There are things that in any campaign cancome in handy, but you can smash them in a backpack or take a car in the trunk for several years before the opportunity arises. And there are devices that are extremely necessary, without which no fishing with an overnight stay, neither hunting nor camping in a tent can do anything. Without them - just nothing!
Ode to the ax
Безусловно, к таким важным для леса инструментам can be attributed tourist hatchet. It is difficult to overestimate its importance for a proper hike: chop firewood with branches for the fire, and set up a tent, hammering pegs. And it can also be successfully used as a scapula for digging a small fossa, for example. And for self-defense, in extreme cases. And some avid tourists, if a tourist's hatchet is sharp enough, they say that they can even shave in an emergency. But it seems that there is some exaggeration in this to create a legend.
Possibility and necessity of choice
In general, tourist hatchet is a very thinguseful and multifunctional, useful, we will repeat, practically in each travel or campaign. Or maybe for a trip with friends to barbecue? The same is true if the package with store coals is not enough for roasting 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 selection of such a useful tool is brewing, good, today there are plenty to choose from, not like before.
Soviet option
А ведь в былые времена все многочисленные туристы (and in the USSR, if you remember, this kind of "wild" rest was quite developed, unlike socialism) were treated with an ordinary ax and its dimensional 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 the well-worn “Niva”. The whole trouble is that the dimensions of the ordinary size of the ax did not fit into the concept of "portable tool". The highest chic was considered to be 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 sheaths at that time, and the blade was simply wrapped so as not to cause unintentional harm, for example, with a linen cloth, after which the ax was placed in a backpack.
The disadvantages of the usual tool
In the frequent operation of such a hatchet wasThere are many disadvantages that make tourists look for ways to solve these problems. First, what has already been mentioned, there was no trace of any scabbard. That is, they were not even supposed to be structural. Therefore, when transporting in a backpack, it was necessary to wind the blade. And if it was accidentally unwound, it could lead to disastrous results: from a slot in the fabric of a backpack to human injury. The second significant drawback was the fact that it was necessary to constantly hammer wedges that hold the blade on the handle. Otherwise, it could fly unauthorized at the most inopportune moment (and this happened repeatedly). The third - not quite comfortable and slippery in the rain wooden handle.
Someone tried to make a tourist hatchetwith their own hands in the absence of the opportunity to purchase it in the store (as a rule, it was difficult with this). And then the safety of using the tool was reduced to almost zero, since the parts of the homemade ax were sometimes not attached firmly to each other.
Hatchet tourist Fiskars
But it seems to have passed those times, andhigh quality tools for a serious campaign can be purchased freely, would be appropriate means. The Finnish company Fiskars (founded already in 1649) supplies the Russian market with many necessary things from garden tools to products for tourism. And, for example, Fiskars X7 is an excellent choice of tools for the traveler! Its total weight is a little more than a half-kilogram, its length is 32.6 cm. The handle is not wooden, but made of a shock-absorbing composite fiberglass: the hand is very nice and you do not get tired with long-term 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 scattering inventory over the forest space, unlike an ordinary wooden handle, it can be seen from a distance, and as a result, the tool itself cannot be lost. Forged steel blade coating - anti-friction. The blade itself is phenomenally spicy (so surely you can shave on occasion), they can literally be cut like a knife.
And the most important difference from the Soviet options -The blade is soldered with high-tech applications in the handle of the hatchet. No clogging of the peg, no spontaneous disconnection of the instrument in front of the amazed public. What a pity, nevertheless, that the honored 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!
