Outdoor Gear

Review: HandMadeByHeroes.com Paracord Bracelets and Products

My Grandpa could re-purpose anything. He would take the discarded, broken down trash of the world and shape it back into something not just useful, but so visibly valuable that you’d stop and wonder why anyone would have thrown it out to begin with.

I couldn’t help but think of my Grandpa as I started clicking through the HandMadeByHeroes.com website, probably the premiere source of 550 paracord accessories.

If you’re looking for a cheap, Chinese-made paracord bracelet, stop reading now. If you’re a deeper sort who likes the idea of products with soul — products infused with a backstory — then it’s time you learn how HandMadeByHeroes.com is taking coils of ordinary paracord and using them to repurpose some of the broken things of the world. And turning out remarkable results. How do they do it? It’s all in the hands.

[Read more…]

My Favorite Gear: Knives, Saws & Axes

What’s your favorite blade? A big chopper? A nimble bushcrafter? A small axe? Or maybe you prefer a saw blade to a knife blade? Or a multitool to everything else?

In this article, I reveal my favorite blades and wood-processing tools, from small to large. These are the tools that my hand wants to grab, the ones that perform so well I look for excuses to use them. So if you’ve got a few minutes, step on in. I’d love to give you a tour.

[Read more…]

Swedish Axe Models Compared: Gransfors Bruk, Hults Bruk, Hultafors; Wetterlings Alternatives

Wetterlings. Gränsfors Bruk. Hults Bruk. Hultafors. Husqvarna. Somehow Sweden has managed to carve out a place for itself as the world’s preeminent axe maker — hand-forged axes known for their distinctive style and legendary for their balance and quality, pounded into existence in some of the oldest forges on earth.

Wetterlings played a major role in earning this reputation for Swedish axes. Then, on March 10, 2017 a splash emanating in Sandvik Sweden sent ripples speeding across the Internet, stirring up shock and sadness in axe and bushcrafting forums the world over: The Wetterlings Axe Forge announced it would discontinue the Wetterlings line, a line dating all the way back to 1880:

Wetterlings, by striking a balance between price and performance, had become a favorite in the United States. With its disappearance, which Swedish axe models should you now be looking at? How can you know, at a glance, which Swedish Axe makers have models in a given size? How do they all compare?

In this article, we’ll compare the Swedish axe models by size — Gränsfors Bruk, Hults Bruk, Hultafors, Husqvarna — and show which ones make good Wetterlings alternatives.

[Read more…]

Review: Bark River Golok

Some bushcrafters feel like the Bark River Golok approaches that fictitious Nirvana of a single-tool solution. Whether the Golok deserves that level of praise is up to you to decide. We can safely say, however, that if you’re looking for a lightweight woods tool to fill the gap between your belt knife and your axe, then it’s worth taking a good look at the Bark River Golok:

While it doesn’t fit the image of an American woods tool, it might surprise you what it’s capable of. I’ve been using the Bark River Golok for a couple of years now. Read on for my take.

[Read more…]

Review: Wetterlings Bushcraft Axe (aka Outdoor Axe, Large Hunter’s Axe, Backcountry Axe, etc.)

Drop me in the middle of the wilderness and tell me I can only have one edged tool, I’ll probably grab the Wetterlings Bushcraft Axe. I call my Wetterlings Bushcraft Axe “the little axe that could” because this guy defies his size.

I’ve heard this axe referred to as a “rucksack axe” because you could slip it inside any pack and carry it at a fraction of the weight a full-sized axe would cost you. Small, light, nimble, but with a serious bite — read on to see why this is my favorite axe.

[Read more…]