Fiskars Super splitting axe review

[WVMtneer]

I have split 2 cords this summer with the fiskar splitting axe. I have been splitting firewood with maul for 20+ years, and i will never pick up a maul again. I have not even been using my 27 ton splitter.

I am very impressed with this tool, I actually look forward to splitting wood with it.

-Keith

 

[Skier76]

My wife bought me one for my birthday back in December. I had a chance to use it a few times over the winter, but not much. This summer, I've been using it a lot.

I really like this splitter. I was concerned with the handle length, but that hasn't been an issue at all. I find that splitter goes where you point it; less defelcting than a traditional maul. The light weight is awesome, it makes splitting a lot less tiring. I've been able to blast through some pretty knotty pine with this thing.

 

[ShaneMc610]

This is a pretty amazing splitter. Ive been using an 8 pound maul for a while and it doesnt compare to the SS. I have about 25 or so rounds of white oak (24"-26" diameter) and the Fiskars goes through most of relatively easy.

 

[RedShift42]

Amazon has had it for a heckuva price for over a week now, in case anyone's still shopping.

-Eric.

 

[PURPLEBOWYER]

Hi everyone!A most excellant site!Just ordered the FSS on ebay,31$ + 10$ shipping,can hardly wait I have a pile of cherry and locust waiting for this badboy.Unfortunately I have a large pile of elm too,Ive pulled more than a few muscles trying to get it split with an 8#er and wedges,that stuff really sucks no matter what you usecensored:Any way thanks for all the info and Ill let you know how it goes.Thanks guys....Jim

 

[Brushwacker]

Hi everyone!A most excellant site!Just ordered the FSS on ebay,31$ + 10$ shipping,can hardly wait I have a pile of cherry and locust waiting for this badboy.Unfortunately I have a large pile of elm too,Ive pulled more than a few muscles trying to get it split with an 8#er and wedges,that stuff really sucks no matter what you usecensored:Any way thanks for all the info and Ill let you know how it goes.Thanks guys....Jim

If your pile of wood has been sitting a fairly long while, the Fiskars isn't as effective as a big heavy 10-12lb maul such as the monster maul. Cherry and elm get real sticky when seasoned a while before splitting. I'm not sure how the locust will be. Problem with the monster maul is if you use it extensively as I have it wears on the joints and bones the same. Now a days I use the MM sparingly. The Fiskers shines in fresh cut or frozen wood thats not extremely knotty. It has a very high power to weight ratio and is the most shock freindly to the body I have ever used in average fresh cut wood but the sticky stuff it doesn't work miricles.
I've been working on some mostly cherry wood I dumped on the ground in the spring. Just stacking the not so big pieces, splitting some of the staighter grained pieces in halves or quarters and leaving the tougher ones to noodle with the chainsaw. I sell wood and if I need to split it smaller with the Fiskers I aim to do it after it freezes. Cherry cracks and drys good for me in log form when stacked in an open airy area. It also smells delicious when split after its seasoned a while.

 

[PURPLEBOWYER]

Greetings Brushwacker,the elm that Im refering to is about 2yrs old Ive got it bucked and stacked so its well seassoned,and Im like you I know that axe isnt gonna perform miracles,but most everything else is locust and cherry with the cherry being the only green I cut.Ive been picking the locust off the ground trying to clean up my woods a little.From what Im reading it does well on cherry.

 

[Brushwacker]

Greetings Brushwacker,the elm that Im refering to is about 2yrs old Ive got it bucked and stacked so its well seassoned,and Im like you I know that axe isnt gonna perform miracles,but most everything else is locust and cherry with the cherry being the only green I cut.Ive been picking the locust off the ground trying to clean up my woods a little.From what Im reading it does well on cherry.

If you cut the cherry recently and its not extremely knotty it will work great. I've split fresh cut black locust both dead and alive and it should split as well IMO. I haven't split a lot of elm but i had some old blocks given to me and they were very tough.
To compensate for the short handle on the Fiskars , keep your legs farther apart ( swinging it in front of you ). It also puts your foot and toes in a safer location. If you swing from the side might best use a chopping block.
I have had the Fiskars bounce off knotty wood coming back almost hitting my fore head also , so be careful.
Later, John

 

[Northland]

ShaneMC & others-how long are you bucking those large diameter oak and other hardwood rounds to? 12 to 15"?

I've made good use of my FSS the past year. This summer I skidded out some 22" diameter maple and bucked them to 20" or so in length to fit my new Vermont Hearthstone wood stove.

The problem is I can no longer split the rounds and I figure it is because they are too long.

I am going to have to rent or buy a woodsplitter if I can't split the larger diameter maple with the FSS.

Any advice would be much appreciated

 

[amateur cutter]

Noodle it 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through with your saw , then split. Helps on Elm too, but the stuff is still a :censored:. A C

 

[CountryBoy19]

ShaneMC & others-how long are you bucking those large diameter oak and other hardwood rounds to? 12 to 15"?

I've made good use of my FSS the past year. This summer I skidded out some 22" diameter maple and bucked them to 20" or so in length to fit my new Vermont Hearthstone wood stove.

The problem is I can no longer split the rounds and I figure it is because they are too long.

I am going to have to rent or buy a woodsplitter if I can't split the larger diameter maple with the FSS.

Any advice would be much appreciated

I just got done splitting a cord of 20" sugar maple Friday. It was the easiest wood I've ever split. I guess maybe it depends on the location etc. I'm sure bucking it longer contributes a lot to being harder to split.

 

[Northland]

I just got done splitting a cord of 20" sugar maple Friday. It was the easiest wood I've ever split. I guess maybe it depends on the location etc. I'm sure bucking it longer contributes a lot to being harder to split.

Were your sugar maple rounds 20" in diameter and also 20" long? Unless they are frozen solid you can't split sugar or red maple that size that grow here with any axe.

White and Silver Birch that size can be split but not maple.

 

[Northland]

Noodle it 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through with your saw , then split. Helps on Elm too, but the stuff is still a :censored:. A C

Thanks for the suggestion but I way too many big maples of that size to make that a practical exercise. It would take me days to cut all the rounds like that.

 

[WetBehindtheEar]

Question...

So many people here are raving about the SS...

There are always compromises in life. You want a strong sword but don't want it to be brittle... so you have difficulty holding an edge... You want a sharp edge but once you get an edge on, it tends to be very brittle and chip off - making it hard to hone the edge back.

Are the SS hardened steel? Are they similar to saw chains that need a 'touch up' every so often?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[AKKAMAAN]

So many people here are raving about the SS...

There are always compromises in life. You want a strong sword but don't want it to be brittle... so you have difficulty holding an edge... You want a sharp edge but once you get an edge on, it tends to be very brittle and chip off - making it hard to hone the edge back.

Are the SS hardened steel? Are they similar to saw chains that need a 'touch up' every so often?

Thanks for any advice.

I use a file on my Fiskars SS....steel is forged, but I do not think it is hardened.....my axe have got dull, but never lost a chip out of the edge

 

[Brushwacker]

So many people here are raving about the SS...

There are always compromises in life. You want a strong sword but don't want it to be brittle... so you have difficulty holding an edge... You want a sharp edge but once you get an edge on, it tends to be very brittle and chip off - making it hard to hone the edge back.

Are the SS hardened steel? Are they similar to saw chains that need a 'touch up' every so often?

Thanks for any advice.

Last year was my first full year with the Fiskars and I didn't really split a lot of wood. I had stockpile from the previous year and sold a lot unsplit. If i remember right I touched mine up once with the Fiskars sharpener that cost about $10 and it is due more for a touch up then the first time now. Its hard to say just how much I split, maybe about 5 cords which usually is split kind of small on the average. I don't recollect having a chip in it yet but to me it looks like fairly hard steel. I do split mostly on the ground, often frozen so the edge isn't kept out of the dirt to well.

Originally Posted by Northland
ShaneMC & others-how long are you bucking those large diameter oak and other hardwood rounds to? 12 to 15"?

I've made good use of my FSS the past year. This summer I skidded out some 22" diameter maple and bucked them to 20" or so in length to fit my new Vermont Hearthstone wood stove.

The problem is I can no longer split the rounds and I figure it is because they are too long.

I am going to have to rent or buy a woodsplitter if I can't split the larger diameter maple with the FSS.

Any advice would be much appreciated
I know you said it take days to noodle yours, but wouldn't the time and effort getting them on the splitter cost you close to the same.
I use an ms660 with a sharp chain mostly in the bigger rounds and it doesn't seem to be excessively time consuming. I cut a few soft maple blocks with an 041 the other day it it went fairly quick. Its flat ground mostly here and I prefer sizing the blocks down to size where the tree falls usually, then its easiar to toss the pieces on the truck. Often 1 cut in half through the worst part of the firewood log and the rest splits up easy enough with axe or maul.

 

[WetBehindtheEar]

Thanks for the info on sharpening the Super Split.

I don't own a slpitter & use the Ames splitting axe or 'sledge & wedge'. Maybe I'll drop the $40-odd dollars on one.

One problem is that there used to be a Fiskars office in Central WI (Wausau area) but it's since closed & the rumor is they've shifted manufacturing to China.

Can anyone confirm this?
Tony

 

[CountryBoy19]

Were your sugar maple rounds 20" in diameter and also 20" long? Unless they are frozen solid you can't split sugar or red maple that size that grow here with any axe.

White and Silver Birch that size can be split but not maple.

Well, no, the biggest one was right at 19" around, and 20" long. It took a few good whacks to get it started but once it was started 1 or 2 hits and I could split a good chunk off.

So many people here are raving about the SS...

There are always compromises in life. You want a strong sword but don't want it to be brittle... so you have difficulty holding an edge... You want a sharp edge but once you get an edge on, it tends to be very brittle and chip off - making it hard to hone the edge back.

Are the SS hardened steel? Are they similar to saw chains that need a 'touch up' every so often?

Thanks for any advice.

If they aren't hardened then they're made of some pretty darn good steel. I use mine to pound wedges when I have a big tough piece or a round that is just too big to go at with the SS and there isn't a single mark or ding on the butt where I've been pounding. The wedges on the other hand are all dinged up and smashed on the tops. I would say that the head on the SS is certainly hardened pretty good.

I also can't remember the last time I touched the edge up; it's seen quite a bit of dirt and dings and it will still chop stringy stuff with a slight tap. It holds it's edge very well (like all the fiskars axes).

the rumor is they've shifted manufacturing to China.

Can anyone confirm this?
Tony

I know that they have certainly moved some manufacturing to China as I have some Fiskars tools clearly marked "Made in China". But IIRC they still make the axes in Finland don't they?

 

[Northland]

I know you said it take days to noodle yours, but wouldn't the time and effort getting them on the splitter cost you close to the same.
I use an ms660 with a sharp chain mostly in the bigger rounds and it doesn't seem to be excessively time consuming. I cut a few soft maple blocks with an 041 the other day it it went fairly quick. Its flat ground mostly here and I prefer sizing the blocks down to size where the tree falls usually, then its easiar to toss the pieces on the truck. Often 1 cut in half through the worst part of the firewood log and the rest splits up easy enough with axe or maul.

I have cut down fifteen 50+' maples that were dead and dry while standing. Half of them are 22"+ in diameter at the trunk. That's a lot of rounds to be noodling for me. A neighbor has horizontal/vertical splitter he will rent me cheaply. Moving those big rounds in place with a pry bar or my tractor shouldn't be a big deal.

However, first I am going to buck a few of my existing rounds down in size by half. Then I will be able to split them easy. I split all my firewood to the size of the wood in Akkaman's video

Still, if I want to make best use of the Hearthstone's 22" log length capacity I need my firewood at least 20" long. That and my wood shed will hold many more cords of wood since I will have less rows with the longer wood.

I live in the mountains and use my tractor's bucket grapple to take the logs in 6' to 8' lenghts down the hills to my staging area in front of my wood shed. I then buck, split and stack the wood.View attachment 147509

 

[PURPLEBOWYER]

Well I picked up my ss on Fri.I must say it worked really well on the nice straight grained cherry and locust,but bounced right off that miserable elm.No fault of the axe,that stuff just flat out sucks to split,well itll get burnt one way or the other.Very nice axe,well worth the $.