>>138112>is it an AK vs AR type of thing?Or like the serrations argument.
For the same reason, people fail to acknowledge their differences: not everyone lives on west coat, not everyone goes on short hikes, not everyone goes out in the summer, not everyone is a bushcrafter, not everyone carries the same things in his pack... we're all different, and you'd have to be retarded to think that ANY solution is the absolute best.
Large knives are definitely a viable alternative to hatchets.
There's the weight argument, seeing as hatchets are heavier than large knives, which can make a great difference depending on your own reasons.
And then, techniques used are very different.
When it comes to cutting, hatchets are efficient for small to mid-sized pieces of relatively hard wood, and requires few but great efforts. For larger and harder wood, saws are more efficient, and when it comes to effort, they also beat axes at their own game. For smaller pieces of wood, knife wins at effort and is on par with hatchets when it comes to efficiency; for mid-sized pieces of wood, they require more effort than a hatchet, but that's many small efforts, which can make a difference depending on how tired you are. For soft wood, large pieces of wood aside, machete wins everything.
When it comes to splitting, a hatchet is efficient but requires precision, and a stable, flat cutting surface, aswell as few but great efforts. Batoning with a knife is slightly less efficient, but requires smaller efforts, and overall beats the hatchet effort wise; it's also idiot proof and requires less precision. Saws may not really be worth it, except for some huge pieces of wood. Machetes are the best for softer wood, no need even to baton.
Me, I'm just back from Morocco where I only had a machete, I'll be going to Ethiopia soon with a large knife and machete, and Mongolia later this year with an axe and saw.
There's no ultimate tool, deal with it.
