The 6 Best Axes of 2024 (2024)

Best All-Around Axe

Fiskars Chopping Axe

Measured Weight: 3.57 lbs | Dimensions: 3.4" blade, 28" handle

If you need a tool that can put up a stack of firewood and take down mid-sized trees, the Fiskars Chopping Axe is the best option we've tested. The 28-inch handle and sharp blade lend enough power to make quick work of the 6 to 10-inch trees we cut down. This axe is also light and compact enough to work in the small spaces and awkward positions that felling trees requires. It serves as a passable tool for putting up firewood as well. The head has Fiskars' signature low-friction coating, making it easier to back out of a round if you bury it. There is also a subtle flair that helps to wedge wood apart. It's too small to turn rounds into firewood as effectively as our favorite splitting axes and too large to be the best option for kindling, but it can do both in a pinch. The sturdy, carbon-reinforced plastic handle (made of a material called Fibercomp) and insert molded head make for a durable tool that handles accidental overstrikes well.

We like this axe less for limbing. It's large enough that it's hard to control with one hand, forcing you to choke up on the handle. It gets the job done, but several smaller, sharper options with thinner blades perform the task with far less effort. The hard plastic handle is also slippery, but some light etching improves your grip. The true saving grace is the flared knob at the end, making it relatively easy to hold on to. Overall, this is your best bet if you need a well-rounded option that excels at felling trees.

Best Multi-Use Axe for Experienced Users

Gransfors Bruks Small Forest

Measured Weight: 1.96 lbs | Dimensions: 3.25" blade, 19.5" handle

The Gransfors Bruks Small Forest is hand-forged from recycled steel with a hickory handle. It looks beautiful and works beautifully. The thin blade arrived razor sharp (seriously, we shaved our forearms with it), it's lightweight, and the curved handle balances the head nicely, making it feel effortless in hand. This axe bites with every swing, and the handle is long enough to give you plenty of leverage. The Small Forest is our favorite option for precise tasks like limbing a tree or chopping kindling. Despite its small size, it transfers power well enough to tackle larger tasks like cutting down saplings and chopping them into firewood when necessary. The tanned leather sheath will also loop onto a belt for an effortless carry.

This axe is best suited for an experienced forester. The blade cuts deeply but doesn't pry wood apart like the more user-friendly Fiskar options in the test. You need precision and power to use it effectively. Newer users also tend to overstrike, hitting a target with the handle instead of the blade. The sturdy hickory handle would suffer more than reinforced plastic or steel options. And while the Bruks Small Forest will split rounds into firewood and fell larger trees, it's too small to do so often. We used it to fell a 6-inch diameter birch and wished for a larger axe halfway through. This recycled, hand-forged, and Swedish-made tool is expensive, but for the right user, the good looks, environmental ethic, and excellent accuracy will be worth it.

An Incredible Value

Estwing Sportsman's Axe 14"

Measured Weight: 1.79 lbs | Dimensions: 3.25" blade, 13" handle

The Estwing Sportsman's Axe 14" is a classic hatchet made of a single, solid piece of steel. Its ergonomically curved handle and impeccable balance make it easy to place the blade exactly where you want it. We've purchased it twice now for testing. Both blades arrived well-sharped and ready to work, covered by a sturdy nylon sheath that's made to attach to your belt. The hatchet slides out of the top of its holster, allowing you to pull it free with a single snap. The narrow, sharp, and dexterous blade excels at detailed work. It's one of the best we tested when it comes to slicing up kindling, clearing saplings, or limbing a downed tree.

The steel handle is wrapped in lacquered leather that feels hard to hold when new. It's meant to break in over time, eventually molding to your hand and offering an improved grip. The second Sportsman's Axe we ordered also arrived with a very small chip in its sharp blade. It wasn't large enough to impact the hatchet's performance, but it is a good reminder that thin, sharp blades require care to maintain. This axe is too small to split enough firewood for more than a single small blaze and can't cut down much more than a sapling. But, if you want to get the maximum value out of a small, sharp, and effective blade, we recommend this one.

Best Camping Axe

Fiskars X11 17"

Measured Weight: 2.41 lbs | Dimensions: 3" blade, 17.5" handle

The Fiskars X11 17" is a stellar all-around tool that works wonderfully as a farm multitool or a camping axe. Impeccably balanced and compact enough for most adults to use with one hand, it's great for small jobs like splitting kindling or limbing trees. Its sharp blade widens into a wedge with a pronounced curve in its cheeks. Instead of simply biting into a piece of wood, it forces the grain apart for an efficient split. The geometry and a low-friction coating help you back the blade out easily after each swing. The orange, rubberized grip provides plenty of purchase, and the hollow carbon and plastic handle absorbs the shock of a blow, keeping your hands and forearms fresh. A clever sheath doubles as a handle, making it easy to cart around camp. Its balance keeps the axe feeling light in hand, and its low price offers a great value.

Made in Finland, the X11 is solid, and the blade holds an edge. We've wielded it regularly since 2021 and have not encountered any issues. The spinning lock on the plastic sheath seems like a weak point, but it's held out so far. At 17.5" and 2.4 pounds, the X11 is larger than many camping hatchets, but we don't consider it heavy. A longer handle also lends you more leverage and power, which helps when splitting firewood. But, while this model is a serviceable spitter, it's too small to keep up with demand if you burn wood with any regularity. The Gerber 14-Inch Freescape is a lighter, more compact version of the same axe (also made in Fiskar's factory) and is a good alternative if you're worried about weight.

Best Splitting Axe

Adler German Axes The Long Splitter

Measured Weight: 5.80 lbs | Dimensions: 3.6" blade, 31" handle

If you have visions of stepping up to the splitting block and sending firewood flying with every axe fall, we'd steer you to the Adler German Axes Long Splitter. Working through your woodpile with this high-quality steel blade is a pleasure. The head is heavy enough to make the most of every swing and well-balanced enough for even our smallest tester (a 5'6", 130-pound woman) to handle with control and precision. The aggressively wedged head works through your woodpile with minimal effort. It cuts like butter, making quick work of dense, tight-grained oak rounds, even the knobby ones. A red metal guard protects the burly, ergonomic, and US-sourced hickory handle from accidental overstrikes.

There really isn't anything we don't like about this axe, but it's built to split firewood and is too large to work well for kindling. It's also not meant for detail tasks like felling or limbing trees. In its element at the chopping block, though, it's the best we've tried. Rust did bloom quickly on the blade in our rainy Eastern climate. Such surface rust is normal and harmless, especially given this tool's dense and hardy C45 steel head. Oh, and we forgot to mention: that long strip of sanded black paint on the handle grips like a handshake. If you need to stack firewood, we don't know an option that will serve you better.

Best Survival-Style Axe

Gerber 15" Bushcraft Hatchet

Measured Weight: 2.40 lbs | Dimensions: 3" blade, 15" handle

With a waterproof compartment in its handle to keep matches dry and hold a few wraps of paracord, the Gerber 15" Bushcraft Hatchet is a multitool well-suited to backcountry use. Made of a single piece of carbon steel with a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coating and a rubberized grip, this seems like a hatchet that will last. The curved handle transfers the power of your swing directly to the blade. It works well for light tasks ranging from cutting limbs to downing saplings and cutting kindling. The sturdy nylon sheath has a loop so you can fashion a sling or leash to carry it if you'd like.

The biggest downside to this hatchet is that it arrived with a dull blade. While that's a quick fix (if you're comfortable sharpening a blade), we don't appreciate buying a tool that doesn't arrive ready to do its job. It also isn't the best firewood splitter among the smaller hatchets in our test. It's fine for kindling, though, and could work through a stack of wood if needed. We'd buy this tool to take on hunting or camping trips in cool to cold climates where dry matches and a sharp blade really are matters of survival.

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How We Test Axes

Our testers split rounds, chopped firewood and kindling, felled and limbed trees, bucked logs, and went on an invasive autumn olive tree-chopping rampage (because old habits die hard). Switching back and forth between the blades and comparing notes made it clear which are well-balanced, which are built to split, which are sharp, and which are tiring.

Our testing for axes was split (pun intended) into five key metrics:

• Performance (25% of score weighting)

• Splitting (25% weighting)

• Felling (20% weighting)

• Limbing (15% weighting)

• Quality of Construction (55% weighting)

Why Trust GearLab

Our lead tester, Clark Tate, grew up in a home heated by firewood. That meant spending weekends watching trees fall to the sound of a chainsaw, splitting firewood, and stacking it. While working on this review, she consulted with her Dad, Glen Tate, who cut down all of the aforementioned trees. He grew up felling and milling trees to build fences and barns on the family dairy farm. Clark also tapped Jake Holmes, a former logger, as an expert consultant. Jake grew up in Maine, where having a winter's worth of firewood cut and pilled by June has long been a point of pride and survival. After grad school, Clark turned cutting trees into a living, controlling invasive tamarisk and Russian olive trees on rivers in the West. Needless to say, the level of expertise in this review is top-notch.

How to Pick the Best Axe for You

We've come up with four important considerations including size, material, and experience level to help guide your next axe purchase.

What Type of Axe Do You Need?

Axes come in a variety of sizes and shapes, all with their attributes for effectively chopping wood. Some axes are meant for felling trees, while others are geared towards chopping firewood. Determining your intended use is the first step towards navigating the world of axes. This will help you choose the appropriate size, handle, and head shape. Most axes will come with a title such as a chopping axe, which pertains to felling and—you guessed it—chopping. Splitting axes will excel at cutting rounds and kindling along the grain for firewood. Hatchets are another viable option for one-handed use and smaller tasks such as chopping small limbs and provide utilization while out camping and hiking.

What is the Ideal Handle Length?

Once you identified the type of use your axe will see, it's time to figure out what size handle you need. A longer handle will generate more force and power, ideal for tackling larger pieces of wood, but comes at the cost of accuracy and control. Bigger is not always better, and it's important to consider your skill level regarding axe duties. It's also a good idea to consider the type of wood you plan on splitting or chopping, such as hardwood vs softwood, and the typical size you're tackling. Finding the right size handle will mostly depend on skill level and balancing power vs accuracy.

What About the Axe Head?

The head of your axe is what makes contact, holds the majority of weight, and provides balance when utilizing an axe. It's important to identify key aspects of the axe head that can make one stand out from the other. This includes identifying the weight and balance to make sure it's not overly heavy but also provides enough oomph to cut through wood effectively. A good rule of thumb is to start with a smaller weighted axe head of around 1.5 to 2 lbs and work up from there based on experience and strength.

Does Handle Material Matter?

Axe handles come in different material variations, such as wood, composites, and steel. Handle material decisions are usually based on weight preference and durability. Hickory wood is a common choice due to its strength properties and great dampening characteristics. Fiberglass and composite handles don't swell or deteriorate from weather and can extend the life of your axe, and it's also usually lighter to swing. Preference and feel lead the way here, along with finding the right grip.

Analysis and Test Results

The axes we compare in this review range wildly from dedicated splitting tools meant to live in your woodshed to well-rounded hatchets that can accomplish a wide range of tasks. We break down their relative strengths and weaknesses below.

Value

After we compare these tools' performance in the field, we also rank their value. Models with high scores and low price tags will always be a great buy. The most well-rounded option in the test, the Fiskars Chopping Axe excels at felling trees, can cut firewood, and is nimble enough to accomplish detailed tasks. Costing little more than much smaller, and thus less powerful, hatchets, this option offers an impressive value.

Our top choice for a smaller, camp-style hatchet, the Fiskars X11, is also hard to beat. It earns top performance scores and has a mid-range price tag. The Gerber 14" Freescape is a smidge cheaper and more compact, providing less power. It's a solid investment, but it is a branded Fiskars product, and they sell a similar version for less. So, we're not blown away with the Freescape's value.

If you need a budget buy for chopping kindling and limbs, the MTech USA Two-Tone gives you a sharp blade and balanced performance with one of the lowest price tags in the test. While the Estwing Sportsman's Axe 14" is nearly double the cost of the MTech, it's still one of the least expensive options in the test and earns top scores, providing an excellent value.

The Adler Long Splitter is about 50% more expensive than its direct competition, the Fiskars X27 Super Splitting Axe. But it makes chopping firewood an appealing task and seems ready to last a lifetime. If you can make the extra investment, we really think it's worth it.

Finally, the Gransfors Bruk Small Forest axe is far more expensive than any other item in the test. That said, it's also meant to be an heirloom and is hand-forged using processes that are sustainable and treat workers fairly. If you share those values, the price and quality may be worth it to you.

Performance

Cutting wood is hard work. You want every swing to count. A well-balanced and sharp axe transfers power effectively from the handle through the blade. It also works with your body, making it easier to make every swing count.

Balance, Accuracy, and Power

Of the smaller axes, the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest offers outstanding balance and is our favorite option for precise tasks like limbing logs or cutting down saplings. The Fiskars X11 is a close second. It's a little heavier and not quite as lively, though it's ruthlessly efficient, which we appreciate. The hollow orange handle also helps absorb vibrations, saving your forearms.

The Estwing Sportsman, Gerber Bushcraft, and Kershaw Deschutes Bearded Hatchet are all well-balanced, though they have very different designs. The Deschutes is incredibly light and straight but still manages to make headway in a hurry. The Sportsman and Bushcraft balance their weight with a power-transfer curve. All three make headway more quickly than the MTech, which has a similar and pleasant swing but less power. The Gerber Freescape is balanced and easy to put where you want, particularly given its compact size. It's more of a chopper than a swinger, though. It's so short that there's not much there to balance.

As for the larger axes, the Adler Long Splitter earns top marks. It's winged head flares to pry wood apart. The manufacturers place the heaviest part of that wedge directly above the 31-inch handle, which balances its weight extremely well. The curved wooden handle delivers the brawny blade with minimal effort to maximal effect. The Fiskars X27 Super Splitting Axe feels top-heavy in comparison. The 36-inch handle feels far away from that hefty head, and it seems unwieldy by comparison.

The mid-sized Fiskars Chopping Axe is in a league of its own. It walks the line between brute force and precision exceedingly well. That's why it's such a great felling axe; you can put the blade right where you want to while maximizing the force behind it.

Blade Sharpness

We tested these blades right out of the box to compare their sharpness. We were most impressed by the razor edge of the Gransfors Small Forest and Adler Long Splitter. The Kershaw Deschutes and all of the Fiskars models, including the Gerber-branded Freescape, are nearly as good. All of them maintained an impressive edge throughout weeks of testing.

The Estwing Sportsman's Axe is nearly as sharp as the category leaders, with the MTech following closely behind. The Gerber Freescape and Hults Bruk Agdor 20 Splitting Axe both arrived with dull blades that needed immediate sharpening.

Splitting

Only two of the axes we tested are optimized for splitting stacks of firewood, The Long Splitter by Adler German Axes and the X27 Super Splitting Axe by Fiskars. We prefer the Adler by a long shot. It's simply an exceptional tool. The Fiskars Chopping Axe also holds its own in this category thanks to a sharp, balanced blade with a slight wedge and a 28" handle for a reasonable amount of power and leverage. Many of the smaller hatchets can split rounds into smaller firewood if they have to, but it's overly laborious. Of these, the Fiskars X11 17" and Gransfors Bruks Small Forest hatchets stand out.

The 31-inch handle on the Adler Long Splitter is a manageable length, even for our 5'5" tester. It also balances the axe's burly blade to offer a lot of control. Since splitting wood means striking it along a plain of natural weakness repeatedly, more accurate swings make for better splits. The dense steel head has a thin and sharp blade that widens to 2.6-inch wings to wedge wood apart. Since the widest portion is centered over the hickory handle, it feels light and lively in hand, even though the head itself is made of dense, heavy, high-quality steel that seems to hold an edge exceptionally well.

The Long Splitter is a truly excellent tool

The perfectly competent Fiskars X72 Super Splitting Axe barely pales in comparison. Its blade is also sharp and flares to 1.5 inches for efficient splitting. A low-friction coating helps you back the blade out for another swing after you bury it in a block. The longer 36" handle offers lots of leverage but leaves the axe feeling less well-balanced. It consistently took us longer to work through a round of oak with this model than with the Adler Long Splitter.

The 17-inch Fiskars X11 can't compete with the power of dedicated splitting axes, but it's also built to wedge wood apart with curved cheeks that widen out from a sharp leading edge. When combined with its small size and ergonomic build, the flared head makes it exceptionally easy for even beginners to cut firewood into smaller pieces or to split kindling.

In contrast, the 19.5-inch Gransfors Bruks Small Forest requires more skill to complete the same task. It will split large and dense firewood like oak with surprising ease, but only if you have enough power, precision, and practice to strike a weak point in the wood with adequate force. You also don't want to miss and smash this good-looking hickory handle into a wood block or against the firewood itself. It could weaken or break. The tough carbon-reinforced plastic handle of the Fiskars X11 can absorb such mistakes with less damage.

We expected the 20-inch Hults Bruk Agdor Splitting Axe to compete well in this test, but it arrived too dull to be effective. The 28-inch Fiskars Chopping Axe is long enough to give it enough power to chop full rounds or to take bulky firewood down a notch. The head doesn't flare as dramatically as the other Fiskars offerings we tested, though, and it's not our favorite option to store by the chopping block.

The other axes we tested are too small to split much more than kindling. Of these, the Gerber Freescape is a great option. Also made by Fiskars, it's a smaller version of the X11. It works just as well at a smaller scale.

The rest slice into firewood but don't effectively wedge it apart, which works fine for detailed tasks like splitting kindling. The accuracy of the Estwing Sportsman's Axe, Kershaw Deschutes, and Gerber Bushcraft Hatchet help again here. Though, while the Sportsman's and Deschutes arrived with sharp, effective blades, the Bushcraft needed some time at the sharpening station.

The sharpness and easy swing of the MTech are promising, but we tire faster when using it since it's so lightweight. At the other end of the spectrum is the Estwing Fireside Friend, one of the most confusing models we've tested. It's a dedicated splitting hatchet on a tiny scale. The dramatic wedge head is very heavy, making it hard for even our strongest testers to use with one hand. Sure, it busts through knots more effectively than any other small-scale option in the test, but it's such a forearm workout that we never wanted to use it. It would be easy to injure yourself with this axe.

Felling

Long before chainsaws ripped through the hush of forest floors, the sharp chop of an axe foretold the crack of a trunk and the crash of limbs through the canopy. If you need a tool to fell a few trees, we'd steer you to the Fiskars Chopping Axe. Its mid-size length and weight make it easy to swing at the awkward angles required to cut wedges out of trees, and the blade is sharp enough to bite with every swing.

The dedicated splitting axes we tested are too large to effectively swing sideways as tree chopping requires. The rest tend to be too small. For example, even the mid-sized Gransfors Small Forest bites effectively and accurately but is too small to tackle even a 6-inch diameter tree without frustration. It does the job, but slowly. The similarly sized Hults Bruk Agdor 20 Splitting Axe has the same problem. It also, as we've mentioned, arrived too dull to be effective.

Limbing

We prefer the thin, balanced blades on the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest and Estwing Sportsman for detailed tasks like removing limbs (aka, "limbing") from felled trees. Of the two, the Gransfors excels. It offers far more power than you would expect from its lightweight feel, and its thin blade made quick work of the birches we took down during testing. We go hunting for tasks to tackle with this tool because it's so great to use.

The Fiskars X11 17" is another of our favorites for such detailed work. Its wedged head helps tackle larger projects, but it's sharp enough to work through small limbs and saplings quickly. The honed blades on the Gerber Freescape and Kershaw Deschutes are also effective. Their 14-inch handles just give you a bit less power.

The Gerber Bushcraft works well once sharpened, and the MTech offers less power but a nice edge. Of the smaller hatchets, only the Estwing Fireside Friend is too heavy and unbalanced for this task.

Though the Fiskars Chopping Axe can effectively limb a tree after felling it, you have to choke up on the handle, and the wedged head doesn't slice right through like the Gransfors Small Forest and Estwing Sportsman. The Hults Bruk Agdor 20 Splitting Axe works similarly for the task, though it was dull enough to bounce off limbs the size of a thumb when it arrived. Again, the two dedicated splitting models are too large for such meticulous work.

Quality of Construction

We looked at how these tools are constructed and how effectively their sheaths work to protect the blade from you and you from it. The hand-forged Gransfors Bruk Small Forest and the Adler Long Splitter are both exceptionally well-crafted.

The Adler Long Splitter is especially burly, with a metal overstrike guard to protect its US-sourced hickory handle. Both the Adler and the Gransfors Small Forest are covered by leather sheaths, though the stitching started to come out on our Adler. You can loop the Gransfors sheath through your belt loop for easy carrying.

All the Fiskars axes (including the branded Gerber Freescape) also feature quality construction that, though less elegant, probably makes them the hardiest options in the test. Their partially hollow handles are made of Fibercomp, a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic. We've had versions of these axes for years and have yet to detect a crack. The forged steel head is molded into the fiber, making it seem and act like it's constructed from a single piece of metal.

These Fiskars models will likely handle overstrikes better than any other option in the test and are thus excellent options for newer users. They all come equipped with a plastic sheath with an integrated handle. They each have a flimsy feeling plastic dial to lock them in place. These are the obvious weak point in the system, though we've yet to break one. The handle works well on all but the 36-inch long X27 Super Splitter — it's too tall to be carried vertically.

Estwing forges the Sportsman's Axe from a single piece of steel in the U.S. We don't see it failing anytime soon. While the Fireside Friend seems similarly burly, its wedge construction implies that it can be used as a hammer or as a wedge to be hammered upon. Estwing claims that this is outside the intended purposes of the product and could damage it. But it's so tempting to do so that this axe could be more prone to injury than the rest.

The Hults Bruk Agdor 20 Splitting Axe is hand-forged in Sweden, like the Gransfors Small Forest. It also has a US-sourced hickory handle. But it arrived dull, and the top of the handle, the small section above the head, chipped during use. It still seems like a very high-quality axe, with one of our favorite leather sheaths, but receiving an unsharpened blade gives us pause.

The Gerber Bushcraft Hatchet is made of a single piece of carbon steel wrapped in plastic and rubber. It also arrived dull, but once sharpened, seems like it will stand the test of time. The Kershaw Deschutes handle seems well-anchored to its steelhead, but time shall tell. The streamlined MTech hatchet leaves little to break.

Conclusion

With any luck, we've uncovered an axe that will work wonderfully for your forestry needs. Now it's time to find the perfect option to hang in your woodshed, strap on to your favorite backpacking backpack, toss in your car camping rig, or strap to the outside of your camper van as you head out to the horizon.