Toporik tourist - an important tool for the campaign!

There are things that can be useful in any hike, but you can drag them in a backpack or carry a car in the trunk for a few years before such an opportunity arises. And there are devices very necessary, without which no one fishing with an overnight stay, no hunting, no rest in nature in the tent can not do. Without them - just no way!

Ode to the ax

Of course, to such important tools for the forest can be attributed tourist hatchet. Its value for a correct campaign is difficult to overestimate: and wood with branches for a fire to chop, and to put a tent, hammering pegs. And also it can be successfully used as a shovel for digging a small hole, for example. And for self-defense, in case of emergency. And some inveterate tourists, if the tourist hatchet is sharp enough, they say that they can even shave in an emergency situation. But I think that in this there is some share of exaggeration for creating a legend.

Possibility and necessity of choice

In general, tourist hatchet - a very useful and multifunctional thing, useful, we will repeat, practically in every journey or hike. Or maybe for a trip with friends for kebabs? The same thing, if the package with store coals is not enough for frying meat, and the firewood in the form of dried branches of trees around full-full.

That is why the need for the most careful choice of such a useful tool is brewing, good, today there is a lot to choose from, not so much earlier.

The Soviet version

But in the old days all the numerous tourists (and in the USSR, if you remember, this kind of "wild" rest was rather developed, unlike socialism) was treated with an ordinary ax and its dimensional variations. But the minimum set - a knife, tourist hatchet - was with him, probably, every self-respecting tourist, fisherman, hunter - in a backpack or in the trunk of the species that saw the "Niva". The whole trouble is that the dimensions of the ordinary size of the ax did not fit well into the concept of "portable tool". The highest chic was considered to be a tourist hat with a small handle (1/2) and the same blade that was more convenient to carry around. By the way, about any scabbard then speech did not go, and the blade was simply wrapped, so as not to cause unintentional harm, for example, a linen rag, after which the ax fit into a backpack.

Disadvantages of a conventional instrument

In the frequent exploitation of this hatchet, there were many drawbacks that compelled the tourist to seek ways to solve these problems. First, as already mentioned, there were no scabbards at all. That is, they were not even supposed to be constructive. Therefore, during transportation in the backpack, we had to wind the blade. And if it accidentally unwound, it could lead to disastrous results: from the slit in the backpack fabric to human traumatism. The second significant disadvantage was that it was necessary to constantly pound a wedge holding the blade on the handle. Otherwise, it could unauthorizedly fly off at the most inopportune moment (and this has happened many times). Third - not quite comfortable and slippery in the rain wooden handle.

Someone tried to make a tourist hatchet with their own hands for lack of an opportunity to purchase it in the store (as a rule, it was hard with this). And then the safety of the use of the tool was reduced to almost zero, since parts of the homemade-ax sometimes attached to each other not too firmly.

Topki tourist Fiskars

But it seems that those times have passed, and high-quality tools for a serious campaign can be purchased freely, there would be appropriate means. The Finnish company Fiskars (founded as early as 1649) delivers to the Russian market a lot of necessary things from garden tools to products for tourism. And, for example, Fiskars X7 - an excellent choice of tools for the traveler! Its overall weight is just over half a kilogram, and its length is 32.6 cm. The handle is not wooden, but made of a fiberglass damping composite: the hand is very nice, and you do not get tired with prolonged use. The tool does not slip, which is important when cutting, for example, in rainy weather. The color of the handle is bright yellow: when spreading the inventory over the forest space, unlike the ordinary wooden handle, it can be seen from afar, and as a result - do not lose the tool itself. Covering the blade of forged steel - antifriction. The blade itself is phenomenally sharp (you can shave like that on occasion), they can literally be cut with a knife.

And the most important difference from the Soviet options - the blade is soldered with high-tech applications in the handle of an ax. No clogging of the peg, no spontaneous separation of the instrument in front of the amazed public. What a pity after all, that deserved experienced tourists of the Soviet era did not have the opportunity to work with such tools, performed with maximum convenience, as they say, for people!