The allure of cheap axes: it’s about freedom.

The most expensive axe I’ve bought, and I’m not too proud to admit it, was about 400 bucks. A Northern Axeworks big axe. It’s beatiful. I’ve bought a few hatchets for $300 from Kevin Bradley, a few more around the 150-200 mark, and every single one of ’em was beautifully crafted and very enjoyable. However, cheap axes exist, and they are spectacular.

But despite the (looking at what I just wrote) potentially thousand dollars I’ve spent on throwing axes, There have been multiple instances where a free or very cheap axe has proven to be the most delightful, effective, and stress free thrower in my stable.

Why the hell is that?

Can’t spell freedom without free

I just liked that little headline. I don’t really mean free, though given the price difference, it’s close enough.

I fully get the pull to buy pretty things. Espesh when it comes to axe throwing. Buying new axes with custom handles and cool colors is, you know, fun.

But as axe prices go up, so too does a hesitancy to have those axes get damaged. I mean, it makes sense. You spent a few hundo on an axe handle — you don’t want to donk the thing and watch all those dollar bills disappear, right?

but with a cheap axe? One you bought for twenty bucks at ACE hardware or, even better, got for cheap at a yard sale or some such — who really cares? Use it for doubles, let a new thrower throw it full force into the target and on the ground: you can just get a new one or replace the simple, broken handle with a new one.

Cheap Axes = Free Experimentation

So I love each and every one of my axes like the special, unique, talented and beautiful babies they are…but: I am scared shitless about making any big changes to any of em. For goodness sake, what if I shave down a Kevin Bradley handle and the dark magic he embues it with escapes? My Northern Axeworks big axe is a little too long for me, but the woodwork on the ding dang thing is too cute to cut!

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I got a Flint Edge Tommy axe head a little while ago, bought a 8 dollar handle, shaved it down, sanded it, and kept modifying the handle until it fit my little badger mitt exactly how I wanted. I didn’t get hung up about whether I messed up because, you know, it’s whatever. It’s eight bucks for learning what to do better next time.

Free to think about anything but your axe

There is a thing that happens I believe is criminally underdiscussed in the axe throwing world: how much an expensive axe occupies your mind. When I purchased my last more-expensive-than-a-store hatchet, I thought about it almost every day for about two weeks. I still think about it often – if I need to make adjustments, if it was a wise purchase, whatever else – but for those first few weeks, it was incessant.

Now compare that, say, to my last cheap-axe purchase: I don’t really think about that lil guy at all. It was forty bucks. It goes where I want. It’s not flashy and it’s not something I have pictures of on my phone that I sneak glances at during goals-for-the-year meetings at work. I like it, certainly, but there isn’t anything about it that warrants a lot of attention, you know?

That leaves me so much more free to focus on stuff that matters in my day. You know, like my step whilst throwing, or what cute outfits to wear to the next tourney.

I get the pull of custom, expensive, amazing axes. It’s the THING of this sport, and despite efforts from big wood, nobody’s really stepped into the bespoke axe board market.

But time and again, I’ve found the cheap and simple hatchet has simply been…what? Better? Less stressful? I don’t know that I’d give up my Red Beaver Custom axe or my Hoops clutch axe (which I spent zero dollars on, to be clear), but man-o-naise sometimes when I pick up a generic half hatchet or Collins boy’s axe, I wonder if I could have saved myself hundreds and hundreds of dollars on something more useful. Dozens of chipwiches, for instance.