One rainy afternoon during last summer's trip to Woodland Caribou, I destroyed a cheap folding knife to get at some heartwood to use for fire starting. Though I destroyed the knife it made me realize that an ax is not really necessary and a good heavy knife could be the way to go. I've always been against having an ax along if I think it could wind up in the hands of someone who might be careless with it. This Ka-Bar looks interesting.