The Woodman's pal is a copy of the banana machete, the curve in hook is to cut down fruit...

I had a woodman's pal it is strong and too heavy. for my area the machete has more use but for trees i carry a light folding saw ,, they come in several size , the ax is ok for home use etc... so for packing I carry only the light saw ,,it has light handle, and a extra blade 2 oz... i had a big French knife/short machete too much weight ... that i tried in Viet Nam , but again it got dull fast....

Nope, never seen this type before, but have seen something similar being used by mountain peoples in Viet Nam and Laos and by sugar cane harvesters in Cuba. The hook was on the opposite side and basically it was shaped like a question mark. This tool looks like it could be more functional, lighter to carry than an ax but greater chopping ability than a machete.
Double edged axes scare me, they have been known to bounce off knots and come back and chop you in the shins and if this happens when you are living in an alternate site out in the boonies, this could put you in deep kimshe.

I have both a double-bit axe and a couple of hatchets.

But, I've seen this advertised:

http://www.woodmanspal.com/

Anybody familiar with it? The ad says it takes the place of several tools, including machete, axe, hatchet. Too good to be true?

Which is better, an ax or a machete? The ax is designed for chopping down trees while the machete was designed for slicing through the softer fibers of tropical broadleaf plants. A person could chop down a tree with a machete but using an ax would be more efficient and would save some wear and tear on your body. However, the machete can still be used around the campsite for cutting smaller branches for starting a fire or pointing up a spear tip, or slicing through brush to make a trail. A surplus military machete sheath only costs a couple bucks and will attach onto the side of an A.L.I.C.E. pack where it is out of the way but still retrievable if you should need it in a hurry. I carry a short handled ax and a machete on my backpack.