When you live in an area that gets significant snow fall, you also have winter on the mind. You’re either in the winter season, or you know winter is coming in a few months.

With winter you have to worry about a few different things. You need to keep your home warm, you need emergency rations available in case you get snowed in, and you have to prepare you best for trying to get out and about when possible.

If you drive, that means you might want to consider getting some quality snow chains for your car or trucks as that will make your life much easier.

What to Look for in Quality Snow Chains

If you’ve never bought a set of chains for your tires before, it’s going to be very beneficial for you to have an idea of what to look for. And, to do that, knowing how they works is step one.

Tire chains are exactly what you think they are. They are a set of chains that wrap around your can or truck’s tire and make them look like they’re wearing a medieval set of armor.

However, while armor’s prime function is to protect what it’s on, the chains’ prime function is to improve your automobile’s traction. They do so by punching through snow to try and make contact with the road.

When a naked tire is sitting on too much snow, or snow that’s densely packed, and you hit your accelerator, your tires spin because they are actually making any contact with the asphalt. That’s the difference between tires with and without chains.

Next, you have to decide what product is going to be right for your individual needs as not all the option out there are going to be a good choice for you. You’ll have to choose between options like chains or cables, and deciding if a 1-year warranty is important or perhaps a 90-day warranty is good enough.

You’ll also want to make sure you find something that matches the body style of your automobile. A set that’s great for SUVs and trucks might not be so good on a compact.

Reviews of Our Top Picks

There are a lot of options out there, but here are the choices we feel are the best buys. They offer both quality and value.

Camping is a great way to get out and experience nature. You can rough it in the outdoors with friends, family, or alone and enjoy the peace and quiet of the woods. However, camping is not necessarily easy. A lot of your experience will vary depending on the gear you bring, and unless you’re a survivalist, you’re probably going to want to pack up! One of the most important things to have with you in any outdoor living is a camping knife. They have a variety of uses, including self-defense, cutting wood for fire, or even meal prep.

Are you planning a camping trip but don’t know what knife to choose? Do you need one with survival tools, or just a straight blade for cutting? How big does it need to be, and what should it cost? These are all questions that new campers may not know. Fortunately, we can help!

In the following piece we’ll go over what to look for when buying a camping knife, as well as some of our picks. Happy browsing!

What to Look for in a Quality Camping Knife

Depending on what you need it for, you have some choices for a camping knife.

Price – Your first consideration will likely be your price range, as knives can vary greatly in their costs. Generally, a higher-quality knife will last longer than a cheaper option, but unless you plan to use it regularly, you may be able to get away with a cheaper knife. For most good-quality camping knives, you can expect to pay between $35 and $250, depending on your requirements. This is the range our recommendations will fall into as well so you can be confident in our picks.

Folded or Straight – Next, you can decide if you would prefer a fixed blade or a foldable blade. Fixed blades are generally stronger when full-tang (metal entirely through the handle), but need to be kept in a sheath for protection. A foldable knife opens itself up to damage because the knife needs to fold to work. If it rusts or it doesn’t open, you may have trouble using it. However, they are safer and more convenient to carry.

Size – Now that you’ve narrowed your choices down, you can consider the size of your knife, including the blade and handle. For most camping knives, 8-12” in total with a 3-5” blade is the recommended size to be able to perform most actions comfortably. Larger and heavier knifes are better for chopping, while smaller and lighter knives are easier to maneuver so be sure to consider what you need it for.

Materials – Your blade can be stainless or carbon steel, both with their own benefits. Carbon steel can become sharper more easily and is more durable than stainless steel, but rusts more easily. Your environment and intended use will determine which is best for you.

Your handle should be made of a sturdy yet comfortable material so that it doesn’t hurt your hands from use. Rubber is often used to cushion the handle, as well as bone for sturdiness. You want something that is comfortable, provides great grip, and looks good (primarily the first 2).

Reviews of Our Top Picks

Now that you know what you’re looking for, we can review some potential choices to consider. We’ll give you the good, the bad, and what you need to know about each.

A recurring theme here at A&A is our love for manual tools. We love anything that require you to put in a little elbow grease to use properly. It must be the primal nature of it that makes it all so appealing.

But, there’s a time and place for manual tools, and there’s a time and place for when using technological advancements like the combustion engine makes the most sense. When you need to cut down a lot of trees on a short amount a time, and axe might not do it. You’ll probably go the chainsaw route.

However, just like all the tools we cover here, choosing a chainsaw that’s best for you requires a bit of legwork. We’ve tried to do most of that legwork for you below.

While we love the manual approach to outdoor work here at Axe & Answered, we understand that sometimes it just doesn’t make sense. When it comes to turning all the excess branches, twigs, and even hedge trimmings in your yard into useable wood chips and mulch, a little help from a powered tool goes a very long way into make your life easier and saving you a heck of a lot of time.

Aside from the massive amount of time you can save, by making your own wood chips or mulch from the organic material you already have access to, you can save a ton of money as well. You no longer need to pay for expensive delivery or make a run to your local gardening store and pay them for what you can make on your own.

But, what electric shredder is going to be right for your particular needs? Keep reading to find out.

While we love of axes and splitting wood with our hands here at Axe & Answered, we understand that sometimes you’re limited by time and energy. Sometimes you want a tool that can do more than you can do with pure elbow grease.

Enter, the log splitter. There are a few different kinds: electric, gas powered, and even hydraulic. But be assured, when you leave the maul behind to take a heavier duty approach, you will speed up the your splitting.

If you’re in a hurry, check out our Quick Chart, but if you have a few minutes keep reading to see our detailed reviews.

One tool the Axe & Answered team love is the axe of course, but it’s not the only useful tool out there. One of those useful tools is a folding saw.

They are typically easier to store and carry than an axe or hatchet due to the blade that folds into the handle. They might take a little longer to get the job done, depending on the task at hand, but their small size and light weight might be more of an advantage for you than the sheer power of an axe.

The reviews below go into the finer details of each saw, but if you’re in a rush check out the Quick Chart directly below.

If you plan on sharpening your axe or other bladed tool using a sharpening stone, you should definitely consider using some type of sharpening oil, also commonly referred to as honing oil, along with the stone. While you can sharpen your tool on a dry stone if you’re in a jam, using an oil has too many advantages to ignore.

Take a quick look at the reviews chart below to see our top choices for oil to use on your sharpening stone while fine tuning the blade on your axe or knife, or use the Quick Navigation to jump to any other section.

Some splitting mauls are truly works of art with custom hand-forged steel heads that bare the smith’s name etched into with beautifully crafted wooden handles. Some mauls and splitting axes are almost too sexy to use. That’s not the case for this pair or Truper splitting mauls.

These two steel beasts mean business. They are true workhorses. That doesn’t mean they don’t carry a certain aesthetic of their own, but these were manufacturing with mainly one thing in mind – function.

Ames is a well-known tool manufacturer, so it only makes sense for them to have a line of axes and mauls. Their product line-up can get a little confusing with all of the various names and model numbers they use, so to keep things simple, we’re only going to look at two of their most popular splitting axes and mauls.

Click on one of the links below to read an individual review or read the whole post to compare them both.

Are you looking for a top quality splitting axe? Then look no further – Estwing has you covered with their American made duo of wood splitting axes.

Before deep diving into each of their axe offerings, we can take a quick look at where they are manufactured. Estwing makes all of the axes and other tools within the USA at their manufacturing plant in Rockford, IL.

They also made a ton of other quality tools like hatchets, pry bars, and all sorts of hammers. But, let’s isolate and reviews their splitting axes.