Swinging an axe, left or right handed?

[LondonNeil]

Saw this from fiskars

And thought, uh? So do I swing like a righty? I'm a lefty but put my right hand at the bottom. I swing a bat left handed, left hand nearer the business end, right hand at the end of the handle, it seems natural to do the same with an axe, so fiskars, wtf?

 

[Ted Jenkins]

I'm confused because I use both. I am not sure if I swing both ways or not. Broke both arms twice so learned how to do righty or lefty no problem. Thanks

 

[513yj]

I am not sure if I swing both ways or not.

One would assume that you ought to know this .

 

[turnkey4099]

As the video shows, strong hand at end of handle. Ergo, for righties normal is right had at end, left at head. I delivered a load of wood last year to a guy. Showed him the fiskars in action. He was right handed but had been doing it backwards (left hand at end of handle). Looked awkward as all get out. He tried it my way and admitted he had both more power and more accuracy.

 

[svk]

I swing a bat and an axe with left hand at the bottom and I am right handed. I guess I can split pretty good and can hit the ball pretty well as well in the batting cage once I get my timing right. If I am missing something by having my stronger hand at the end, I will have to try it.

 

[Del_]

From a physical fitness point of view it is better to symmetrically develop skill and dexterity equally right and left. This may be even more important when the spine is involved in the activity and it usually is. Running a chainsaw is a huge exception and no doubt our bodies with be better off if we had both right and left handed chainsaws and used them properly of course.

 

[svk]

From a physical fitness point of view it is better to symmetrically develop skill and dexterity equally right and left. This may be even more important when the spine is involved in the activity and it usually is. Running a chainsaw is a huge exception and no doubt our bodies with be better off is we had both right and left handed chainsaws and used them properly of course.

I'd argue that a PTO start Mac 10 series with a wrap handle would truly be an ambidextrous saw.

 

[turnkey4099]

As the video shows, strong hand at end of handle. Ergo, for righties normal is right had at end, left at head. I delivered a load of wood last year to a guy. Showed him the fiskars in action. He was right handed but had been doing it backwards (left hand at end of handle). Looked awkward as all get out. He tried it my way and admitted he had both more power and more accuracy.

oopsy...I'm right handed and swing with RIGHT hand near head, Left hand at end of handle. Dunno where my head was but it was dark. Trying it as in the pic is extremely awkward.

 

[LondonNeil]

Does 'swing both ways' have the same connotation in the US that it does in the UK? it would be a poorly chosen phrase here that might get some sniggers from hairy, hetrosexual lumber men

Back on topic, so I'm not the only one confused by Fiskars then. The block height seems nuts too, but that is more a personal choice perhaps.

 

[svk]

Does 'swing both ways' have the same connotation in the US that it does in the UK? it would be a poorly chosen phrase here that might get some sniggers from hairy, hetrosexual lumber men

Back on topic, so I'm not the only one confused by Fiskars then. The block height seems nuts too, but that is more a personal choice perhaps.

Many folks split on the ground or a very short block. The one in the picture seems excessively high.

 

[7sleeper]

There must be a humongous amount of martial arts practitioners out there doing it the wrong way. And they are tought that the strength from the swing has mainly to do with the pinky of the swing arm. If your pinky is strong and pulls tight so will your swing be, if your pinky is weak and loosely holds your equipment all power is lost and only clumsy brute strength is pulling you through...

7

 

[Homelitexl903]

I'm right handed and swing my axe the same way the guy in the video does. That's the only thing I do that the video says to do. I have a much wider stance with my legs and my splitting block is a big stump about 6" off the ground. I'm just over 6 feet tall and prefer the X25 so this set up works best for me. I have a 12" splitting block by the fire pit but prefer that short stump in the woods.

 

[awful knawful]

I'm a weirdo. Swing axe from right to left with left hand at bottom of axe. Hockey, shoot right. Throw right. Write right. Right handed. Skateboards was right foot forward, goofy?

 

[turnkey4099]

I'm a weirdo. Swing axe from right to left with left hand at bottom of axe. Hockey, shoot right. Throw right. Write right. Right handed. Skateboards was right foot forward, goofy?

Same here. I tried the 'right hand at bottom' and it was the most awkward thing that I could imagine.

 

[abbott295]

"I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay"

 

[Jhenderson]

I'm right handed. Swing a bat right handed. Drive wedges and split wood with a 5lb rafting axe left handed. It just more comfortable.

 

[Marine5068]

Yes the chopping block is way too high, unless you're 6'6" tall maybe.
Mine is not a crappy piece of birch but a large solid Maple block at about half that height.
(I'm 5'10" tall and I only swing one way...lol)
Right handed=swing left

 

[LondonNeil]

So it seems most people here swing/hold the axe the otherway around to Fiskars, glad its not just me then!

Block height is personal I reckon, but I prefer a block about 15" high or thereabouts, which with rounds for my small stove (13" max) and me at 5'11" means I'm swinging my x27 to about 4 o'clock- 4.30 and it feels like its accelerating all the way. I've a x17 on its way, and expect to be stacking a couple of rounds to bring my 'block' up to about 24" for that. I am not too sensitive to block or round height, I just bend my knees and drop more in the swing if things are lower. I guess i need to be as getting arb waste that is often bucked short and varied lengths, and having a slight slope across my lawn, no 2 swings are the same!

 

[Mad Professor]

Saw this from fiskars

And thought, uh? So do I swing like a righty? I'm a lefty but put my right hand at the bottom. I swing a bat left handed, left hand nearer the business end, right hand at the end of the handle, it seems natural to do the same with an axe, so fiskars, wtf?

Those aren't muck bigger than a pecker!

I bucked split and stacked a 33" DBH ash last weekend. About 115 years old. Too much for an axe, but took me about 4 hours. Started with a small wedge in the big pieces, bigger wedge, drove with a 8-lb maul, then a 8-lb maul. When right got tired, I switched to left. If you can't use both arms you are crippled splitting by hand.

Axes are only useful that you can split on a block or your edge will be dulled. If you get learned the bigger pieces that get "stuck" on the axe are your friends, heave back and flip them and bring the backside of your axe down on your splitting block. The weight of the piece will split it. Be careful, if you haul down with a split on the axe, and it pulls out, it can hit your noggin. This even helps with picking up pieces, wack them on their top side with the axe to pick them up, then just hit your chopping block with the backside of the axe and it splits. No leaning over to pick up and place a piece. Learn this technique. Take a piece too big for one chop, hit it well so the head is stuck, flip it and bring the backside of the axe head down on the chopping block. Disclaimer: no responsibility for broken noggins.

 

[unclemoustache]

I'm left handed - left hand is nearer the cutting head.

One thing that bugs me about so many hand splitters - they have the chopping block that is SO DARN TALL. All my chopping blocks are no more than a foot high. You get more power/speed with the extra swinging distance, don't have to lift rounds so high.