REALLY liking the new Fiskars 4 lb SS ax

With my old standard ax going on 10 years and a mangled hickory handle, I decided to pick up the Fiskars 28-inch 4 lb splitting ax, and I just knocked off half a cord of black ash/birch.

Much nicer than my old standby. Very light handle, nice sized/weight head, and the wider spread up the sides of the blade really powers the wood apart. It took some getting used to because the handle is so light in proportion to the head, compared with the relatively light head/heavy handle of the old ax. But once used to it, it becomes very easy to accelerate on the downstroke and pop those rounds right apart.

Still got the old 8-lb splitting maul leaning up against the woodpile for those rounds the Fiskars won't quite handle, but so far I've gone through up to 18 inchers, and it's been just fine.

Definitely a great woodpile ax!

got the same thing i think it is fatser than a splitter

wvlogger said:

got the same thing i think it is fatser than a splitter

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I agree, I was splitting 20" oak rounds with my SS and I was able to split them down faster than my splitter.

wvlogger said:

got the same thing i think it is faster than a splitter

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Thats what I said more than 2 years ago, when I made this video....
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I just received mine today. I hoped it might be a "Magic Bullet" to help me with some 25 to 30" diameter oak I've been fighting. I can get them under the splitter pretty easily for the first cut, but turning them to get succeeding cuts is a problem. After reading the rave reviews on the Super Splitting Ax I ordered one, hoping a single mighty blow would finish the split started by my hydraulic splitter.

I was expecting too much. It is a good tool alright, and I'm glad I got it, but it wont do the job by itself. Stihl have to noodle the billet a bit to get it apart.

I have a good combination though. Kubota 3130 FEL plus Hydraulic splitter plus 460 plus Fiskars, I can handle just about anything short of a mature Redwood.

AKKAMAAN said:

Thats what I said more than 2 years ago, when I made this video...

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Wish I had seen it two years ago. I am trying to make up for lost time with my super splitter. This is a great site.

biggenius29 said:

I agree, I was splitting 20" oak rounds with my SS and I was able to split them down faster than my splitter.

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How long are your billets? I'm splitting 22" long by 25 to 30" diameter. Very green, very wet, close growth (very hard and stringy); I'm still Very Glad to have the 28 ton hydraulics.

Again, though, not taking anything away from the SS. Its a good tool. Just got to be realistic, it has its limitations.

I just bought one last Thursday after having a chance to try one out last year. It makes splitting so much easier it almost seems like cheating... (almost). I tried ordering it off of Baileys, but they were on backorder, so I went to Menards to pick one up, and it wouldn't ring up. So the manager comes over and says he was going to go back and grab another, and I tell him it was the last one (it was). So he says well, just ring it up as so and so and take $10 bucks off! $29.99 - you can't beat that!

After extensive use of a wide array of different style and weight tools from old axes up to the 16lb superwedges, this one is by far the best and I can't give it a high enough recommendation, especially for the price. My only gripe would be the short handle. I'm a taller guy and that would fit me better, but you can't have everything I guess.

I recently got hold of one and I do like it for smaller stuff.

The mid sized to larger stuff still gets the old 8 lb treatment though:


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after using the fiskars then trying to go back an 8lb maul for a few pieces yesterday, i realized just how good the fiskars is.
if the head was shaped better on the 8lb maul it might work much better, but the design of the fiskars is great, the only complaints i have is that maybe they make the handle 6" longer and add another pound of weight to the head, then i dont think you could get any better.
the main difference is the 8lb maul, even with a nice edge on it, still bounces off some of the rounds, just bounces right back, the fiskars ALWAYS penetrates and forms a crack, big or small, it does it everytime, the old design of my 8lb maul bounces off the wood alot, a lot of wasted energy, i was doin some 20" cherry and locust yesterday, and except for some real knotted pieces, the fiskars made short work of all of them, id have to say i could definitely outsplit a hydraulic splitter for at least an hour, maybe 2, as long as there wernt a lot of knotted pieces. im goin to start splitting all the straight pieces with the fiskars and save the knotted pieces for the machine or lots of customers like to buy unsplit wood from me, the ones i know have hydraulic splitters get the knotted pieces