Fiskars XA23

Very good to hear , I too tend to aquire edged tools whenever possible. I live inside the city limits but still own many hatchets, axes, machetes and brush clearing tools that I use at every opportunity. I like the lightweight durability of the fiskars hollow handles and if YouTube can be believed they are very durable indeed. I am sure if the XA23 was available here I would probably get one eventually and I may still figure out how to get one anyway. I like the idea of a lighter ditch and bank tool the old style ones are too heavy and cumbersome for my uses. I am also happy the fiskars bladed tools are not quite as soft as the hatchet/axes or at least don't seem to be in my use. Glad you like that tool , happy chopping!!!
 
You can probably obtain one the same way I did. I do plan to contact Fiskars and suggest they make it available in North America, but I doubt much will come of it. I really wonder why they don't sell it in North America. For what it is worth, I note Fiskars offers several tools similar to the XA3 (the shorter tool.) I believe the XA3 and XA23 are made in Finland. I do not know about the others, but I don't think they are made in Finland.
 
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We don't see a lot of brush clearing axes in the Americas; most likely because of the popularity of machetes here. It's lighter than a lot of bigger machetes, but really gives you great leverage for cuts. The Swedish Clearing Axe, Sandvik, or whatever it's called locally is a great tool that I used as a kid, but had a hard time finding as an adult (partly because it was locally called a Skandia for some unknown reason). I call it a Viking Machete.

 
Those Sandvik brush axes are vastly inferior to a machete. The biggest problem is that the blades pop off under heavy use. They are held on by 2 prongs like a hacksaw blade but only held by the spring tension of the arc.

Some people who can't sharpen a machete like them because when they get dull you can just replace the blade. The blades can easily be resharpened if you're so inclined. I used to resharpen them for my co-workers.

The other problem with the Sandviks is that you only have a 6" wide cutting surface. A 22" machete will work circles around a Sandvik.
 
I don't have any experience with a Sandvik, but I know one of the things I like about the Fiskars XA23 is the longer cutting edge. It makes accuracy a bit less critical and it allows the tool to cut more than one smaller thing on one swing. I don't know how large a diameter you could tackle if you had to. The hook would eventually become a problem on a large diameter tree or log. But, before the work gets that large, the weight of the tool is such that I think the upper practical limit is maybe 2" in diameter. I doubt it is the tool I would choose if most of my work was that diameter, but it can do it should it be the tool in your hand when doing something like clearing a path.
 
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Square_peg said:
Those Sandvik brush axes are vastly inferior to a machete. The biggest problem is that the blades pop off under heavy use. They are held on by 2 prongs like a hacksaw blade but only held by the spring tension of the arc.

Some people who can't sharpen a machete like them because when they get dull you can just replace the blade. The blades can easily be resharpened if you're so inclined. I used to resharpen them for my co-workers.

The other problem with the Sandviks is that you only have a 6" wide cutting surface. A 22" machete will work circles around a Sandvik.
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Yeah their chief advantage is mostly that they're fairly safe for low-skill users like volunteer trail crews, much like weed whips compared to scythes. They have a low skill floor to them, but a similarly low ceiling.
 
Gun Doc said:
The hook would eventually become a problem on a large diameter tree or log.
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There are times when you really don't want to hook small diameter branches either, example, blackberry brambles.
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I find once you get used to using hooks they generally are more useful than they are a hinderance, but having the right kind, in curve, size, presentation to the target, weight, balance, etc. are all very important. There's a reason why "hooks" as a family of tool are so incredibly diverse. If anything I feel more hampered by the lack of a hook these days than I do by the presence of one.
 
Square Peg, I was talking about the tip of the hook hitting on a strike as opposed to the long cutting edge hitting and cutting. Clearly the tree or log has to fit in the space between the handle and hook. In addition the larger the log, the less margin of error one has in accuracy so that neither the tip of the hook or the handle hits the work. So, while I might manage to work my way through a 6" diameter tree with the Fiskars XA23, an axe would do the job much faster and easier. This is not to argue your point about blackberry brambles. I have no experiences with them.
 
By the time you get to targets that large you're no longer using the correct tool for the job, so not a problem.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
By the time you get to targets that large you're no longer using the correct tool for the job, so not a problem.
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Absolutely. Experience so far tells me the reasonable upper limit diameter for the XA23 is 2". Above that (considering only manual tools), I'm looking for a saw or an axe. That said, the Cold Steel All Terrain Chopper is pretty much a small axe more than it is a machete.

So far, I found the XA23 is great if I am moving through woods wanting to cut the stuff in my way, especially if I am trying to clear a return path or clear a path for someone behind me. It seems to hit a sweet spot as far as the things you mention a few posts above about blade shape, length, weight, etc. Not only is it lighter than most brush axes, but often the thing in your way is not at ground level.

So, FortyTwoBlades, a related question. In your opinion, is a Ditch Bank Blade (Kaiser Blade) used in the same manner as a Brush Axe (Bush Hook)?
 
Ditch bank blades are used differently, and are generally more suitable for use above the waist than are bush hooks. They're not able to handle as heavy of targets as bush hooks can, but are generally better on lush vegetation. They're basically machetes with short blades and long handles, while bush hooks are more in a class of their own. The general progression from lightest to heaviest use would be grass hooks --> corn hooks --> brush cutters/weed whips --> ditch bank blades --> bush hooks. A scythe can handle up to thumb thick green growth but is best suited for ground use, while corn hooks, machetes, ditch bank blades, etc. can be more readily be used up off the ground, including overhead. Some strokes with a ditch bank blade will be similar to those used with bush hooks, but they require fundamentally different motion to get the most out of them, with the bush hook using a motion halfway between a golf swing and a scythe stroke, allowing the weight to do the work and providing follow-through for a slicing action.

They all have the advantages and it's a matter of picking the best one for your specific context.
 
My double-edge Bush Hook, weighs 4.9 lb. and is 43" long total length with the blade being 11.5". The blade profile looks like a small ditch bank blade that is offset from the handle. The Ditch Bank Blade I owned briefly was 4.3 lb. and 48.5" long total length with the blade being 16". So the Ditch Bank Blade is 0.6 lb. lighter and 5.5" longer.

I'm 6'2" and too fat at 250 lb., so I'm not a small guy. I'm also not as strong and tough as I used to be. But even in my prime I don't think I would be very effective trying to use that Ditch Blade overhead, certainly not for very long.

I enjoy using most tools, but I've yet to warm up to either Bush Hooks or Ditch Blades. Thank goodness I have powered alternatives for those tasks!
 
Gun Doc said:
My double-edge Bush Hook, weighs 4.9 lb. and is 43" long total length with the blade being 11.5". The blade profile looks like a small ditch bank blade that is offset from the handle. The Ditch Bank Blade I owned briefly was 4.3 lb. and 48.5" long total length with the blade being 16". So the Ditch Bank Blade is 0.6 lb. lighter and 5.5" longer.

I'm 6'2" and too fat at 250 lb., so I'm not a small guy. I'm also not as strong and tough as I used to be. But even in my prime I don't think I would be very effective trying to use that Ditch Blade overhead, certainly not for very long.

I enjoy using most tools, but I've yet to warm up to either Bush Hooks or Ditch Blades. Thank goodness I have powered alternatives for those tasks!
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Double-edged bush hooks tend to be closer in use to ditch bank blades and are sort of a half-way between ditch bank blades and standard bush hooks. The double-edged sort has the benefit of being able to withstand harder blows than a ditch bank blade can, and so can be used to take out limbs thicker than you normally would with a ditch bank blade but chopping with the region in front of the eye.

Overhead trimming tasks are usually few and far between but need doing when you come across them. Usually a situation where a small branch has overgrown a trail and you need to snip it down. If the trail isn't one that's been abandoned for decades then it's probably thin enough to be taken out in one or two quick strokes. A single edged bush hook could be pressed into such work but would be comparatively tiring and unwieldy.
 
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