
Unlike hand axes, hatchets feature a hammerhead on their back despite this, the hatchet is never used for this purpose in-game, even suffering a condition penalty when used to break ice for being a 'sharp tool'. The Hatchet features prominently in most official The Long Dark media, and serves as the game's icon and logo. The milling machine in Bleak Inlet may repair a non-ruined hatchet to 100% condition for one scrap metal, during an active Aurora. Hatchets may be repaired using a whetstone and the bladed tool maintenance skill, restoring 3% condition to the hatchet and causing 5% condition damage to the whetstone.
In Interloper mode hatchets will never spawn requiring forging to create an improvised hatchet. Hatchets may be found in all regions, usually near frozen corpses or structures.
For the Whiteout challenge's objective, an improvised hatch may substitute the requirement of a hatchet. Unlike blunt tools, bladed tools like the hatchet suffer increased condition loss when breaking fishing hut ice. May be selected to defend oneself during wolf struggles. Hatchets are faster harvesting carcasses 51-100% frozen. The hatchet can be used to harvest sticks from branches and some scrub. Knives are faster harvesting carcasses 50% frozen or less, as well as guts and hides. The Hatchet is a tool in The Long Dark, primarily for woodcutting and self defense. May be used to harvest frozen carcasses. Hatchets can also allow the player to cut down maple and birch saplings without a hacksaw. It can also be used to break down many wooden objects such as shelves and crates into reclaimed wood. The hatchet can be used to harvest sticks from branches and some scrub brush, cedar firewood from cedar limbs, and fir firewood from fir limbs.