I bought a Gransfors Bruks Mini Hatchet just before Christmas from a member here and have been playing with it for a bit and wanted to share my impressions. I have had a GB Small Forest Axe for awhile and have used it mostly for fire prep but also for roughing out spoons and other carving projects. I am a big guy at 6'4" #255 so this is doable with the SFA, but can be a little fatiguing after awhile.
I love carving spoons. They are practical, fun to do, allow for a huge amount of creativity, and make great gifts. My Norwegian nana was a fantastic cook and she always used to say that you could never have enough spoons. So I bought the mini with the specific idea of using it as a carving tool.
The mini name is well-justified because it certainly is. I was just on a mini sabbatical before Holy Week at Sandy Cove on he upper Chesapeake bay. I decided to take a rainy morning hike at Elk Neck Park before it became a very rainy afternoon. One of my goalsI shoot left eyed and, while I don't wear eyeglasses I often wear sunglasses and don't have a problem with a thumb rest with Leica Ms. I don't even notice it. was to find a piece of wood and carve a spoon for my six year old son, who also loves Sandy Cove. So I meandered down a drainage to a little rock beach, found some nice green wood that had broken off of some tree and began to work. Here is the mini next to a Turley Gasconade, which is not a big knife, both in front of a Summit Expedition day pack.
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The Mini was perfect for splitting the branch and roughing out the shape. It is so light and nimble but perfect for this sized job; you could work with it all day.
It was the in the low 50s with light rain and a bit breezy so I decided to start a little fire and make a big mug of tea. With everything wet it needed to be a split wood fire and the mini broke down some wood very well and also did a great job at making some feather sticks to get the fire going quickly.
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I have to say this is a very capable little tool and barely bigger than a knife so it is incredibly package too even on a day when you want to go light. It is tiny but because of the configuration as a hatchet instead of a knife it can do a lot of things that even a much larger knife could not.
It is certainly no the cheapest tool in the world but they are out there on the used market and I think it is fairly unique for what it is. If it is in your budget I would certainly recommend one.
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