Fiskars Axe, just arrived.

Talked my wife into an early christmas present the other day. An X25 Fiskars axe, said it woudln't ship til 12/7 or so, but recieved it today(i am only 50 miles from madison wi so that might have somthing to do with it). Had to take it out and give it a try...OMG amazing. Love it so far, just waiting to get mor cut so i can get things split. Well worth the money.

Trbo

EzTrbo said:

Talked my wife into an early christmas present the other day. An X25 Fiskars axe, said it woudln't ship til 12/7 or so, but recieved it today(i am only 50 miles from madison wi so that might have somthing to do with it). Had to take it out and give it a try...OMG amazing. Love it so far, just waiting to get mor cut so i can get things split. Well worth the money.

Trbo

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I love my x27. I start my work day with a stint on the splitting pile. Amazing tool...and sharp! I picked a chip off its edge this morning and later was picking a splinter out of a finger and found it wasn't a splinter at all, a nice vertical slice.

Harry K

Another +1 for the Fiskars! My X7 and X27 just showed up last week. Haven't had a whole lot of time to spend with them, but the little I have I love them!

Like you said, definately worth the money! Especially with being on sale at Bailey's right now.

Oh yeah, your gonna love it. Extremely sharp and very nicely balanced. A fine axe IMO.

I've been looking and wondering what folks thought about'em.

Sagetown said:

I've been looking and wondering what folks thought about'em.

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They are a suprisingly fine little axe my friend. I would highly recommend one. For the money they are awesome.

I think you can have an X27 for about $40+shipping from Baileys.

If you don't like it, you can send it my way. :hmm3grin2orange:

I got my X27 about two months ago, and am a convert. I've split 12 cords with it, and am still amazed by how much more work I can do with is as opposed to a traditional maul.

As effective as a maul on almost everything but lighter so you can swing away all day long.

ponyexpress976 said:

As effective as a maul on almost everything but lighter so you can swing away all day long.

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Maybe just me, but I find it considerably more effective than a maul - I'm blowing apart crotch wood that I pretty much couldn't split with a maul, unless I drove it thru w' a sledge like a wedge. And yeah, I'd say I can go about 3x as long with the X27.

EzTrbo said:

Talked my wife into an early christmas present the other day. An X25 Fiskars axe, said it woudln't ship til 12/7 or so, but recieved it today(i am only 50 miles from madison wi so that might have somthing to do with it). Had to take it out and give it a try...OMG amazing. Love it so far, just waiting to get mor cut so i can get things split. Well worth the money.

Trbo

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Ha! Happens to most everyone first trying one out. I was just near dumbfounded how much easier it was compared to my regular old maul.

This might sound weird here, but I have to stop myself splitting sometimes, just so I don't run out of rounds! In midwinter it is so muddy I can't go in anywhere easy and cut and haul out, but I still want something to do with wood. So I save up a coupla cords or three and split a little at a time.

You'll find it won't do all your wood, but it should be able to handle most of your wood fairly easy. I have around, real rough guess, about 5-10% that get to be hard to split, so I throw them in my bummer pile and beaver away at them later. Regular stuff that splits fair, you can just knock it out. It is almost like machine splitting, it's so fast and easy.

To make the process really fast I usually have 6-8 of the largest rounds lined up as chopping blocks. About 2 feet apart and stagered. Set up a stage of "to be splits" on top and work on down the line. With the fiskars I had to start stagering. With a full swing, splits would knock over the other staged pieces. After a stage is run through the stuff small enough goes in the gator and everything else is reset. Its kinda like an assembly line where you move and the "work" stays. The change in motions really helps keep you from overdoing it while keeping the process speedy.

I've also found that crotches in the 8-12" range are easier to split with the fiskars by laying them down.

For all you guys that split with a heavy maul, I've posted this a couple of times before:

The equation for kinetic energy is <img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/4/1/4/4140f53f66a68e92afec2389ba289e25.png" width="94" height="25" alt="E_k =\tfrac{1}{2} mv^2" /> , where m is mass and v is velocity.

So if you double the weight of the axe you double the energy of the hit (assuming you can swing it just as fast), but if you double the speed you swing it you quadruple the energy.

Mauls have their place, but this is why I split with axes.

I have both an X25 and X27. Both work great but the short handle on X25 is kind of scary.:msp_unsure:

I agree

WoodHeatWarrior said:

For all you guys that split with a heavy maul, I've posted this a couple of times before:

The equation for kinetic energy is <img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/4/1/4/4140f53f66a68e92afec2389ba289e25.png" width="94" height="25" alt="E_k =\tfrac{1}{2} mv^2" /> , where m is mass and v is velocity.

So if you double the weight of the axe you double the energy of the hit (assuming you can swing it just as fast), but if you double the speed you swing it you quadruple the energy.

Mauls have their place, but this is why I split with axes.

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Serious rifle shooters discovered this ages ago, this is why modern military arms use a lighter bullet, traveling faster, then the blunderbusses of olden tymes.

FWIW, I think of a heavy maul as a wedge to be bashed with a sledge hammer, which is easier to set then holding a wedge and getting it started tapping it into a crack or something like that. Using it like an axe can work, but geez it beats on ya.

c5rulz said:

I have both an X25 and X27. Both work great but the short handle on X25 is kind of scary.:msp_unsure:

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When possible, split inside a tire. You won't have any problem with a bad swing following through right into your leg or something that way.

only one person has addressed my burning question. for those of you who've used both the x25 and the x27 - which is preferable?

I'm a newbie here but have used both. It depends on how tall you are. I'm 5'11" and another friend is 6'2" and we both prefer the X27 because of it's longer handle. Another friend is 5'8"ish and he prefers the X25 because he finds the X27 too long so chokes up on the grip.

I'm loving the X27 though, it splits really well without weighing too much. You do have to put a little more effort (speed) into your swing vs. a maul but not by much. Not having to lift a heavy maul over my head is nice

Hope this helps ...

Berardino

zogger said:

FWIW, I think of a heavy maul as a wedge to be bashed with a sledge hammer, which is easier to set then holding a wedge and getting it started tapping it into a crack or something like that. Using it like an axe can work, but geez it beats on ya.

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I had a Teflon coated 6lb maul with a fiberglass handle from Sears. I used the back side as a sledge for the wedges, and the front for those pieces that I'd cracked with the axe, but had something in them that was holding it together. The coated maul head would slam right through there without getting stuck and the handle would not get ripped up. Unfortunately the head cracked - I guess that nice Teflon coating was hiding some lousy metal.

Hasn't been too much I couldn't bust with the X27, but those that did resist called for a fresh serving of noodles by chef M-Tronic - mmm. :msp_razz: