good morning. do any of you fine folk have any experience of Helko Werk axes? i need to replace my super budget, old and frankly useless B&Q own brand thing and can’t really justify the price of a swedish boutique brand, but would like something good/nice. mostly used for firewood prep for wood burner/camping fires etc, some bushcraft type business and possibly crafting duties when i get around to it. i don’t need to chop trees down or split huge logs with it, but if it is capable of such things anyway and won’t break the bank then that’s a bonus. be nice if it would fit into a large backpack too. so, helko- are they worth the 50% ish cost of a grans or hults bruk?

get a hultafors.

try watching ben scott in youtube for well put reviews, also technique

site looks good and production description is hardly very different from Gransfors.

You may find that you cant really get an axe that does “firewood prep for wood burner/camping fires etc, some bushcraft type business and possibly crafting duties ”

The Bruks “Small Forest Axe” is about as small as you can go and still split 6-8″ logs without too much hassle (2lb head, 19″ handle)
It’s small enough to work with the hand up the shaft (fnar) but its still a bit big for small work.

The Helko “Black Forest Pack Axe” looks similar. £60, which is half of the price of the Bruks.

You tried sharpening the useless Bnq job.

My experiance of Bnq axes is they are perfectly fit for purpose.

I’ve a splitting maul from there that works grand.

stoner, good to have another eye run over things, i thought they looked decent and probably worth a go given they’re half the cost of gransfors. i was looking at the black forest axe as being nearest to my exact desires, which i’m aware are probably unachievable!

TR, yeah i’ve sharpened it a few times but not looked after it much other than that, and tbh the main issue is that it’s just too small to be useful for more than splitting kindling (handle’s maybe 30cm max).

Heinnie do this one, which ought to serve pretty well…
https://www.heinnie.com/marbles-camp-axe

I read a great article a few weeks back from a Swede who was commenting that their preference is for budget axes that just meet functional requirements. He was amused at our hipster fascination with premium Nordic or scandanavia brands that they actually didn’t care much for but exported well. Maintain your existing one and it will do a job. I recently bought a Fiskars x11 for next to nothing off eBay and it’s outstanding. I also still use a 20 year old Spear and Jackson which has seen more handles than triggers broom which grinds down really well. Leave the fancy brands to the hipsters who don’t have a clue.