one-strike spliting

Following the falling of a number of trees in my yard I went and researched for a good firewood splitter axe. I settled on the Fiskars 7854 x25 28-inch splitting axe. Base on the product spec and descriptions it is a well engineered tool with many innovations. I figured if anyone know how to make a good splitting axe, the Finns should be among them.

It took a bit over a week to arrive - it is the longest wait time of all things I ordered recently.

The product slogan is "One-Strike Splits" - it comes with a nice enclosure for the axe head as it is quite sharp. I knew I would be a fool to think that it can split any log with just one strike, however.

note the nice shape of the handle to prevent it from slipping out of one's gripe

 the head is Teflon coated to reduce friction; it is made in Finland

these wet logs from the sweet gum tree are the hardest to split; the axe does very well on the wood closer to the bark; the heart wood is so wet and with it strong inter-faber links it just soak up the kinetic energy of the axe

a small pile after a few swings

I splitted a good amount of logs from three different sweet gum trees. It confirm my initial assertion they are one of the hardest hard wood to split. Even small diameter section without any branches proved to be challenging for the best axe. The fibers are always twisty so they absorb the impact of the axe dead in it's track. You can see how twisted they are in these photos.

this is an onry one, as Huckleberry Finn would say

splitting firewood can be quite dangerous - the 28" axe is safer than a shorter axe but you still have to be very careful not to end up with it landing onto your shin; the log at the lower left is the heart wood which the axe just bounce off

In all I am very happy with the axe. It has a nice balance in the hands for anyone who appreciate a good tool. It is well designed and manufactured. For more information you can watch the video here.