THE ESEE KNIVES GIBSON CARVING AXE IS A WELL-ROUNDED TOOL FOR A ROBUST CAMP.

TEXT BY REUBEN BOLIEU

PHOTOS BY REUBEN BOLIEU AND JONATHAN KILBURN

Get ready for the next level of ESEE knives. Fresh of fits successful lineup of Camp-Lore designs, ESEE Knives adds another great design from outdoors professor James Gibson. After his first design with ESEE Knives, the JG3, Gibson then designed the Pinch, which is a small survival-tin-sized knife, as well as the JG5 fixed-blade knife.

ESEE Knives has found great success with its Camp-Lore line—designed by a few of the designers and instructors in the company’s cadre—with the RB3, JG3, CR2.5, PR4 and JG5. The time has come for the next evolution: the long-awaited ESEE Gibson Carving Axe, based on James Gibson’s own personal custom version.

The ESEE Knives Gibson Carving Axe is the fourth offering Gibson has collaborated on with ESEE Knives. It features brown-textured Micarta scales on a .25-inch-thick piece of 1095 carbon steel with a black oxide finish. Its overall length is 10.625 inches.

1:1 ACTUAL SIZE

“ …THIS IS NOT A ONE-TOOL-DOES-ALL; IT’S A SPECIALTY TOOL FOR THE CRAFTS THAT KEEP A CAMP THRIVING AND COMFORTABLE.”

The Gibson Carving Axe

The Gibson Carving Axe sports a similar finish style as the PR4, with its black stonewash-finished 1095 high-carbon tool steel and sculpted brown canvas Micarta handle scales, making them a great outdoor bushcraft pairing.

The blade is a thick, .25-inch, 1095 high-carbon steel featuring a durable full-tang construction and a shavingsharp cutting edge.

A generous cutout near the head allows for the close grip needed for fine, controlled work done when carving. The steel has a dark, tumbled black oxide finish for hiding wear and tear on the surface, while the robust construction of the axe makes it very durable. It will surely excel at wood processing and other camp chores.