Tell me about Axes....

[Ambull01]

Long term girlfriend, doesn't matter.

Anyway, the conversation went like this. One small saw plan, tornado smashes house, need a big saw to deal with all the extra oak kicking around, ha!. Year later, and after joining this site, I have a bunch, she goes, "How many saws are you going to get"? I go "One hundred runners, and whatever are parts saws. By then I should know what I am doing repairing them and could open a shop if I needed another income, or, do a little on the side, whatever, another skill to learn well".

Paraphrased, but the 100 runners is accurate. I slowed down a lot this year after I got robbed for a buncha good ones last year. Had them in the barn, bad idea.... Until I have better/more secure storage I am only grabbing gems, or taking freebie junkers.

Yeah, tornadoes scare the crap out of me although I've never seen one. So you had a hundred saws collected?

Whoever robbed you is a brave man. Robbing someone from the GA hills. Isn't that where Deliverance was filmed?

 

[513yj]

What in the F is going on here. I thought we were talking about diesels here

 

[zogger]

Yeah, tornadoes scare the crap out of me although I've never seen one. So you had a hundred saws collected?

Whoever robbed you is a brave man. Robbing someone from the GA hills. Isn't that where Deliverance was filmed?

No, was working towards one hundred, have less than that and like I said, slowed down getting them. That was just a goal.

Deliverance was a couple counties over from here.

 

[lone wolf]

What in the F is going on here. I thought we were talking about diesels here

What do you have?

 

[Whitespider]

...the conversation got me thinking about baseball bats. ...Roger Maris years ago hitting with different weight bats and charted the distance of each weight of bat. Believe he hit the farthest with the heaviest bat but preferred the lighter bat.

OK, now that I'm done antagonizing the engineers (in all seriousness... I'm not always sure why I do that).

Picking the weight of your splitting ax/maul is a lot like picking the weight of a baseball bat. It's a balance... a balance of weight (momentum), speed (kinetic energy), and accuracy. The likely reason Maris hit the ball farther with the heavier bat was due to impulse time (assuming bat speed was approximately the same)... the heavier bat, with it's greater momentum, stayed in contact with the ball longer, thereby transferring more of its momentum and energy to the ball. The likely reason Maris preferred the lighter bat was due to accuracy... he hit the ball into play more often with the lighter bat.

So (my opinion), as far as weight goes, a person should pick the heaviest ax/maul he can swing, without adversely giving up speed, but not so heavy that accuracy suffers. Just like a bat, a human can only swing an ax/maul so fast... at some point there is diminishing return, lighter won't be faster.

But there's more to it than weight, speed and accuracy... and that's the argument both Chris-PA and Marshy were making with me, it gets real complicated after that (and billiard balls ain't a comparison). The shape and angle(s) of the tool determine how/where/when the "force" is applied, how efficiently the "energy" is used. Even the length, width and height of the tool has to be considered... and the calculations (as though anyone cares) get long and complicated. And then there's the handle... shape, length, material, and whatnot. Your physical build and body strength come into play. I danced around all of that in the argument... on purpose... 'cause I'm an azz when I wanna' be
Hopefully they won't stay mad, or irritated, too long.

I like an 8# maul because I swing it well, Chris-PA likes a 6# maul because he swings it faster than an 8#, Marshy likes a 4½# Fiskars because... well I I'm not sure about that one
Anyway, we can argue about what's best all day long; but the truth is... you'll never know what works best for you until you try different weights and head shapes, in the type wood you split. Just because there's a bunch of Fiskars fans don't make it best for you... it might be... it might not be. Likely you'll find that the "best" thing is to have two, or three different tools... depending on what you're splitting (in truth, most of the guys do).
*

 

[513yj]

What do you have?

Hard to answer this but it's either a lousy sense of humor or a 95 12V cummins with slight mechanical adjustments.

 

[ray benson]

I like the 8lb. maul. if it gets stuck I hit it with a 6lb sledge one-handed. Or use an 8lb sledge with different sized wedges. Used to do all my wood manually. Once I got the splitter, the maul and wedges are used to break the wood into manageable pieces for the splitter.

 

[flotek]

Mmmmm I guess I'll tell you about axes . There's a very expensive one called fiskars it comes with magic blend of koolaid the owner drinks this and falls in love with the tool and writes testimonials singing it's praises ...For everyone else we realized it's just a mediocre hand tool that costs triple the price

 

[Whitespider]

I feel cheated, even if it was a gift... I didn't get the Kool-Aid with mine.
I'm bettin' the gift giver drank it...
*

 

[Ambull01]

Mmmmm I guess I'll tell you about axes . There's a very expensive one called fiskars it comes with magic blend of koolaid the owner drinks this and falls in love with the tool and writes testimonials singing it's praises ...For everyone else we realized it's just a mediocre hand tool that costs triple the price

Wellll, Fiskars just arrived today. I tried it out on some pine. Split through it easily. I tried it on some other rounds and wasn't too impressed.

That's the problem with such high expectations, reality sets in. Shoulda, woulda, coulda got a Council Tool maul. Ahhh!!! Of course it could just mean I'm weak, rusty, etc.

The X27 actually bounced off the round a few times. Got the blade to sink into the corners pretty dead but that round refused to give. I will continue to pour out my hate onto it.

 

[svk]

Wellll, Fiskars just arrived today. I tried it out on some pine. Split through it easily. I tried it on some other rounds and wasn't too impressed.

That's the problem with such high expectations, reality sets in. Shoulda, woulda, coulda got a Council Tool maul. Ahhh!!! Of course it could just mean I'm weak, rusty, etc.

The X27 actually bounced off the round a few times. Got the blade to sink into the corners pretty dead but that round refused to give. I will continue to pour out my hate onto it.

There's no silver bullet....split a couple cords with it and see if it grows on you. If not throw it on the sale forum and try something else. Remember a light axe needs speed to be successful.

 

[svk]

Wellll, Fiskars just arrived today. I tried it out on some pine. Split through it easily. I tried it on some other rounds and wasn't too impressed.

That's the problem with such high expectations, reality sets in. Shoulda, woulda, coulda got a Council Tool maul. Ahhh!!! Of course it could just mean I'm weak, rusty, etc.

The X27 actually bounced off the round a few times. Got the blade to sink into the corners pretty dead but that round refused to give. I will continue to pour out my hate onto it.

Can't remember if you've ever mentioned how much splitting you've done in your life. There's different techniques to split tougher wood like working your way around the outside. Trying to whack it in half always won't always work.

 

[Ambull01]

There's no silver bullet....split a couple cords with it and see if it grows on you. If not throw it on the sale forum and try something else. Remember a light axe needs speed to be successful.

Will do. It did go through two pine rounds at once. I used one pine round as a splitting platform and put another on top. Both done one whack, too easy. That other stuff is one tough SOB. I almost got through some larger stuff so I'm hoping this tough crap turns out to be sweet gum or something. I'll have to identify the bark.

Can't remember if you've ever mentioned how much splitting you've done in your life. There's different techniques to split tougher wood like working your way around the outside. Trying to whack it in half always won't always work.

I don't have a whole lot of experience. Used to do it everyday for my grandfather as a teenager before I went into the Marines. Then I used to split as exercise when I boxed.
On the bigger stuff I hit the ends. Used to just hit everything right in the middle but found that led to a lot of stuck mauls and occasional handle on wood hits when it eventually split.

 

[Chris-PA]

I like the 8lb. maul. if it gets stuck I hit it with a 6lb sledge one-handed. Or use an 8lb sledge with different sized wedges. Used to do all my wood manually. Once I got the splitter, the maul and wedges are used to break the wood into manageable pieces for the splitter.

Dual wield mauls - hadn't thought of that!

 

[Ambull01]

Can't remember if you've ever mentioned how much splitting you've done in your life. There's different techniques to split tougher wood like working your way around the outside. Trying to whack it in half always won't always work.

Just tried it on the biggest round. Went through it. Starting to love it already lol. The other rounds are some tough stuff. If I have to use wedges for each piece I'm going to throw it back into the woods.

 

[flotek]

The fiskars is not junk however I found it to be only marginally better than a 16$ Collins axe .. The best axe is the one attached to a ram on a gas powered hydraulic splitter

 

[zogger]

Wellll, Fiskars just arrived today. I tried it out on some pine. Split through it easily. I tried it on some other rounds and wasn't too impressed.

That's the problem with such high expectations, reality sets in. Shoulda, woulda, coulda got a Council Tool maul. Ahhh!!! Of course it could just mean I'm weak, rusty, etc.

The X27 actually bounced off the round a few times. Got the blade to sink into the corners pretty dead but that round refused to give. I will continue to pour out my hate onto it.

I find that is common with some of my wood, fresh cut green and no "checking" or cracks on the end yet. Once it starts cracking, it gets easier. tulip poplar I get is like that, brand new fresh it might just bounce. Freekin rubber wood. Wait a few weeks, splits real easy. I had some pine like that, dang stuff splashed sap, I mean splashed, when green and bounced off! Waited a long time, it split pretty easy. Mostly for the hardwoods around me, sweetgum and elm just suck. I might let them guys sit a full year until they are checked/cracked and the bark is off, then split them. It goes from impossible to doable with some effort and extra strikes. Up in the leveraxe thread is the piece of elm that defied everything, fiskars,husky axe, heavy maul, leveraxe, they all bounced off. Screw it, don't care, wait until next summer, try that elm again.

Nice straight few branches redoak from inside the woods, always splits, green or dry.

Species are different, as are individual trees from the same species.

That's one good thing about being years ahead, you can wait on some of the stuff.

Anyway, have fun with your new toy, split what ya can, move on. Eventually get a variety of edged wood manglers...

 

[lone wolf]

OK, now that I'm done antagonizing the engineers (in all seriousness... I'm not always sure why I do that).

Picking the weight of your splitting ax/maul is a lot like picking the weight of a baseball bat. It's a balance... a balance of weight (momentum), speed (kinetic energy), and accuracy. The likely reason Maris hit the ball farther with the heavier bat was due to impulse time (assuming bat speed was approximately the same)... the heavier bat, with it's greater momentum, stayed in contact with the ball longer, thereby transferring more of its momentum and energy to the ball. The likely reason Maris preferred the lighter bat was due to accuracy... he hit the ball into play more often with the lighter bat.

So (my opinion), as far as weight goes, a person should pick the heaviest ax/maul he can swing, without adversely giving up speed, but not so heavy that accuracy suffers. Just like a bat, a human can only swing an ax/maul so fast... at some point there is diminishing return, lighter won't be faster.

But there's more to it than weight, speed and accuracy... and that's the argument both Chris-PA and Marshy were making with me, it gets real complicated after that (and billiard balls ain't a comparison). The shape and angle(s) of the tool determine how/where/when the "force" is applied, how efficiently the "energy" is used. Even the length, width and height of the tool has to be considered... and the calculations (as though anyone cares) get long and complicated. And then there's the handle... shape, length, material, and whatnot. Your physical build and body strength come into play. I danced around all of that in the argument... on purpose... 'cause I'm an azz when I wanna' be
Hopefully they won't stay mad, or irritated, too long.

I like an 8# maul because I swing it well, Chris-PA likes a 6# maul because he swings it faster than an 8#, Marshy likes a 4½# Fiskars because... well I I'm not sure about that one
Anyway, we can argue about what's best all day long; but the truth is... you'll never know what works best for you until you try different weights and head shapes, in the type wood you split. Just because there's a bunch of Fiskars fans don't make it best for you... it might be... it might not be. Likely you'll find that the "best" thing is to have two, or three different tools... depending on what you're splitting (in truth, most of the guys do).
*

Or you could just say that the 8 ponder is better because you already know this from experience

 

[Ambull01]

I find that is common with some of my wood, fresh cut green and no "checking" or cracks on the end yet. Once it starts cracking, it gets easier. tulip poplar I get is like that, brand new fresh it might just bounce. Freekin rubber wood. Wait a few weeks, splits real easy. I had some pine like that, dang stuff splashed sap, I mean splashed, when green and bounced off! Waited a long time, it split pretty easy. Mostly for the hardwoods around me, sweetgum and elm just suck. I might let them guys sit a full year until they are checked/cracked and the bark is off, then split them. It goes from impossible to doable with some effort and extra strikes. Up in the leveraxe thread is the piece of elm that defied everything, fiskars,husky axe, heavy maul, leveraxe, they all bounced off. Screw it, don't care, wait until next summer, try that elm again.

Nice straight few branches redoak from inside the woods, always splits, green or dry.

Species are different, as are individual trees from the same species.

That's one good thing about being years ahead, you can wait on some of the stuff.

Anyway, have fun with your new toy, split what ya can, move on. Eventually get a variety of edged wood manglers...

Yeah it's freshly cut. I didn't see any cracks on it either. You know what, it may be poplar. I was surprised how light it was considering they recently cut it down. This stuff is for next year or the year after so I have time lol. I'll just do a little at a time everyday. I LOVE splitting logs, almost as great as punching something. Total release of aggression/frustrations. It's also free.

 

[svk]

Just tried it on the biggest round. Went through it. Starting to love it already lol. The other rounds are some tough stuff. If I have to use wedges for each piece I'm going to throw it back into the woods.

There's going to be some wood thatjust doesn't split; elm, etc. Cut it short enough to stick in the fireplace whole.