LEXIVON 18-Inch Camping Axe + Protective Carrying Sheath

Controlled strokes under power don’t take much practice thanks to the hatchet’s balance and heft. The steel takes and keeps an edge, and the head was sharp enough for work upon delivery.

Light weight in handle (hollow) but strong and the head has good heft and seems to operate very well for basic light duty hatchet work. Don't expect to chop down a tree with this.

I was looking for a hatchet size axe head that is light weight for hiking, and yet I want to use both hand. Originally I was set on Fiskar X11. Its quite hard to find and price is almost double, so I settled on the V18. I was told it is not made in USA, but at least its made in Taiwan, not China (for those don't know, there is a fine difference between the two!)First impression:Most of the other reviewers are right, the first impression isn't great, forging mark all over on the head, and the edge is dull, unlike the Fiskars which is ready to chop out of box. With a cheap kitchen wet stone, within minutes its gets sharp, after 30 minutes its paper cutting sharp. During the initial sharping, I skipped the stone and hit the edge , it rolled a little which gave me some doubts.Edge:Took it out to hack over some kindling, I was immediately impressed. I been using a 14 inch no name brand home depot hatchet for years, had to baton it to split. The V18 split logs into kindling effortlessly. Just to test the edge, I attempted to chop a log side ways and baton it, the edge held up very well. The instruction provided advise you not to baton this axe, so do it at your own risk.Handle:I use ranger band to increase grip for most of my wooden axe handle, but this handle is hollow and light weight, with good texture on it. I double I will need to put ranger band for this one. Time will tell if this handle will last.Sheath:A little wobbly, the plastic is quite flexible. I don't like it but it does the job.Overall:For the money, you can't go wrong with this. For the price of X11, I can get both V18 and V18S. Any axe and knife can roll after long period of use, a working axe need to sharpen regularly. In the coming weeks I have some projects coming up and this axe will be abused. I plan to update this review soon after. If it survived I will update the star rating, and maybe getting the V18S just for splitting firewood!

It is 18" long and better for cutting brush and limbs than the 12" of 14" versions. You can get a better swing and more head speed without the weight of a full sized axe. Not sharp coming from the factory. You will need to sharpen it. Seems to hold an edge pretty good. The carrying case was broken when it arrived, but it is a cheap piece of plastic anyway. You will need to make your own if you want to carry it on your belt or backpack.

Been looking for a nicely designed and balanced camp ax. Bang on nailed it. Good one hand operation. Exactly the right length. Great balance and perfect for my old hands with the composite handle. Not a logging ax, been there and done that. It is a great camp and firewood ax at a great price. Don’t pay more and don’t pay less..buy this one.

updated review... I had complained that the one we received was pretty dull but the company sent me a new one and it worked perfectly! Not sure what was going on with the first one. Fairly lightweight and does a great job! Perfect camping hatchet.

The ax is accurate with the picture, is light but strong. I already tried it. Perhaps needs more edge, but it works fine. Can't evaluate yet the durability because I used it only once. I chopped the firewood (strength is necessary, of course) without trouble.

I love the size of these axes, 18-19" is my favorite for backpacking, not too big but not too small to tackle most any task around the campsite. This axe fits the bill, feels great in my hands and the yellow part on the bottom is some kind of semi-tacky rubber that provides a nice grip, the palm swell is pretty big and the handle is fairly thick that's nice for someone with big hands.Essentially, the shape is reminiscent of a Fiskars 14" hatchet scaled up slightly, the blade profile is nearly identical just slightly larger.Now the cons is that, like the smaller hand-axe this one also has very rough tool marks on the edge. It seems to chop okay out of the box but a good sharpening would improve it quite a bit. That's really the only bad thing I have to say about this. Just a bit of work with a bastard file and sharpening stones could get this axe working nicely. If you think the low price is worth putting in the work then this axe is for you, if you don't have tools to sharpen this axe or don't plan on using it a lot then I'd probably spring for a Gerber of the similar size for better fit and finish out of the box.