There are things that can be useful in any trip, but you can drag them in your backpack or carry a car in the trunk for several years before you get this opportunity. And there are devices absolutely necessary, without which no fishing with an overnight stay, nor hunting, nor outdoor recreation in a tent can do anything. Without them - just no way!
Ode to the ax
Of course, a tourist hatchet can be attributed to such important tools for the forest . It is difficult to overestimate its importance for a proper campaign: chop wood and branches for a fire, and put up a tent, hammering pegs. And also it can be successfully used as a shovel for digging a small hole, for example. And for self-defense, in extreme cases. And some inveterate tourists, if the tourist hatchet is sharp enough, say that you can even shave it in an emergency. But it seems that in this there is a certain amount of exaggeration for the creation of a legend.
Opportunity and necessity of choice
In general, a tourist hatchet is a very useful and multifunctional thing, useful, we repeat, in almost every trip or trip. Or maybe for a trip with friends on barbecue? The same is true if a bag of shop coal is not enough for frying meat, and firewood in the form of dried tree branches around is full.
That is why the need is ripening for the most careful selection of such a useful tool, fortunately, today there is plenty to choose from, not like before.
Soviet version
But in the past, all the many tourists (and in the USSR, if you remember, this kind of "wild" rest was quite developed, unlike socialism) cost an ordinary ax and its dimensional variations. But the minimum set - a knife, a tourist hatchet - was probably with every tourist, fisherman, hunter who respected himself - in a backpack or in the trunk of a Niva that had seen the views. The 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 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 so as not to cause unintended harm, for example, with a canvas rag, after which the ax was packed in a backpack.
The disadvantages of a conventional tool
The frequent operation of such an hatchet had many drawbacks, forcing tourists to look for ways to solve these problems. Firstly, what was already mentioned, there was not a trace of any sheath. That is, they were not even anticipated structurally. Therefore, when transporting in a backpack had to wrap 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 injuries. The second significant drawback was the fact that it was necessary to constantly knock down the wedges that hold the blade on the handle. Otherwise, it could fly unauthorized at the most inopportune moment (and this has happened repeatedly). The third is a wooden handle that is not quite comfortable and slippery in the rain.
Some people tried to make a tourist hatchet with their own hands for lack of the opportunity to purchase it in a store (as a rule, it was difficult with this). And then the safety of using the tool was reduced to practically zero, since the parts of the homemade ax sometimes were not attached to each other too firmly.
Hatchet tourist Fiskars
But it seems that those days have passed, and high-quality tools for a serious campaign can be purchased freely, if there were appropriate means. 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 a great choice of tools for the traveler! Its total weight is a little more than half a kilogram, length is 32.6 cm. The handle is not wooden, but made of a shock-absorbing fiberglass composite: the hand is very pleasant and you will not get tired after 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 scattering equipment in the forest, unlike an ordinary wooden handle, it can be seen from afar, and as a result, do not lose the tool itself. The forged steel blade coating is anti-friction. The blade itself is phenomenally sharp (you can certainly shave it on occasion), they can literally be cut like a knife.
And the most important difference from the Soviet versions is that the blade is soldered with the use of high technology into the handle of the hatchet. No clogging of the peg, no spontaneous disconnection of the instrument in front of an amazed audience. What a pity, all the same, that honored experienced tourists of the Soviet era did not have the chance to work with such tools, made with maximum convenience, as they say, for people!