In the temperate environment I live in an axe is of less value than a large knife. I don't often have a need to cut down a tree but I regularly need to cut back on brambles, bracken, salmonberry canes, scrub willow, gorse bushes and the like. This cannot be done with an axe, so a big knife [the Sami call it a Leuku] is a much more effective tool to have around.
I did recently buy a couple of cheap billhooks and thought they'd be good for modifying into Big knives.
As you can see they are rather rough and ready but for a tool that will be heavily used in the woods I don't need anything expensive, just effective.
The handle was in particularly bad shape and needed quite a bit of work. So out came the angler grinder, a series of files, sandpaper and linseed oil and after a little bit of profiling I ended up with these
