Marbles MR701SB Camping Axe - Outdoor Survival Hatchet for Camping, Hiking, and Bushcraft - Compact & Durable Axe for Splitting Wood and Kindling - Perfect for Backpacking, Hunting, and Wilderness Adventures

For general use & maintaining my property, this is my go to axe. Perfect weight and keeps a decent edge.The handle is unfinished. You might want to do some wood protection with this one. I added rubber cement glue to ensure the ax head was as secure as possible. Ax looks good, but mine arrived with a dent in the handle. Made me question the strength of the wood in the handle. I will keep it, but I will definitely be adding some coats of wood protection stuff and a braided handle cover. This ax comes with a sheath, but it really needs some work to make it last a long time. A leather guard underneath the ax head is warranted for this product.The reason I bought this axe was because of its handle. But it has a smaller smooth handle the balance is not good very disappointed don’t buy this axe because of the picture the heads ok but the handle is not goodI looked forward to getting my new Marbles Camp axe. I wanted a new camp axe for use in my Civil War re-enacting of a camp carpenter. I will go back to using the old axe I already had. Two real issues. The first is that the head and the handle are not aligned together. The head is at about a 10-15 degree angle from the handle. I don't know if the issue is the handle or the eye of the axe. The handle is a little wobbly on the head and I thought about just replacing it but thought, NO, not on a brand new axe. The second issue is trying to sharpen this to a fine woodworking edge. It came dull, as dull as the back of a butter knife. I've sharpened on this for about two and a half hours using a file and whet stones. It now is sharp enough to trim limbs and maybe split firewood. I can't get the edge needed to be a carpenter's axe on this tool. Many reviewers talk about using it as a throwing axe. If that's your plan, it will probably be fine. I wouldn't expect the handle to last long however..................................................................................After watching a few videos and learning a different way to clamp the axe head for sharpening, I took another shot at this axe edge. It did take an edge that is quite sharp, not shaving sharp, but actually a really good edge. I gave one more star for that. The non-alignment of the handle and axe head is still costing Marble's one star.Axe showed up with a different handle than the photo and was pretty dull whichI can live with for the price. Just disappointed the company can update the photos to match what they are shippingMy girlfriend ordered this for me as a gift, and I couldn’t be more pleased. I spent a couple hours looking at reviews of other hatchets and axes both on Amazon and just the web. I strongly considered the overly expensive Swiss made axes, and I’m here to say I’m so glad I didn’t! I have now single handedly ( pun intended ) split way more than a chord of wood, Whittled, carved, trimmed. This axe is beautiful in its quality and ability to deliver exactly what you expect a good axe to. If you are hesitant, don’t be. I was a bit skeptical and took the leap of faith, what I received is a beautiful tool. Super sharp out of the box, completely joined with no gap or space anywhere, perfect handle grain. Worth it in every way!This is an out of the box, first impressions. After I have used it for a while, I'll do an update.Overall, this is a well made, well crafted hatchet. I was happy to see that the handle was not varnished or shellacked. It appears to be finished with linseed oil. There is no mushrooming where the handle meets the bottom of the head. The head is tight, with a round wedge, as shown in the picture. I split pieces of pine, roughly the size of a softball, or a little bigger. It worked well, and I was able to make a feather stick, with some effort. It will need to be sharpened and a few swipes over the strop before I actually start using it. The grain runs about as true to the handle as it could. I know from reading other reviews, the grain has been off. But I couldn't ask for this one to be any better. Maybe I lucked out. Why the four stars!!!! Instead of five! The El Salvador sticker that is placed on the handle is backed with an adhesive that is quite difficult to remove. I would rather see that stamped into the head. A minor issue having nothing to do with the quality of the axe, but it was a bit frustrating. I have small hands, and this handle is a great fit for me. If you are sporting meat-hooks, a full handle wrap may make it more comfortable for you. About 15 1/2inches, (39.37 centimeters) overall length. It arrived two day's earlier than expected. That's it ! Happy trails!Handle is way too thin to get a decent purchase.