So now I gotta get a block, a tire( gonna guess it should be a bias ply, hehheh), a broom and lube just to use a Fiskars? My $30 dollar green machine from Menards doesn't need all that. I can hit the ground without dulling it and everything! And stuff.
Can ya tell I am not a huge Fiskars fan? Tried one a bit ago and was not impressed. It's a good axe, no doubt, but it isn't the end all - be all everyone portrays it to be.
Ted
The fiskars is sharp, designed to work sharp, so keeping it out of the dirt works. Splitting inside a tire does two things, keeps you from over swinging, plus holds the wood for more follow ups, instead of stopping to go pick up fallen over pieces. I like splitting on a short and wide block to accomplish this, and broom it off as required. As to the lube, just a cheap and easy suggestion, the teflon does reduce friction, adding a quick spray helps some too, at miniscule cost or time involved. I just wish I had started doing that before the teflon wore off mine. It isnt absolutely needed, it still splits fine without it, but it helps it split even better.
I still use a maul on some pieces, and wedge and sledge on others. But most of my wood can and does get fiskarized. And some gets noodled. Just depends..
Use what ya want man, the guy was asking about how effective a fiskars might be. To me, just being effective and lightweight, and being able to use it for most of my wood, at not much more cost than my maul, makes it worth the money I spent on it. At roughly just half the weight of my 8 lb maul, man, easy decision to which one to pick up and try first on a new batch of rounds. I just no longer want to swing a heavier maul if it can be avoided. I also didnt have to use a grinder to reshape the fiskars either, it came correctly shaped.
It is not a total replacement for every other splitting tool out there, and no one here has ever said that, but it is a very nice and productive tool that seems to work for most, but not all, people who own one and get used to swinging one correctly.
