We're so used to seeing folding knives (and folding blade-loaded multitools) during our daily travels around world and web, we're not quite ready for an entirely different tool inside a folding package, especially not one with very knife-like G10 scales and thumbhole. But the all-new Norse Foldable from Willumsen conceals a different fold-out blade inside its handle. It does look just a bit too chunky when closed to be a knife, and that hints at the real capability that flips open in milliseconds at the flick of a wrist.
"They're heavy. They're awkward. They ride badly on a pack, and the exposed head is a hazard waiting to happen," Willumsen frames in introducing the Norse Foldable.
"So the axe stays in the garage — and you're back to snapping branches over your knee at dusk, wishing you had one."
The Willumsen Norse Foldable packs up neatly for safe, convenient carry
The Danish knife specialist and toolmaker isn't wrong. While the axe is a very handy tool to have when backpacking, hiking, canoe camping or otherwise traveling lightly through the wilderness under your own power, it can definitely be awkward to fit in the limited space of a pack, pocket or even compact vehicle. And if the blade guard breaks or slips off, there's real potential for that razor-sharp edge to do some extracurricular chopping, risking serious damage to the critical gear and clothing you're carrying ... or you.
So you do without, even when taking an overnight trip on which a proper axe or hatchet would be extremely useful ... because you probably aren't strapping a load of neatly processed seasoned firewood to your back.
Willumsen doesn't want you to do without, however, so it gives you the option of an axe – more a hatchet, really – that doubles as its own sheath, packing away as simply and quickly as a folding knife. It measures 8 in (21 cm) long by 3 in (7.5 cm) wide when folded, sliding easily into a backpack compartment or clipping to a belt or pocket. Now you can have your hatchet with you anywhere adventure lurks, without the bulk, discomfort or potential for accidents of a traditional fixed-head axe.
The Norse Foldable blade unfolds easily with two hands and can also open with the flick of a single wrist. Two separate locks keep the blade open and secure.
"A folding axe lives or dies on its lock," Willumsen explains. "You open the Norse by hand – the crossbar lock seats the head in line and a secondary safety lock makes sure it stays closed in the pack and stays open in the cut. When folded, spring tension keeps the head held firmly shut. The pivot runs on ball bearings assembled to a spec that allows no vertical or horizontal blade play."
The pointed dual-edged blade shaped to fit neatly in the handle looks a little strange, but Willumsen promises it's primed for splitting and shaping firewood via a 4.3-in (11-cm) cutting edge.
Willumsen isn't the first to offer an axe or hatchet in a folding package, but the others we've seen feature more complex mechanisms, odd shapes or both, or are part of a multitool. The Norse Foldable toes closer to a fast, easy-to-work folding knife than any previous design we've looked at (or seen on Amazon).
As far as construction, the Norse has a PVD-coated 14C28N steel blade with a CNC-ground, stonewashed edge and serrated bevel spine. A ball-bearing pivot delivers smooth opening and G10 scales provide sure grip. The base loop and side pocket clip provide additional carry options.
Willumsen is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to get the Norse Foldable to market. It's developed pre-production models, and if the campaign is successful, it will to begin full-scale production later this year. The axe is available at pledge levels starting at €95 (approx. US$110), a €55 discount off the planned €150 ($170) retail.
Source: Willumsen
