finally bit the bullet and ordered an X27

[stihly dan]

The excersize is still there, You just don't have to bend over a million times. Plus the tire absorbes the beating of the axe, so now vibes up the handle.

 

[zogger]

The excersize is still there, You just don't have to bend over a million times. Plus the tire absorbes the beating of the axe, so now vibes up the handle.

All of that and it helps to eliminate the possibility of a wild overswing and de-footing yourself. Fiskars are no joke freaking sharp!

 

[stihly dan]

Gone thru a few cords with the fiskers now. I do like it. I find it splits almost as good as the maul. I can split for a lot longer without getting worn out. The metal they use for the head blows. The edge looks like a hand saw now and I did not hit anything but the wood on a round in a tire. At this rate if I sharpen every couple of cord it will be 2 inches long. No wonder walmart carries them, probably made in china now like everything else these days.

 

[zogger]

Gone thru a few cords with the fiskers now. I do like it. I find it splits almost as good as the maul. I can split for a lot longer without getting worn out. The metal they use for the head blows. The edge looks like a hand saw now and I did not hit anything but the wood on a round in a tire. At this rate if I sharpen every couple of cord it will be 2 inches long. No wonder walmart carries them, probably made in china now like everything else these days.

Man, weird. I have way more than that done with mine and the edge is still nice. The teflon coating is worn off, but the edge is fine. I hit mine a few licks with a sharpener around every five rounds or so, only takes like 10 to 20 seconds. I can tell immediately if it lost the edge, so I stop and touch it up again. I mean, I can feel it, if I have to swing harder to split something that I was just splitting a similar piece, I know it got too dull to be effective. The advantage of the fiskars is the wedge shaped design, the sharp edge, and being light, so you can swing fast. Fast is WAY more important than a "hard" swing. Swinging hard is for dull mauls.

As far as I know, they are still made in Finland. Maybe you got a bad one, you know, stuff happens, send it back to them, they have a lifetime guarantee I believe.

I split in a tire as well, but also up on a clean block, and I broom the block off between rounds, or if it is running clean, when I sharpen it. The edges on those things are just too fine for whacking even small pieces of dirt, they will go dull then.

Thinking about it, those chopping blocks..that's about what I use the maul for any more. Once they get too dirt embedded, I pull a fresh clean one out of the rounds pile and bust that old one up for the stack.

Fiskars is exactly like sawchains, yep, you can throw a larger saw with more power and really lean on a dull chain, and still cut wood..but a smaller saw with a real sharp chain will cut the same wood faster and easier.

 

[Jakers]

well it showed up today. kinda a funny story to go with it too. i figured id check my email and see if i had a tracking number for it yet and i did so i went to the ups website, punched it in, and the ups truck showed up.... strange

so far i like it alot. i wouldnt say it splits better for me but it does make things alot easier on me. the edge is razor sharp. i split for about 30min before i got lazy and decided to watch NCIS on cbs.com but ill give it a work out tomorrow after work im thinkin. thats if im not too tired from busting my hump to get a truck put back together that i have in a few hundred pieces rite now.

ed: i should say that it splits as good for me as my maul does and im sure that my technique needs to be honed with the lighter head and longer handle

 

[branchbuzzer]

Man, weird. I have way more than that done with mine and the edge is still nice. The teflon coating is worn off, but the edge is fine. I hit mine a few licks with a sharpener around every five rounds or so, only takes like 10 to 20 seconds. I can tell immediately if it lost the edge, so I stop and touch it up again. I mean, I can feel it, if I have to swing harder to split something that I was just splitting a similar piece, I know it got too dull to be effective. The advantage of the fiskars is the wedge shaped design, the sharp edge, and being light, so you can swing fast. Fast is WAY more important than a "hard" swing. Swinging hard is for dull mauls.

Dang, that seems like a lot of sharpening. Every 5? I've just been doing mine after each session, or if I really rock it bad. Usually doing about 2 cords in one go. I haven't really noticed a dramatic drop off at the end of a session, but I'm sure there's some.

I actually like it more on the big rounds than the small stuff, because that's where the ease of doing several strikes in succession really pays off. It needs to be at least somewhat straight grain to do that, but I usually don't get too much stringy stuff.

I still haven't adapted to using a block, but I'm a lot better now at knowing where it will end up so as to avoid turfing it. I still flip most of the small rounds onto the pile with my feet and hit at odd angles so as to avoid handling the rounds so much. I think if I was doing smaller amounts I'd feel different about it, but setting up 2 or 3 cords on a raised block wears on my back too much. I can usually work it so it will hit another split, or sometimes I can use a golf swing on a flat laying small round. On bigger stuff that is straight grained, I can usually just let the initial impact slow it enough to prevent it going through into the ground and still get a clean split.

It's only weakness is it's tendency to stick in stringy or knotty stuff, but I'd still rather hit those few pieces a couple extra times with the Fisk than switch out to a 6 lb. The extra swings are no big deal when they are that easy. So I likewise have never really missed the 6 that I used for years and hundreds of cords. I still don't think the actual splitting ability between the two is dramatically different, but the effort level sure is and that is very important doing large quantities. Your endurance ends up being your power in that situation.

 

[Whitespider]

I received my X27 as a gift on January 9 (my birthday), I took the protective cover off it that day to have a look... and then put the cover back on. That's the only time the cover has been off it... haven't even swung the thing once yet. I've got a pile of Ash out'n the wood lot cut back in December or January (don't remember for sure which), might have to give it a try-out one of these days.

 

[bcorradi]

I bought my wife and son an x25 and bought myself an x27 last fall. We ended up splitting a little over 13 cords with them and they work as well as advertised imo. I split about 3 to 4 cords of silver maple, oak, and ash with them too.

 

[RedShift42]

With regards to the steel quality, I've heard numerous compliments *and* complaints in various discussions. It makes me wonder if Fiskars doesn't always use the same steel.
My SS's edge scarcely ever needs attention-- I think I dressed it once in this most recent cord, and that was mainly out of a sense of superstitious obligation. This axe has been used appropriately, but certainly not babied, and I'm constantly surprised by the knife-sharp edge it somehow retains.

It's worth noting that the edge was once damaged (by a house guest who was chopping sticks on my gravel driveway when I wasn't home-- long :censored: story...) to the point of having a chipped "saw edge." I was so disgusted I wanted to toss the whole thing out and just get a new one.
After fuming for several days I cleaned it up with an angle grinder/flapper wheel and finished the edge w/ Fiskar's axe & knife Blade Sharpener and it's been back to its old self. That was 2 cords ago and no chips since. Glad I kept my trusty old SS, there's nothing wrong w/ this one's steel.

The rare times I do sharpen my SS, this is the sharpener. Cheap, quick, foolproof.

 

[zogger]

I'm a bonehead

With regards to the steel quality, I've heard numerous compliments *and* complaints in various discussions. It makes me wonder if Fiskars doesn't always use the same steel.
My SS's edge scarcely ever needs attention-- I think I dressed it once in this most recent cord, and that was mainly out of a sense of superstitious obligation. This axe has been used appropriately, but certainly not babied, and I'm constantly surprised by the knife-sharp edge it somehow retains.

It's worth noting that the edge was once damaged (by a house guest who was chopping sticks on my gravel driveway when I wasn't home-- long :censored: story...) to the point of having a chipped "saw edge." I was so disgusted I wanted to toss the whole thing out and just get a new one.
After fuming for several days I cleaned it up with an angle grinder/flapper wheel and finished the edge w/ Fiskar's axe & knife Blade Sharpener and it's been back to its old self. That was 2 cords ago and no chips since. Glad I kept my trusty old SS, there's nothing wrong w/ this one's steel.

The rare times I do sharpen my SS, this is the sharpener. Cheap, quick, foolproof.

I admit it in advance, I have to be king of the 'tards or something. I have one of those fiskars sharpeners and I simply cannot use it to make anything sharp. I've looked at videos, looked at the tool itself, tried every possible way to sharpen knife or axe. Nothing. Just dug it out of the drawer and tried it again. Nothing. I see almost zero difference in any edge I ever tried with it.

So I give up, how the heck do you use the thing? The stone grinders/wheels/rollers..well, they roll. There's no friction anywhere on any edge I have. You need friction from the harder surface to make the softer surface give it up and get sharper. That's the entire theory of sharpening in a nutshell. There's no friction with this, it rolls! If anything, it has dulled things I have put in there somewhat.. You can bias it off to the side of the rollers, holding it parallel to the slot opening, so the stones impact both sides..and it just rolls. I've tried drawing it just one way..nope...back and forth...nope. Pushing down real hard, softly, and in the middle..nope. Changing the angle from straight to biased one way or the other..nada.

Until I learn to use it, see a video of someone taking something dull (I want to see a closeup of this edge both time, before and after) and going to sharp in a "few strokes" like most of the amazon reviews say...I can't use the thing. Nine out of ten people love it, but I see one out of ten are like me, can't get the thing to work. (I just read every single review on amazon..again!) What freeking gives, this is bugging me. Must be something so absurdly obvious that I can't see the forest for the trees. I don't care how embarrassing this is, much as I have been a huge fiskars fanboi around here, but this thing..WTF???

 

[branchbuzzer]

So I give up, how the heck do you use the thing?

Glad I'm not the only one, but I admit I'm pretty much a dunce at sharpening knives and axe heads. I'm game for knowledge though.

I do see a small difference in the edge after using it, but it's nothing dramatic. I usually use a flat file to get it reasonably sharp, then just use the sharpener a small amount.

I set the sharpener on the floor, then set the head in and push it back and forth, letting the weight of the head lay on it. So I push the tool instead of drawing the sharpener across and back. It also doesn't seem to do much of anything to the corners, which is what normally needs it the most for me.

 

[zogger]

Glad I'm not the only one, but I admit I'm pretty much a dunce at sharpening knives and axe heads. I'm game for knowledge though.

I do see a small difference in the edge after using it, but it's nothing dramatic. I usually use a flat file to get it reasonably sharp, then just use the sharpener a small amount.

I set the sharpener on the floor, then set the head in and push it back and forth, letting the weight of the head lay on it. So I push the tool instead of drawing the sharpener across and back. It also doesn't seem to do much of anything to the corners, which is what normally needs it the most for me.

I have numerous other ways to sharpen knives and my axes, including various gadget sharpeners, one of which I use all the time, works easy, a simple V with hard tool steel..but this Fiskars sharpener has me puzzled. Now, I could see it working if you could lock the stones when in use, then rotate them as they got worn, but free wheeling like they are...I slap ain't getting it.