Double bit axe for firewood

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Trx250r180

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Who uses one and what weight handle size and brand are you using ? Looking at a Council Velvicut ,just wondering what other options there are for new ?
 
I highly recommend against it. I have several doubles, and I used to throw them, many years ago. You have to be way more careful swinging a double over your head. The back side of the blade sticks out a couple inches farther than the poll, or back side, of a single. That means it's a couple inches closer to your back. Back when I was throwing, I threw an ax, and as I was bringing it over my shoulder I heard a loud rip. I had let the blade get close enough to my back that it hooked my flannel shirt and sliced it in half like a razor blade. If it had been a quarter of an inch closer when I started my throw, I would have cut myself in half. I start my swing with my left hand on the butt of the ax and my right hand almost against the eye. The head of the ax is just over my shoulder. When I start to lift it and slide my hands together, the ax head is moving very fast. If it hooks a body part, it ain't stoppin, Joe.
 
Let me clarify, it sliced through my shirt at the top of my right shoulder, not way down the middle of my back, Joe.
I'm also wondering if they are any good for splitting, or just the cool axe to collect at the moment.
I say it's the cool factor. You can only split with one side at a time. What is the purpose? Rotate it every other stroke so it stays sharp longer? How many axes do you have now? If you over shoot a block and snap the head off, you still need a back up. I've split with most of my doubles and really like a good 4-4 1/2 pound single better. Plus, if I stick the ax in a block, I pick the whole thing up and swing it down on another block to blast it apart. You can't do that with a double. That, of course is if the block is small enough to pick up, not a 200# round, Joe.
 
My grandpa had a friend who tore up his back on a freak accident so we do not use them either. I do have one from my grandpa that I rehung a couple of years ago.
 
I think it depends on the wppd and your technique. Bucking Bilky Ray splits with a doubke bit all the time. I don't think I could split my hardwoods very well with one though.

Billy lives just north of me ,we have the same firewood to pick from ,i have a double bit that works ok ,just want a heavier one ,i like the balance the double bit has also . I can see the danger on the back ,but for my firewood do not need to swing that far strait up then down.
 
I wish I remembered who made it but I had a real nice, large DBA that I sold in a rummage sale several years ago as I wasn't into axes then. Definitely was 4-5 lbs plus head.
 
If you do the twist method , twisting the handle at the time of impact a double bit ax makes that easier. As they tend to have a neutral ballance.
I don't split that way as it puts too much strain and torque on my wrists. And they ain't what they used to be.
I also use the ( stick lift flip smash) method . I got an X27 and it works much better than I would have thot it would.
If I could only have 1 ax or maul in the whole wide world. It would be a 5 lb Collins or other brand Rafting Ax.
And , of course that's the one They quit making. But , I have a few heads stashed away. Nothing else works as well for several different tasks.
I think that if a guy Had to use a double bit ax for splitting. An old west coast falling ax would be about the best head geometry and weight that a guy could come up with.
 
All we had growing up was a double bit axe. I got to use it spliting cook wood till I got big enough to swing it. Dad kept one edge sharp enough to shave with, used it to limb and chop with. The other edge was used on roots and for splitting. I knew to never hit the dirt with the sharp side, would get me a good scolding.
 
Most of wood I cut is either oak or maple. Splitting with an axe, you are spending more time removing axe from wood. 10-15 pound dull maul works better for me.
 
Yeah, not exactly sure but don't think it would work in a good portion of our hardwoods in the east. Maybe of straight grain ash and red oak but idk...
I've tried using a regular axe for splitting, and no it doesn't work at all in eastern hardwoods. Well some of the straight grain easy splitting wood like Ash, walnut and a few others it would, but even then a maul is nicer to work with. The stuff Billy splits looks straight and the way it moves around you can tell it weighs nothing and has no density. They just have different species of wood in the north west.

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I've tried using a regular axe for splitting, and no it doesn't work at all in eastern hardwoods. Well some of the straight grain easy splitting wood like Ash, walnut and a few others it would, but even then a maul is nicer to work with. The stuff Billy splits looks straight and the way it moves around you can tell it weighs nothing and has no density. They just have different species of wood in the north west.

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Agree.
 
I've tried using a regular axe for splitting, and no it doesn't work at all in eastern hardwoods. Well some of the straight grain easy splitting wood like Ash, walnut and a few others it would, but even then a maul is nicer to work with. The stuff Billy splits looks straight and the way it moves around you can tell it weighs nothing and has no density. They just have different species of wood in the north west.

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Since I'll burn any kind of free wood I completely agree. Yes all my ash trees are dieing but if it's dead I cut it down. Some wood the fiskars flies through others it sticks in. I have a beater ax for exactially that, beating it with the sledge. Sometimes the maul splits like a dream other times it bounces off. Then there's the wedge for those large rounds that the maul bounces off.
 
Since I'll burn any kind of free wood I completely agree. Yes all my ash trees are dieing but if it's dead I cut it down. Some wood the fiskars flies through others it sticks in. I have a beater ax for exactially that, beating it with the sledge. Sometimes the maul splits like a dream other times it bounces off. Then there's the wedge for those large rounds that the maul bounces off.
I only refuse to burn a couple types of trees. White pine, Basswood comes to mind.
 
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