Hults Bruk Hultan Hatchet

Every kitchen has a pair of good scissors that nobody is allowed to use on cardboard. They live in their own drawer and come out for birthday wrapping. The Hults Bruk Hultån Hatchet can end up the same way: one owner on BushcraftUSA found the edge on theirs polished to a mirror shine and called it almost too pretty to use.

It belongs at the fire ring instead, turning the campground bundle into sticks thin enough to catch while somebody small asks when the marshmallows start.

One name, two brands

On Hults Bruk’s US site this hatchet is part number 840702, and the Amazon title carries the same number. A Hultafors-branded Hultån Hatchet, part number 841701, is a separate item. The buttons on this page go to the 840702.

Check for Hults Bruk and 840702 in the name before you order.

Fifteen inches, depending on the label

Plan on about 15 inches (375 mm) and a head of about 1.1 lb (500 g). Hults Bruk gives both figures on its US and its Swedish site, and uses the 15 inches both for the handle and for the whole hatchet. The two sites part ways on the total: 1.8 lb on the US site, 750 g, about 1.65 lb, on the Swedish one. The Amazon title adds an inch and gives a 16-inch handle with a 1 lb head. Hults Bruk also says hand-forged axes can vary slightly in weight and size.

The hatchet does not mind which number you believe. A tight pack might. GearJunkie lists “A bit long for a camp hatchet; not as portable” among its downsides, and by the makers’ own figures it is about an inch longer than the Gränsfors Bruk Wildlife Hatchet.

What owners and reviewers like

GearJunkie makes it the overall pick of its 2026 camping hatchet guide, found it sharp out of the box and calls it durable. GearAssistant puts it plainly: “If chopping wood is your priority, this is probably the one I would choose.”

An owner on BushcraftUSA who has both an Almike and a Gränsfors Wildlife Hatchet says the Almike’s handle feels real good, and much better than the Wildlife’s. In an earlier post in the same thread, that owner calls it OK and does not think it comes close to a Gränsfors Bruk hatchet in quality or craftsmanship.

The first job is a look at the head

Not every box opens to a mirror. Buyers on Amazon’s page for this hatchet report a head that came loose and a poor fit between the head and the handle. A new owner on r/Axecraft, quoted below, got one from REI with what looked like a defect on the blade. In that thread, one reply would send it back, while another thinks the grinding was never finished.

That owner called it an expensive hatchet. At that level, the box deserves a proper look.

The first job is not kindling. It is ten seconds of looking at where the head meets the handle. Then run your eye down the edge, on the kitchen table the evening it arrives, not at the fire ring on the first night of the trip. Hults Bruk’s own note that hand-forged axes vary slightly is one more reason to look at the one you got.

Next to the Gränsfors

The owner with both hatchets gives the shortest comparison on file. The handle goes to the Hultån. The cutting, in their words, goes the other way: “Hatchet does not cut as good as a GB hatchet.” (BushcraftUSA)

One owner is one owner. Both reviewers cover the Gränsfors too, and both come down on the Hultån’s side: GearJunkie puts it first in its guide, and GearAssistant picks it when chopping is the priority. Two reviewers and one owner, and they do not agree. When chopping is the job, go with the reviewers.

On price, the sources give words, not numbers. GearJunkie counts the Hultån among the most expensive hatchets in its guide, so it is not a budget hatchet, and nothing here says it costs less than a Gränsfors. The Amazon button shows today’s price.

Straight from the threads

Who should pick something else

If the hatchet has to fit a small pack, pick a shorter one: the Gränsfors Bruk Wildlife Hatchet is 35 cm, and the Estwing Sportsman’s Axe E14A is 12.5 inches overall.

If the fit complaints worry you most, the Estwing has no head-to-handle joint at all: it is one piece of forged steel.

If you would rather not look after a wooden handle, the Fiskars Ultra Universal Hatchet U14 in our camping hatchet guide has a composite one.

Compare all four

The camping hatchet guide sets the Hultån beside three other small hatchets. Its comparison table lists each length and weight with whoever published it, the Amazon title included, and says where a figure is missing.

The good scissors can keep their drawer. The Hultån is for someone who wants a traditional hickory hatchet for chopping and kindling at camp and has room for the extra inch: chopping is where GearAssistant would probably choose it, and kindling is where one owner calls it a machine. Its place is by the fire ring, after ten seconds at the kitchen table.