Axe Skills

Axe skills are the techniques for using an axe safely and effectively: picking the right axe for the job, handling and carrying it properly and splitting wood into firewood and kindling. It's one of the cornerstones of bushcraft, an ancient skill that's still genuinely useful. It also happens to be one of the most satisfying things you can do with an afternoon.

The hatchet: small, light and short-handled, used one-handed for kindling and small logs. The bushcraft workhorse.

The splitting axe: a heavier, wedge-shaped head that forces the wood apart along the grain. Built for rounds of firewood. The splitting maul is the heavyweight version.

The felling axe: a thinner, sharper bit designed to cut across the grain, which is how trees were felled by hand.

Know your anatomy too. The head is the metal part, the bit is the cutting edge, the poll is the blunt back and the handle is also called the haft. Now you can talk the talk.

Stand the log upright on a chopping block, a solid stump that keeps the wood at a sensible height and gives the blade somewhere safe to land. Plant your feet shoulder-width apart and check there's nobody within reach of your swing. Look at the top of the log for cracks, called checks, and aim along them, as the wood will want to split there. Let the weight of the head do the work, and keep your swing smooth and controlled rather than wild. Aim so the blade follows through into the block, never towards your legs. Dry, seasoned wood splits far more easily than fresh, green wood.

Safety first, always. Your Activity Leader covers how to carry an axe head down with the blade covered, how to pass it handle first and how to keep a clear space around you. Then you learn the grip and the stance and have a proper go at splitting and processing firewood, working down from big rounds to kindling that could get a campfire going.

Perfect, you're exactly who this is for. Technique beats strength every time, so there's no need to be built like a lumberjack. The first clean split is a deeply smug moment, and by the end you'll have a new respect for anyone who heats their home with a woodburner.

You might also like Axe Throwing, Fire Lighting and Wood Whittling.

See all Camp Wildfire activities