>>1939488Its marketed towards the camping and bushcraft market mainly i would guess. They tried to keep it light and compact for packability and gave it a wedge taper profile with a high centerline to aid it in being a proper splitting axe. I can see people getting by with one and a laplander folding saw for processing small trees. I agree with you though, they exist in the middle ground between a boys axe and hatchet, with the advantages of neither. If im going smaller than a boys axe, it would be to save weight or pack space, and I would go with just a hatchet. That being said, most vintage American axe heads have convex cheeks with a high centerline (pic related) that make great all arounders in terms of chopping and splitting with a little file work. You can find them for $5 at flea markets, spend $15 on a handle, put a few hours into them and have a more capable axe at the end of the day then the hults splitting shorty.
