In the next game 7 years down the line, the stone and iron axes will probably be folded into the same item. I thought it was clever they went to the trouble of making a new type of axe, the only real "spinoff" tool, in order to facilitate the new crafting system while preserving legacy axe gameplay.
But yeah with the ability to eat fruit and dig up trees, its usefulness is almost nothing... Basically if you're out of fruit and Miles to try for more, and you really really need to clear some trees, the iron axe is all you got. But if you have even a handful of fruit, yeah, it's pointless. You even make money selling whole trees so there's even a bell incentive to dig up trees instead of chopping them down.
Sorry Nook Miles+, no I won't be chopping anything today OR ANY DAY
