I found after using my chainsaw i needed a good AXe try finding a good one at a fair

[ROUSTABOUT]

Fiskars? You mean hollow handle and plastic strap holding the head on?

 

[DKCDKC]

I do less ax work in my late 70s, but I always picked up axes at auctions. You could find some golden old double-bit axes and some fine splitting and general axes and hatchets for very little. They frequently came without handles, but I've had were of the old school and have given years of service.

 

[jyoutz]

Steve is a great guy i have learned a lot from his videos, but Steve is not a Logger or has worked in the forests or has he spent about all of his life, felling trees and bucking logs as Bucken Billy Ray has.

So if Bucken Billy Ray says he feels the wood grain in the axe handle running across not the best grain pattern, and running in the length is the best grain pattern then, i have to go along with Bucken Billy Ray he's been there and done it.

I’m a forester and work with loggers frequently. I haven’t seen a logger with an axe since mechanical harvesters replaced chainsaw felling about 30 years ago. Loggers used to use axes to clean out the felling wedge, but now mechanical harvesters grip the tree and the hot saw straight cuts the bole. The only place we see chainsaws nowadays is on the landings for knot bumping limbs that escape the delimbers. I would guess that most loggers today couldn’t use an axe any more than they could fell a tree with a crosscut saw.

 

[3Ts]

My experience with HF axes is that the steel heads are soft. That makes them easy to sharpen, can be made really sharp, but won't hold the edge very long. My dad taught me how to select a wooden handle for an axe and how to put a new handle on an axe head. I've given up on the wooden handled axes and hammers of today, their grain patterns do not make for a strong handle so I've gone to the fiberglass handles. I have a double bit axe with a wood handle that I got from my FIL that has a really great shape to the head and holds an edge a long time. I don't use it much as I'm now over 70.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I do less ax work in my late 70s, but I always picked up axes at auctions. You could find some golden old double-bit axes and some fine splitting and general axes and hatchets for very little. They frequently came without handles, but I've had were of the old school and have given years of service.

I'm 52 and I remember my pawpaw got an old like new axe that belonged to my great uncle Casey. He was old and blind when I was a little kid. True temper. Sharp and thin, cut like a dream. Pawpaw is long gone, but I found that axe outside the barn in the dirt. Still kids around there. Handle broke. But I have it now. It's back in good shape.

 

[John_Mc]

I can offer some insight on the Fisker, splitting ax. Don’t waste your money. We bought a Fiskers splitting ax and a Lowe’s brand double bit ax at the same time.

...

Fiskers would not split anything like the Lowe’s double bit did. Took the a Fiskers back the next day.

You didn't say which model of Fiskars you were using. They make a variety of axes, not all of which are intended for splitting, and even within the splitting axes, they make different quality levels and different sizes within those levels. My experience with Fiskars splitting axes has been the exact opposite of yours.

I had a couple of different mauls and an axe, none of which seemed all that great to me. Tried out a Fiskars X25 and a Fiskars X27 at a logging expo and really liked both of them. I ended up buying the shorter X25 (since I would just save anything that was particularly tough for my hydraulic splitter). I have had very good luck with the Fiskars. It's now my preferred tool for hand splitting.

When we do community splitting bees for our firewood donation program, it's also the one people tend to gravitate to from among the 8 or so options we have available for those who want to hand split.

As others have noted here, Ochsenkopf has a top-notch reputation: high quality steel coupled with good designs. At least some of the Stihl axes/hatchets are Ochsenkopf (or at least they used to be. It's been a while since I bought one).

Gransfors Bruk and Garrett Wade are also known for excellent design and quality. I've never had the opportunity to try either, however.

 

[two_bit_score]

The Fisker ax claimed to ”produce more one strike splits.” It would barely produce one split at all. Very disappointing. My son was doing one strike splits all day with the old ax before the handle broke. Not every split was one-strike but the majority were. But not with the Fisker ‘splitting ax” at all.

@John_Mc Im glad you found one you like and I’ll look again at Fisker next time. I’m sure most of their stuff is good.

 

[jyoutz]

The Fisker ax claimed to ”produce more one strike splits.” It would barely produce one split at all. Very disappointing. My son was doing one strike splits all day with the old ax before the handle broke. Not every split was one-strike but the majority were. But not with the Fisker ‘splitting ax” at all.

@John_Mc Im glad you found one you like and I’ll look again at Fisker next time. I’m sure most of their stuff is good.

Splitting wood is best done with a maul, not an axe.

 

[John_Mc]

Splitting wood is best done with a maul, not an axe.

Really a matter of personal preference and what it is you are splitting. If I'm splitting ash or straight-grained Oak, for example, I'll take a good splitting axe all day (dont even bother using a felling axe or a general purpose axe). It's also a matter of technique.

Also, the splitting force generated is proportional to the square of the velocity. It's only linearly proportional to the weight of the splitting tool. Since I can accelerate an axe much more quickly than a heavy maul, I get better results with one. In my younger days, maybe I could deal with the higher weight of a maul and still get good speed. Not much chance I could keep that up for a long session of splitting these days.

I only split about 1 cord a year by hand anyway. The rest gets done on a hydraulic splitter. The gnarly pieces get set aside either for the splitter or burnt whole in the campfire

 

[jyoutz]

Really a matter of personal preference and what it is you are splitting. If I'm splitting ash or straight-grained Oak, for example, I'll take a good splitting axe all day (dont even bother using a felling axe or a general purpose axe). It's also a matter of technique.

Also, the splitting force generated is proportional to the square of the velocity. It's only linearly proportional to the weight of the splitting tool. Since I can accelerate an axe much more quickly than a heavy maul, I get better results with one. In my younger days, maybe I could deal with the higher weight of a maul and still get good speed. Not much chance I could keep that up for a long session of splitting these days.

I only split about 1 cord a year by hand anyway. The rest gets done on a hydraulic splitter. The gnarly pieces get set aside either for the splitter or burnt whole in the campfire

I have never broken the handle or stuck a maul in the wood. I can’t say the same thing for splitting with an axe.