Fiskars Axe is junk!!!!!

[cheeves]

What are you guys splitting with this axe, balsa wood? I got the 36in s.s. and gave a 20in green maple round a try. What a joke, the axe is junk as far as i am concerned, the thing has no weight at all to it to get any power on the downswing. really pissed just wasted my time and money, hope home depot takes it back. I am 6' 2" 195 by the way.

I'm 6' 2" too and It's way too light for me also. I like my old 7lb. Stanley.

 

[sunfish]

There is a learning curve with everything.

My BNL uses a double bit axe and is more efficient than most anybody using a maul.

For the last 10 years, I used a 5 lb thing that looks like a cross between an axe and maul. Works great for me.

 

[RVALUE]

There is a learning curve with everything.

My BNL uses a double bit axe and is more efficient than most anybody using a maul.

For the last 10 years, I used a 5 lb thing that looks like a cross between an axe and maul. Works great for me.

Not a fair comparison. You're splitting hairs.

 

[bower4311]

My brother and I are 19 and 18, never really split with a maul. We bought an X25 and an X27 and split close to 20 face cord of our total wood. We have probably 65 to 70 laying now. We throw the tough stuff for the hydraulic splitter, but my dad is in control of when it goes on the tractor so we use the Fiskars to split when we want. We love them. I love the X25 (i'm 5'9") my brother loves the X27 (6' tall). It does terrible horrible things to small ash and cherry. Between us two and our other two younger brothers, we can do 2 on the hydraulic and 1 with an axe with a setter/thrower and we can split wood very fast. We love our Fiskars, we even split some big logs with them. If I'm alone I'll split huge maple in half to load them on the truck alone. I'm ready to go down the next size axe for kindling in the house and any other small stuff. Lifetime Warranty says as long as we don't lose them we don't have much to worry about.

 

[HEAVY FUEL]

I'm 6' 2" too and It's way too light for me also. I like my old 7lb. Stanley.

My kid is 6'2" 240 and still prefers the short handle supersplitter over the longer handled ones.


<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OkTKqLJtXzs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Philbert]

Not a fair comparison. You're splitting hairs.

Nope. He said his Brother-In-Law; he's splitting heirs!

Philbert

 

[HEAVY FUEL]

Lifetime Warranty says as long as we don't lose them we don't have much to worry about.

Correct. My kid also used it for a throwing axe and they will break if they hit handle first. Sent it back to fiskars and in a week had a new one at my door. I didnt expect it cuz that was a misuse of the product.

Excellent products, excellent service.

 

[greendohn]

hardly ever split by hand,,my pal, who i cut some honey locust with, can split that stuff faster with his Fiskars, than I can split, using a 6lb. maul..I was amazed..and he rarely bends over to pick his rounds up as he uses his Fiskars ax. He sinks the ax into the end and, using the ax, he can pack the wood around like they have a handle,,he does this with very little, if any, hassles..

 

[OH_Varmntr]

I'd say after doing it day after day, growing up driving a lot of wood post with a post maul, I'd prolly be able to swing the 8 pounder just about as fast as the X-27, my size don't hurt any either, pretty good sized ole boy, I'm not saying the Fiskars is a bad tool at all it just another tool in the box. In smaller wood the guys will grab the X-27 in a heartbeat, really big rounds the 8lbs mauls. This year in really nice straight grained wood we are hand splitting more and more, we think it's faster than using our hydraulic splitters, any tough wood goes on the splitters though. I do like the fact I'll never have to buy a handle for the X-27, I keep two or three extra hickory handles behind the seat at all times for the 8 lbs mauls. We'll bust four or five handles every year it seems.

You're much stronger than I.

I know what you mean about hand splitting. When it comes to splitting wood, I just go at it with my Fiskars and maul (when I need it) and everything I can't whack with it goes in the hyd splitter pile.

The splitter pile takes a while to grow, so it doesn't get used near as much now.

 

[leadarrows]

I got one this year and I like it. The light handle seems to help me with my accuracy. I can strike the wood exactly where I want too with my Fiskars and I can't say the same for my old wood handled ax. My 21 year old son makes quick work of rounds with it working in like I read recommended here. I am a little slower...lol. I would recommend the product with no hesitation.

 

[sunfish]

Not a fair comparison. You're splitting hairs.

:matrix: opcorn:

 

[Chris-PA]

There are so many variable and it's far from an ideal situation as would be modeled in a textbook. There's the characteristics of the wood, whether it's hard or soft or stringy or not, etc. In splitting the wood you're trying to accomplish several things, in varying amounts depending on the characteristics of the wood. First, you need to crack the wood fibers, and second you want to separate the two halves. If the wood is stringy, you may need a long cutting action after the hit (momentum is a help there), but if it's hard it may just break and fall apart.

In the end though, the key thing that is happening is transferring of energy from your muscles to the tool, and from the tool into the round. The tools have an edge to concentrate the energy along a line, causing a fracture under that edge. And it's more effective to make the tool move at a higher velocity than it is to use a heavier tool. Once you have the wood fractured, then you need to get it to propagate all the way through, and sometimes to make the halves separate to finish breaking the fibers.

On the human side of the handle you've got all the variabilities of how muscles work, and I understand that there are different processes associated with slow, heavy power than for quick movements. On the wood side, there are optimum face angles, and I've certainly found this is not constant for all wood.

In the end it's a complex problem, and the solution is at best a compromise determined more by trial and error than theory. What works best will vary a bit from person to person and among different species of wood. For me, I can split a lot more wood a lot faster using a lighter, sharper axe than I can a heavy maul. For maximum energy transfer you want to swing the heaviest tool you can still swing fast without wiping yourself out. Something around 4-1/2lbs, with a face angle steeper than a standard axe but still quite sharp works best for me. But then you don't always need maximum output either.

 

[bert0168]

Add one more to the Fiskars Fan Club.

'Santa' brought me my SS 36" :msp_thumbup: and after using it today, I don't think I'll need to run the hydro splitter unless I get into some gnarly crotches I can't split. It only refused two center crotches today and that was after I was able to reduce them from the outside in y about 75%.

 

[memory]

Welcome to the club and enjoy your new gift.

 

[cford]

Got me a new x27 for christmas ... after the morning mayhem died down and I had my nap ... I wandered back to my current round pile. A nice 2c/35f day .. I thought I would go back for 10 minutes and see what it would do. The last few years I have been borrowng by bil's wallenstein axe once I got 3-4 bush cords in rounds. As I have been cutting fencelines soft maple, poplar, ash ... and playing with the maul is not that much fun. This years windstorms knocked down some red oak and big ash in the woods. It split really well .... never stuck it once though sometimes had to hit the same spot a couple times on the crotches to get it to split.

The long and short of it, is I ended outside for 90 minutes .. without gloves and the biggest complaint is that now I spend more time stacking than splitting. I need to get a helper.

 

[AIM]

My son in law BORROWED my super to try about 2 YEARS AGO! Evidently he likes it.

I am not a big lover of them but as many have said before. They have their place.
The smaller pro split is a great tool while cutting for driving wedges, cutting vines, etc.

 

[Philbert]

'Santa' brought me my SS 36".

Got me a new x27 for christmas ...

Did Santa just bring these, or did you guys have to 'axe' for them?

(Probably made the tree pretty nervous).

Philbert

 

[stoolie10]

X27 Fiskars

My fiskars x27 is my first choice when splitting my firewood. Obviously not always the first choice when dealing with hard knotty wood. If a 6-8lb maul would do the job better, use it instead. I think common sense plays a big part when selecting the proper tool for the job.

 

[PEKS]

My son is 35 years younger and 35lbs heavier than me..
Strong kid..
It took him many swings with the X27 to get a good crack in the rounds, while I had no probs..
Now that his technique has improved, the results are much better..
Not every tool is meant for everyone, I find the X27 to be a good performer on the wood I have used it on, still keepin my Heavy Hitter Mauls..

 

[SawTroll]

I think they are a little over hyped. They are for sure tough and indestructable. But I can't help believe in basic physics, swing a bigger hammer at the same speed more kinetic energy. The shape of the head helps the Fiskars a little, look at the head of the Stihl splitting axe, my dealer said Fiskars makes both the Stihl Splitting axe and splitting maul, the axe head is pretty similar to the fiskars.
I think they have there place but dang sure aren't a magic wand. We use our 8 lbs old mauls just as much as the Fiskars.

Not anything magic, but the head of the Fiskars surely has a better shaped head than all the mauls I have seen.