Splitting/Chopping Tool Review Thread

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Sir I will take your advise and do the blo soak on all of them. Merry Christmas to all on this forum and thread.

You can soak it, but that gets messy and is wasteful. I like to do three coats of BLO. Apply to wood being generous on the end grain, allow to sit for 20 or so minutes, then wipe off excess and let dry 24 hrs. Repeat this three more times, the third time let dry for 48 hrs. During this process I like to dab some BLO on the end grain of the eye, sometimes 5,6, 7 times. The end grain will quickly absorb the oil so it won't sit on top and get all sticky. Once it does start do that, and just sit atop, then you know it's done drinking it up. The main thing with BLO is if you coat it too thick and let dry, it will get gummy on you because being a drying oil it causes polymerization and can get sticky forming a thick layer of dried oil.

Remember, thin coats, let set 20 minutes, then wipe off excess and let dry. A little extra fine steel wool is your friend for some unwanted buildup in between coats. I'll apply a maintenance coat every month or so until the wood takes up a deep, rich color, then only once per year is required. BLO is the bees knees.

'BLO' = boiled linseed oil?

Philbert

Correct, Boiled Linseed Oil - a tried and true drying oil.
 
Had a little time today before we had to load the car up and leave for stop #1 on the traveling holiday family circus. Found another slightly larger pesky and twisted Catalpa that was showing signs of rot. Maybe 35' tall, about 10" in diameter at it's base. Decided to take it down with my recently restored Hults Bruk 2.25 lb. Catalpa is a hardwood, though not the hardest wood, but it'll do. It performed very well, threw some big chips during the notch and back cut. The weight and length (28" handle) is well suited for swinging in the tangle and slope of the hill. Once it came down the thin keen edge made short work of limbing. After about 20 minutes I realized that I'd broken a sweat and we needed to leave soon, so didn't get to buck the little log, just threw the limbs and branches into a pile. Overall, pretty darn happy with this little axe.

Merry Christmas to all!

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Wondering if I order the axes from Spain if I'll have any import tax or problems with axes with customs.
 
Id like to buy a tool to split 2 foot diameter and bigger rounds (green Oak) in to smaller manageable pieces. I have a craftsman maul now and the thing just bounces out. Ive tried using a pointed wedge and that thing bounces. I would prefer to not noodle the damn rounds as it takes a bunch of time, fuel. I am corn fuzed as to getting a maul or a fiskars 27? I had a 27, 25, and 14 inch hatchet (kindling ) loaded in my online Baileys cart but stopped to ask you folks. am I barking on track or chasing trash?
This is getting kind of old and I didn't read all of the reply's. So if I repeat something, sorry. I've found that when a maul or wedge bounce on Oak you are striking it in the middle of the round. When using a wedge, I don't use them anymore, strike the round with an ax an inch or so from the edge, just to make a mark in it. Rub some dirt in the crack for traction, and then tap your wedge in easy till it grabs. On the Red, White, and Chestnut Oak I have, before I got a Fiskers, I used a box store 4 pound ax and started on the outside of the round, and cut a 3" slab off the side. Just walk around the block cutting off thin slabs. After you get all of the sap wood off the rest should split pretty easy. The sap wood on the outside is the tuffest so you need to break through it first. Hope this helps, Joe.
 
This is sort of a crosspost from another thread I created, but I do have an axe to review that I used, quite extensively today. My Juaregi Basque 2.0 Kg (4.4 lb) Felling axe on a 60cm (~25") haft. This is much shorter than what I'm used to, for felling or cutting the notch I would have preferred something a little longer.

OkmAFem.jpg

5YvzmDH.jpg


For bucking, I found the length to be pretty good. It was strange first, but it quickly grew on me. The really wide cheeks throw some big o'l chips, so on a log this side, about 8-10 wacks will open a notch on one side. The edge geometry is so well and the weight right that the short handle allows me to put some power behind my strikes without having to lift the axe over my head to swing. The bottom of the haft is narrow and thin, because the head is inserted through the bottom and wedged in the conical top, like a mattocks, so it's a little odd and will take some getting used to. I don't like really big, knobby palm swells, but it'd be nice to have something a little more than this. I may make my own handle for it that makes it a bit longer and with more of a palm swell. This handle is Beech.

1XWzj0Z.jpg


For splitting, it can be a little sticky because the edge starts out thin before it fattens up, but with a robust swing with a whip of the wrist pops the wood right open. This was about 6-8" in diameter from top to base, so I have yet to try on anything wider in diameter. So far, I'm impressed.

PluvQB4.jpg


All in all, I really like this axe and see myself going to it as I continue to process trees axe-only in the coming weeks.
 
This is sort of a crosspost from another thread I created, but I do have an axe to review that I used, quite extensively today. My Juaregi Basque 2.0 Kg (4.4 lb) Felling axe on a 60cm (~25") haft. This is much shorter than what I'm used to, for felling or cutting the notch I would have preferred something a little longer.

OkmAFem.jpg

5YvzmDH.jpg


For bucking, I found the length to be pretty good. It was strange first, but it quickly grew on me. The really wide cheeks throw some big o'l chips, so on a log this side, about 8-10 wacks will open a notch on one side. The edge geometry is so well and the weight right that the short handle allows me to put some power behind my strikes without having to lift the axe over my head to swing. The bottom of the haft is narrow and thin, because the head is inserted through the bottom and wedged in the conical top, like a mattocks, so it's a little odd and will take some getting used to. I don't like really big, knobby palm swells, but it'd be nice to have something a little more than this. I may make my own handle for it that makes it a bit longer and with more of a palm swell. This handle is Beech.

1XWzj0Z.jpg


For splitting, it can be a little sticky because the edge starts out thin before it fattens up, but with a robust swing with a whip of the wrist pops the wood right open. This was about 6-8" in diameter from top to base, so I have yet to try on anything wider in diameter. So far, I'm impressed.

PluvQB4.jpg


All in all, I really like this axe and see myself going to it as I continue to process trees axe-only in the coming weeks.
Chopping Ash?
 

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