Woodlife Trails

As well as being inspirational to many Bushcrafters, Nessmuk was probably one of the first proponents of lightweight camping and went to great lengths to find his perfect kit, particularly tools. He doesn’t go into great detail in describing his knives – shown in the engraving from ‘Woodcraft’ as a two-bladed penknife and what seems to us now as an oddly shaped fixed blade (favoured by Sam from Woodcraft in Poland) – but he does describe his apparent frustration in seeking out a suitable hatchet. .”… for it is the most difficult piece of camp kit to obtain in perfection of which I have any knowledge.”

He eventually succumbs and seeks out – at great time and expense – a custom double-bitted hatchet. This tool appears to be a great favourite and he goes on to describe its detailed use in his adventures stating that he “… came to realize that a light hatchet was a sine qua non in woodcraft…”.

I have already tried and tested out the Granfors Bruks Small Forest Axe, which seems to be the sine qua non in modern Bushcraft to great effect. It’s done everything I’ve asked of it and have often used it instead of my fixed blade e.g. for carving, but I did tend to find its size a bit of a disadvantage.

Following Nessmuks theory, I sought out a smaller version. The smallest Granfors make is the mini hatchet and I duly placed an order. It did take some time to arrive, as apparently, they manufacture the most popular first. I’ve not had a chance to use it enough for a full review, but I can say that my initial reaction is that this will be a favoured tool. It fits nicely into my shoulder bag and sits very comfortably on my belt. Do you remember my post where I posed a competition about something that should fit nicely into my shoulder bag? Well this was it and well done to isOt3k who guessed correctly, most probably having the advantage of watching me drool over it at the Christmas Bushmoot. (By the way… yes, that is a new hat!)

So, onto my Nessmuk trio then. So far then we have the new mini hatchet, the ubiquitous Swiss Army knife and my Companion Mark II (review of this coming very soon). I wonder if this will change over the time?

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.