I suggest a rubber axe for a 10-year old. Maybe I am too safety-conscious. I think a gun could be less dangerous in the hands of a 10-year old than an axe.

got my first knife at 8 I still have it
I think I was a Bear scout when we earned our whittling chip , a business card size card with my name on it and the rules printed on the back , a set of rules we had to follow , should you get caught breaking one you lost a corner of your card if you lost 2 or 3 corners it was ripped up and you could wait til the next years bear scouts were taking their whittling chip training and retake it with them.

as a WEBELO scout age 10 we upgraded to a Totin chip this added hatches , ax and saw lessons and rules.

at 10 I also got my compound bow , was allowed to practice in the backyard by my self , shot for hours and hours in the back yard

10 seems young in this coddled society , but I don't think it is so young as long as the safety is taught and when and where the ax may be used is laid down.

My dad hunted and had his shotgun and that was it , when I was 11 my dad bought a 22 then a shotgun for me to use well we got more into guns after that.

I think it was some where around 6 or 7 my son got his first knife.

about 10 he had a tomahawk but used my axes at

8 or 9 he was running a log splitter

I think he was shooting at about 6. I got a red ryder when he was 4 or 5 to start him on and a air rifle shortly after that

7-8 he was shooting 22 rifle and not long after 22 handgun

he was decent with a 9mm handgun about 9 1/2

at 10 he bought/earned his first shotgun. he had some money and worked the rest off splitting wood.

he bought / earned his 22 rifle at 11 more wood splitting

he started shooting action pistol a few days after his 12th birthday. I have the video of his first run , he was dropping steel fast enough and with every hit that you can hear one of the guys in the background that had been talking stop , say whooow how old is that kid?

this was of course all well trained and supervised

this summer he turned 18 , bought a Glock 19 and ran his own gun in action pistol

running chainsaw actually gave me the most pause , I don't think he ran chainsaws till he was 15 or 16

10 for a hatchet doesn't seem too unreasonable

if you never give them responsibility in little steps and make sure they earn the next steps then well you end up with child like adults unprepared for the world , you only get them for so long before you have to let them go be their own people , make sure when they fall to their level of training you gave them a solid base to work with.

So they are out of stock ..eh ? They have a wicked edge on them….had mine for 5 years…and haven’t needed to touch up the edge yet !

I started splitting wood with an axe when I was 7. My mom and dad were divorced, and we heated our house solely with wood. My grandparents lived next door and they also heated with wood. Every Saturday during the fall and winter was wood splitting day. We would first go to the woods on the tractor, and haul home 2-4 dead trees. Then my grandfather would chainsaw them into lengths, while I split. He would get done cutting first, and then he would also split. Once all the wood was split, we would haul it by wheelbarrow to each of our houses and stack it all on the porch. The whole process usually took all day. Those are some of my fondest memories though of my childhood. I loved being outside, especially in the winter, cold, but not cold because of the activity, and it just felt good to know that even at that young of an age, I was putting in a full days work to help support our family.

I'd also got my first knife when I was 5, and first gun at 8. Maybe those were different times.

^awesome and what should be going on today with every kid in the usa.

I agree with previous comments about a "boy's axe" or "3/4" length. This style is what I carry camping and trapping.

The size will be perfect for his age and it will be safer to use because he will have more control when handling.

Norlund is one of the best US made IMO. Any axe stamped "Mann" is A+ and made in PA.

I went with the snow and nealley axe, as suggested here. It showed up yesterday,and seems super nice. It puts my $30 hardware store special to shame, now I kinda want one for myself😁

Excellent choice.

Can’t go wrong there ! Nice choice

My nephews use their axes all the time. Get one for yourself!

I love those beautiful, esthetic axes like those mentioned above, but for an everyday user I like the Estwing 26 inch all steel ax. It works great for everything I need it for on the trapline. The only thing it's not good at is splitting firewood. The hollow ground feature of the axe can cause it to be a little sticky when trying to split wood. But it sure sharpens nice.