the old days, all the numerous tourists (and in the USSR, if you remember, this kind of "wild" recreation was quite developed, unlike socialism) managed with an ordinary ax and its size variations. But the minimum set - a knife, a tourist hatchet - was with him, probably, every self-respecting tourist, fisherman, hunter - in a backpack or in the trunk of a battered Niva. The trouble is that the dimensions of the ordinary size of the ax did not fit into the concept of a "portable tool" a little. It was considered the highest chic to purchase a tourist hatchet with a small handle (1/2) and the same blade, which was more convenient to carry with you. By the way, there was no talk of any sheath then, and the blade was simply wrapped around, for example, with a canvas rag, so as not to cause accidental harm, after which the ax was put into a backpack.
Disadvantages of conventional tool
In frequent use of such a hatchetthere were many disadvantages, forcing the tourist to look for ways to solve these problems. Firstly, as already mentioned, there was no trace of any scabbard. That is, they were not even intended structurally. Therefore, when transporting in a backpack, the blade had to be wrapped. And if it accidentally unwound, it could lead to disastrous results: from a slit in the fabric of a backpack to human injury. The second significant disadvantage was that it was necessary to constantly knock out the wedge holding the blade on the handle. Otherwise, it could fly off unauthorized at the most inopportune moment (and this happened more than once). The third is a wooden handle that is not very comfortable and slippery in the rain.
Someone tried to make a tourist hatchet with their own hands for lack of the opportunity to purchase it in the store (as a rule, this was difficult). And then the safety of using the tool was reduced to almost zero, since parts of the homemade ax were sometimes not attached to each other too firmly.
Fiskars tourist hatchet
But it seems that those days are gone, and high-quality tools for a serious hike can be purchased freely, if there were appropriate funds. The Finnish company Fiskars (founded already in 1649) supplies the Russian market with a lot of necessary things from garden tools to tourism products. And, for example, Fiskars X7 is an excellent choice of tools for a traveler! Its total weight is a little over half a kilogram, length is 32.6 cm. The handle is not made of wood, but is made ofshock-absorbing fiberglass composite: the hand is very pleasant, and you do not get tired during prolonged use. The tool does not slip, which is important when cutting, for example, in rainy weather. The color of the handle is bright yellow: when throwing inventory across the forest, unlike an ordinary wooden handle, you can notice it from afar, and as a result, you won’t lose the tool itself. Forged steel blade coating - anti-friction. The blade itself is phenomenally sharp (you can definitely shave like that on occasion), it can literally cut like a knife.
And the most important difference from the Soviet versions is that the blade is soldered with the use of high technologies into the hatchet handle. No peg hammering, no spontaneous separation of the instrument in front of an astonished audience. What a pity, after all, that the well-deserved experienced tourists of the Soviet era did not have a chance to work with such tools, made with maximum convenience, as they say, for people!
