I was asked to test out the Hults Bruk Spika Axe. I’ve always been intrigued with axes since I was a kid. We bought our first ranch when I was 8-yrs. old. It was run down and we had a lot of fences to build. Luckily we had a lot of cedars which make good fence posts. Dad wouldn’t let me run the chain saw but when he’d drop a tree he’d have me and my brother clean off the limbs with an axe.

Hults Bruk Spika Axe

Fast-forward quite a few decades. I still love axes and use them when camping in the mountains to cut firewood and make kindling, clean trails, and cut tent poles. A hatchet can be too small, and an ax is overkill. So when I held the Hults Bruk Spika Axe, I knew right away that it was the perfect compromise for my needs—not too large, not too small.

To build my campfires, I usually find enough larger logs for the yule tide log, so to speak, but I need to cut limbs to start the fire. A hatchet is too small, and a full-blown ax takes up a lot of room, especially if we’re packing in on horses. So to clean out limbs so we can ride by overgrown trees and clear the limbs off of deadfall lying in the trail, cut tent stakes, clean limbs off the bottom of a tree in camp, the Hults Bruk Spika Axe will work fine.

Since it is still winter in the mountains as we speak (type) I went into the backyard and did some normal camp tasks. Chopped limbs for firewood, trimmed limbs off of a tree and so forth. The axe was surprisingly sharp and worked great. It will be thrown in the truck for every camping trip from now on.

Now for some of the offered accessories that adds to the flavor of the Hults Bruk Spika Axe. I love leather products. Especially thick heavy duty leather products. The Hults Bruk Spika Axe comes with a premium leather functional sheath. It will prevent me from getting cut while packing it around as well as protect the edge.

Now for some other offerings. You can buy a leather axe holster for $29.00 which would be handy when working around camp.

Another cool item which I’ve never had is a leather axe sling for $49.00. It allows you to sling the axe over your back when hiking in and cleaning trails.

One more item that’d I’d recommend getting is their leather Overstrike Guard. You strap it on the handle below the axe head. That way if you miss the log that you’re chopping and hit the handle on the log below the head, you won’t break the handle. They offer it for $27.00. (Then they also offer a rugged looking leather belt for $54.00).

With all of the above leather items, your new axe will catch the eyes of all of your camping/hunting buddies. The whole package has a rugged frontiersman aura about it. I love the complete package and think that it looks awesome. In fact, I have a talk in two days and am going to take my Hults Bruk Spika Axe and use it as a prop. Then on Saturday, I have 6 seminars at the big Scooter’s Youth Hunting Camp in Emmett, Idaho, and will lay it on my table as a prop there as well.

I’m definitely going to have it at Elk Camp. If I can’t kill a big bull to be cool, at least I’ll have a cool-looking axe and everyone will envy me for that!

The MSRP on the Hults Bruk Spika Axe is $199.00, and as is usual, we will close with the company specs.

SPECS

• 2.1 LBS.
• HEAD WT. 1.5 LBS.
• HANDLE LENGTH 17.5”

Spika is the perfect all-purpose axe for the forest life. It has the same type of head as the Hults Bruk Akka forester’s axe, but the handle is shorter – 17.5 inches long – making the axe more portable. The shorter handle also makes it versatile when you want to be able to work with the axe closer to your body.

The axe is suitable for precision work such as carving, whittling, or building fire stands, shelters, and similar around a camp site. This thanks to a well-proportioned hand notch that allows you to grip around the head and steer the axe with maximum control and a semi-straight edge with a flat and wide grind allowing the axe to rest firmly against what you are working on. The edge is still slightly curved so that the axe also can be used for light forestry work such as clearing a path or trail maintenance. The head is a bit thicker over the cheeks giving it good splitting capabilities so you can chop firewood. The axe also features a curved narrow handle with a pronounced end knob for a more secure grip.

• The axe head is hand forged at the historic Hults Bruk, a forge that has been in operation since 1697.
• Each axe is made from high-quality Swedish axe steel, expertly tempered to hold a very sharp edge even after repeated sharpening.
• Blackened, hand-finished, razor-sharp with a polished edge.
• Curved American hickory handle, sanded, protected with linseed oil and engraved with the HB logo.
• Each axe comes with a premium leather sheath, shipped with a storage box and detailed user’s manual.

About Tom Claycomb

Tom Claycomb has been an avid hunter/fisherman throughout his life as well as an outdoors writer with outdoor columns in the magazine Hunt Alaska, Bass Pro Shops, Bowhunter.net and freelances for numerous magazines and newspapers. “To properly skin your animal you will need a sharp knife. I have an e-article on Amazon Kindle titled Knife Sharpening for $.99 if you’re having trouble.”