Written by Terry Smith

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UK’s best axes and hatchets for splitting kindling wood reviewed

This article was last updated on April 23rd, 2022 at 5:21 am

Now we are into the coldest part of the year, our fire pits, chimineas, and indoor log fires should be seeing a lot of use, and that means a fair old bit of chopping wood and splitting logs for kindling – a manual log splitter or electric log splitter is an option but serious overkill and a lot of money upfront especially when the best axes and hatchets will split kindly faster and for a hundred times less money – especially if you know how to use one and keep it sharp.

Having a good quality axe or hatchet for splitting wood and creating kindling is so important if you want to get the job done quicker, safer, and with less effort. However, finding the best axes and hatches that are hidden amongst thousands of products isn’t that easy, especially when you consider not-so-truthful advertising and claims that aren’t lived up to so I’ve whittled down from 18 choices to just 6 – I’ve been very picky.

I know it looks easy on the telly, but ask anyone who has to split wood with an axe or hatchet on a regular basis, and they’ll tell you that it is tiring and tedious if you don’t approach it the right way, and with the right tools.

To make things easier on you, we’ve compiled a list of the best axes and hatchets for splitting kindling wood, and given each model a little test run to see how they held up under real life conditions. You can see what we thought of them in our reviews section further down the page, but here’s a shortlist of our axes and hatchets top picks-

Best axes and best hatchets – editors picks:

Best hatchet overall: Bulldog 1.5lbs hatchet – best hatchet for the money, and a good pick for a first kindling hatchet or for casual use.
Best axe for kindling: Fiskars XS X7 – best axe for kindling thanks to its excellent reliability and blade quality.
Best hatchet for backpackers: Lexivon V14 camping hatchet – It’s lightweight makes it ideal for being carried on long distances in your backpack.
Best steel hatchet: Draper steel hand axe – best steel hatchet and offers robustness and durability
Best hatchet for camping: Ruthe’s VPA/GS hatchet – it’s heavy head will help to cut through branches and logs while out in the wild.
Best axe for chopping small logs: Davaon Pro log splitting axe – It’s slightly longer handle and carbon steel head means it can easily split logs up to 20cm in diameter – a real cutting axe.

What to look for when buying the best axes and hatchets

Amazingly there are only a few things that really matter when buying an axe. Firstly the grip and handle material are super important. This is about prolonged use and safety. Then you want to consider the material the axe is made from. Basically, the higher the carbon in the steel the better as this will result is a heat treat on the blade which will last and last (it would be super if they kept the back of the axe untreated too – as this will absorb the vibration and stop your axe from breaking) – more on that later. The next thing is the balance and weight. This will define how well you chop wood – believe it or not, a better balanced axe can beat a heavier, poorly balanced hatchet! So let’s look closer:

A good grip

Axes and hatchets are sharp, and so it’s a good idea to keep them firmly in your hand and not randomly flying through the air. As both of the aforementioned tools are held in only one hand, the need for a good grip like the one found on the budget pick Bulldog or quality Fiskars becomes even more important for both safety and comfort.

Avoid cheaply made products where the grip is made of poor material and not well bonded, or you’ll find it coming apart in very little time. Instead, look for a thick rubberised grip that will last a while, will help with the shock of impact, and also keep the tool firmly in the hand, even when your palms get a bit sweaty or it starts to rain.

Handle material

Your main choices when it comes to axe handle material are going to be wood (hickory on the Ruthe’s) and (fibre glass Bulldog or quality Fiskars). There are some axes and hatchets out there with metal handles, but they aren’t that common these days, and the ones that are usually have a rubber cover on the handle.

Wooden handles have been used on axes and hatchets for untold years, and with good reason. Good quality wood (Hickory) is very strong and durable without being too heavy, and it is a natural absorber of vibrations. You can run into issues with rot and other moisture or weather-based damage, but that’s easily avoided by putting the tool away properly after you’re done, and a little bit of varnish or stain for the handle:

With fibreglass handles, you don’t have to worry about moisture or them being chewed on by insects. They are also very lightweight, even when compared to wooden handles. Fibreglass handles aren’t usually used for heavier axe blades though, due to imbalance issues, but for small hatchets they can be ideal.

The weight and balance

The chances are that you’ll be holding your axe or hatchet in one hand for extended lengths of time, so the weight of a given product should be something that interests you. For campers and backpackers, you ideally want a compact, fibre glass handled hatchet that is easy to carry around like the Lexivon.

If you want to chop some logs into kindling that are bigger than 20cm in diameter, then maybe a slightly heavier axe with a larger head and a nice, solid, wooden handle, like the Davaon would suit you more.

What is the difference between tinder, kindling, and firewood? What do you split with an axe?

People new to building fires or using wood as a fuel source for their wood burning stove might have heard these three terms, but might not know the difference, so we thought we’d quickly clarify.

Basically, both tinder and kindling can be firewood/fuel , and both are used to help get a fire started. The difference is that tinder refers to small pieces of material that catch fire very easily, and don’t necessarily have to be wood shavings. In fact, you can use anything that is readily available as tinder, such as dry leaves, tree bark, and pieces of old material like cotton – in the real world your tinder is firelighters.

Kindling is larger than tinder, and is used to keep the flames started by tinder burning until the logs on the fire take over as the main fuel source. Kindling is always wood, but can be in the form of twigs that are found if you are out in the wild. Most commonly though, the term kindling is used to describe smaller splinters of wood that have come from spit logs and are about 1-2 inches thick and maybe 1-2ft long.

Are axes and hatchets the same thing?

Although similar, there is a distinction between axes and hatchets, and once again, it comes mainly down to size.

A standard axe has a much longer handle than a hatchet and is wielded two handed. They are great for cutting large logs and felling trees, but maybe not the best for splitting smaller ones into kindling because they are harder to control in smaller areas.

Hatches generally have a hammer on the non cutting side, making them a versatile tool:

Hatchets are meant to be held in one hand and are much easier to control. This makes them ideal for splitting kindling from smaller logs. Their smaller size also means that you can easily throw them in your backpack and take them on camping trips with you.

Hand axes or kindling axes are somewhere in between a large wood axe and a hatchet, and are often confused with hatchets. You can tell the difference by the size and shape of the tool’s head, with hand axes having a larger head with a less drastic taper from front to rear. The handle too, is usually larger on a hand axe, and the shaft won’t curve towards the top like on many hatchets.

Both hand axes and hatchets are excellent tools for chopping logs into kindling, but hand axes are a little bit heftier and would make lighter work of larger logs than a hatchet. On the other hand, hatchets are smaller, lighter, and wouldn’t fatigue you as quickly if you have a large pile of small logs to split.

How to chop kindling with an axe or hatchet

You might be thinking “what a silly title! Just grab your log and hit it with the axe.” But chopping wood for kindling in the safest and most efficient manner is all about knowing what you’re doing. So, we decided to give a few pointers here-

• Make sure you know what you are trying to cut, and that you’re using the right tool for the job. The best logs for splitting into kindling are ones that are less dense and that have nice, straight grains running through them. Logs like these are easy to handle with a hatchet and should split fairly easily.

If the logs are a denser type of wood like oak, you might want to use an axe instead. It is possible to split denser wood with a hatchet but a lot depends on how skilled you are with the tool, how dry the log is, and other factors like swing power and accuracy. Here’s a good guide on that:

Avoid trying to split heavily knotted logs of any type with a hatchet or hand axe as they are just too hard, and you’re more likely to cause yourself an injury trying. Think of those old cartoons where Daffy duck or someone hits something hard with an axe or similar and ends up shaking in the air for a few seconds, and you get the idea. However, there are other tools you can use for knotted logs as we’ll explain later in this article.

• Find a hard flat surface that you can sit the logs on as you split them, like a chopping block or the stump of an old tree as long as it is nice and flat, and solid of course. Never try to split wood for kindling on soft ground. The ground will absorb some of the impact, the log will not be stable, and it’s just a bad idea all together.

If there’s no chopping block, you can prop the log up on a strong piece of wood on the ground, then stand with your feet wide apart and the top of the log between them. You then just strike the top of the log with the axe or hatchet. This takes some practice to get right, but it works well in the absence of a cutting block.

Place the log that you’re going to split as far towards the rear of the chopping block (away from you) as possible while still keeping it stable enough to be hit without flying off. This is so that if you miss the log, and if you’re a beginner, that’s highly probable, the axe or hatchet will hit the chopping block and not your leg.

• Keep your hands away from the log that you are chopping into kindling. If you like playing on your smartphone, using the tv remote, or just generally enjoy having fingers, don’t hold onto the log with one hand and chop with the other. This guy shows you the perfect technique if it’s tough:

Practicing your accuracy with your hatchet or hand axe will help you split logs without knocking them off the chopping block, and if you’re really struggling to keep the target balanced and in place, you can use something like a good sized stick to hold and balance it. This will keep your digits out of harm’s way, and you’ll still be able to count to ten. Check out the video below for an example of this.

• A slower, but safer way to split smaller logs is to stick the blade of the axe into the log, and then lift them both before striking the chopping block with them. The wedge shape of the kindling axe’s head will then cause the log to split. This is also a good way to deal with things if your axe gets stuck in a log while trying to chop it.

Obviously, this would be much harder to do with larger logs, so I don’t recommend it, but this technique can come in handy if you’re not too confident with an axe or hatchet.

How to make kindling without an axe or hatchet – alternatives

Axes and hatchets aren’t your only options when it comes to splitting logs for kindling. Two of the least expensive, but still very useful, are log splitting wedges and log splitters.

Log splitting wedges are usually either shaped like a traditional triangular wedge, or there are the newer “grenade/bomb’ types. The latter are probably the easiest to get to grips with as a beginner due to the point being in the centre and therefore easier to dig into the log.

All you need to do once the point of the wedge is in the top of the log, is use a mallet to give it a few taps so it digs in further, then give it a few hard whacks until it finally splits the log. It’s low tech, takes a fair bit of physical effort, but can work well.

Alternatively, you can pay a bit more for a manual log splitter, and these come in two main types. The first is the guillotine type, known as a standing log splitter. You place the log into the splitter, and then drop the splitting blade down upon it. Because gravity is doing the work, this is a much less physically demanding way of splitting logs when compared to splitting wedges.

The other type of manual log splitter is the foot operated style. Again, they are very simple but effective tools for splitting small logs. All that you need to do is place the log in the splitter and then use your foot to work the hydraulic pump until the log splits into kindling.

Or how about an axe that opens your beer too – now that’s a cracker:

The following video shows how you can split good sized logs using a wedge, mallet, prying bar, and a bit of elbow grease, of course. –

Best axes and hatchets for splitting wood in the UK:

So, I think we’ve covered all the basics and important information regarding splitting kindling, so let’s have a closer look at the top axes and hatchets available for just that purpose.

History of axes and hatchets – a final say

Since prehistoric times, man has used axes in one way or another to shape our path all the way to the present. The first axes, were nothing more than sharpened stones, such as flint, with no handles, but usually having shaped areas for the fingers to grip them.
It wasn’t until around 6000BC that we started seeing the creation of axes as we know them today, with a ‘haft’ better known as a handle.
 Axe handles have nearly always been made of some kind of hardwood and still today, many axes still have a wooden haft, but with advances in material technologies, it is common to see handles constructed from synthetic materials like polypropylene, so as to keep the axe as light as possible. Whilst they don’t pack the same punch as a chainsaw or they won’t turn logs into firewood like a log splitter, but they are useful for smaller applications such as kindling.

That last review brings to an end this page of reviews for the best axes and hatches. 
Hopefully, you now feel a little more well informed on the best value axes out there on the UK market. Of course, there are higher quality, professional products out there for very high prices but we chose these axes and hatchets because we feel they are the best available in a price range that is affordable for most people out there.

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