Ordered a Fiskars X25 to see what it's all about

[LittleLebowski]

I know it's a little short, especially for a guy that is 5'11" but I can elevate what I'm splitting and my wife is tiny and she's learning how to split wood.

This is where you guys tell me it was a good purchase

 

[Marshy]

It'll do fine. Just be very careful, the edge on the Fiskars are unforgiving. Many of people have "nicked" themselves and required stitches. Proper positioning and control is key.

 

[LittleLebowski]

It'll do fine. Just be very careful, the edge on the Fiskars are unforgiving. Many of people have "nicked" themselves and required stitches. Proper positioning and control is key.

Thanks and noted.

 

[LittleLebowski]

Completely underwhelmed. Got some fresh cut oak logs and it frequently bounced off stuff over 6".

I know I should have gotten the bigger one for myself but I expected more. I do know how to swing it and how to split logs, my $30 home depot maul works well.

I am leery of buying the bigger X27 as I don't think it will be worth the money over my cheapo home depot maul.

 

[Marshy]

If possible, I would exchange it for the X27. I personally don't see the advantage of having a shorter handle. Trust me when I say this, there is a slightly different knack to it than what most people are use to. I split 100% of my firewood with a X-27 each year, 6-7 full cord, rounds cut 20" long. It splits every reasonable piece of wood I put under it regardless of species (except elm). Reading the wood and knowing where to hit it and being repeatable is very helpful. If I have some pieces that just bounce the head then a few weeks of drying helps the round to split. Its not a wonder tool but, it is as effective and better IMO as a traditional maul.

 

[LittleLebowski]

The wood was felled Sunday and I took care to read the wood and follow the already existing natural crack.

I can't exchange it. I suppose I just need to find someone local to put a better grind on my cheapo maul. I hate wasting money like this. Maybe I can trade it and some cash for a bigger maul.

 

[Marshy]

Post it for sale on Craigslist or here maybe. Give it a second try...?

 

[LittleLebowski]

Post it for sale on Craigslist or here maybe. Give it a second try...?

I gave it a good 20 minutes and a good sweat but I'll try again tomorrow and then if it still disappoints, try to trade it off here.

 

[alderman]

I'm 6'4". I tried the X25 and while I never had a problem using it I found the X27 was a much better fit for me. I gave the X25 to a buddy.

The Alder and Fir I usually split is easy pickings for the X27. I do some of my splitting with a double bitted axe also.

After several years of use the edge of the X27 was plenty rough. I really didn't think it mattered much but after a trip to the grinder I found it split a lot easier.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Shagbark]

X27 is good for straight grained wood like ash and red oak or cherry. Big rounds you have to work the edges to the middle. It is easier on worn out shoulders than an 8lb maul. Just picked up a Stihl PA80 6.6lb Ochsenkopf and compared it to a standard 6lb maul and the X27. More capable than either by comparison, especially knotty twisted rounds. Split them when the other two wouldn't.

 

[LittleLebowski]

I guess I just don't have enough weight on it. I used it some yesterday and it worked fine on smaller stuff.

 

[VinceGU05]

i used a X27 on the weekend for the first time. cant say i was impressed at all.. it maybe fantastic on the European timber but in aussie gum its struggles.
this is my "home depo" splitter. spent an hour on the edge reshaping it and stone and honing the edge. this thing is dynamite now!!

 

[LittleLebowski]

I like that, I wish VinceGU05 could do that to my Home Depot splitter.

 

[LittleLebowski]

I was leaning towards the Fiskars SS 36" but with my not so impressive experiences with the X25 , I'm browsing other larger mauls/splitting axes.

 

[LittleLebowski]

I take it back, I think maybe it was how the logs were cut that I was trying to split?

Anyway, made this quick video. It was hot out.

 

[Homeowner]

Instead of letting axe weight do the job, with Fiskars you need to do the job.

Way I use Fiskars is that I kind of pull down whole axe instead of pivoting it around end of handle, it seems to work better when left hand keeps pushing it down, that is because Fiskars lacks of weight, I believe.


Vince has made nice edge to that Home Depot axe, I have exact same axe head in a axe I bought cheap, I guess they make those heads in China and put to different handles, then sell as different brands.

I did weld over 4 pounds of steel to back of that head, old axe head and some other bits of steel, with good edge and added weight, that thing destroys everything I have had under it.

Fiskars is nice, but it is too light for harder stuff, they use fresh birch at demos of Fiskars and for that it is great tool, not so great for something challenging if goal is to split rounds to two halves with one strike.

If one takes small cuts at edge of round, Fiskars is quite nice, at least with Pine and Spruce that works quite nicely, but you guys have much more challenging wood to split, I'm quite sure that with good sharp edge and 10 pounds of weight my cheap axe will do better job than Fiskars on that challenging wood, but I have no way to test that out.

 

[skipster]

I use the x27 ( dont like the x25,not enough leverage on the downswing) all the time,supplying firewood(ironbark and grey box eucalypt) to 9 households.
It needs a different technique to a heavy trad splitter. You dont try and belt it through the centre of the round,(which doesnt work on the timber i split anyway,no matter what type of splitter)
I walk it around the outside of the round,following grain lines and then split the remaining center .
Using a heavier,sharpened splitter will give you more power,but also get you stuck in the middle of a knotty round,and after an hour of waving the thing around,you will be more tired than if you use the fiskars
another thing I like about the fiskars is that you can leave it in the back of the truck on a blistering hot day,and the handle wont loosen
I can see the benefits of the traditional splitters though,they certainly are cheaper,and the handles are replaceable,plus on certain wood they may have the advantage,however the x27 works for me

 

[johnhunts]

vinceGU05 ^^^ I use X27 cant fault it have to swing the head faster to get going split yellow box & red stringy like dry ash with 5lb splitter imo
John

 

[CR888]

I have a X27, a limited edition fiskars 365(same as X25) and same 8lb maul as Vince. The X27 works really well in straight rounds with no knots. About 50% of the stuff I use for firewood needs hydraulics or to be cut up with a saw. TheX25 is near useless for splitting but OK for making kindling. Be carefull raising a chopping round above ground & trying to split with a X25... you may cut a leg in half.

 

[ken morgan]

yah I bought into the hype about 2 years ago and bought the x-17 and the x25. Sold both to a friend last week....I have a really, really old (at least 50 years) year old Japanese straight handled splitting maul, its head weighs in at 3.8kgs or 8.?? lbs that I got off an old coot that probably shot Americans at Guadalcanal or Okinawa..... I bought it right after the fiskars purchase. A little time with a file and a stone and it is twice the splitter the fiskars was....

I originally split about a cord with the fiskars and then picked up the Japanese splitting maul. played with them both and no matter what I did the unsharpened maul out split the fiskars. after about 4 cords total by hand I said screw it and built a hydraulic log splitter. 49 is not the new 16 that is for sure, my back was screaming for several months after the paul bunyan period of my wood stove. I still split some small stuff with the Japanese maul but only as a curiosity.

I dated the Japanese maul by the kanji stamp it is marked as the early years of the showa period, which puts it at pre-WW2 to early Korean by Japanese calculations