Best Budget Axe for Splitting??????

[kamikaze]

have been looking around at Lowes and Home Depot..... and was wondering which was the best bang for the buck? also which type of handle wood, fiberglass, steel w/18" neoprene style wrap
Thanks in advance

 

[Chris-PA]

The heaviest axe you can buy there are 3-1/2lb. I do use a 3-1/2, but find it's not heavy enough for a lot of stuff. The only place I found you can buy a 4-1/2lb axe off the shelf is Harbor Fright. I bought one and like it, but it is a narrow, sharp profile axe and sometimes gets stuck in certain wood. The handle is working loose, (about 1/8") but it's still holding.

 

[Streblerm]

Do you really want an axe? Of course there are hybrid designs but most axes are designed to chop (crosscut) wood. If you want to split wood then you probably want a maul. A maul is more like a splitting wedge on a stick. Just like chainsaws, I find that one maul is never enough. Some work better with certain types of wood than others.

If I was only going to have one it would be the Fiskars Bailey's - Fiskars X25 Super Splitting Axe with 28" Handle or it's 36" handled brother. It is sort of a hybrid axe/maul. It may not be what you would consider "budget" at around $50 but it is a fantastic tool, just do a search for it on this site.

For about half the money you can get a more traditional maul in 6 or 8# varieties. Until I got the Fiskars that was my tool of choice. IMO the Fiskars is more than twice the tool. Maul - Harbor Freight Tools

If you really want an axe then I can't help you. I do own a couple but I find them marginally useful for splitting.

 

[abureels4me]

I don't think I have ever bought a new axe, maul or wedge. I get them on the cheap from flea markets and garage sales. I use a Craftsman maul with fiberglass handle($7 at sale) for splitting and if that don't get'er done a wedge and a 12lb sledge does. I like those wedges that look like a big plumb bob. The only thing I even use an axe for is chopping suckers off the bottoms of trees and busting up kindling. For that I have a little 2lb hatchet on a longer "boys" axe handle.

 

[Officer's Match]

Order an X27 and be done with it. Seriously.

 

[zogger]

I don't think I have ever bought a new axe, maul or wedge. I get them on the cheap from flea markets and garage sales. I use a Craftsman maul with fiberglass handle($7 at sale) for splitting and if that don't get'er done a wedge and a 12lb sledge does. I like those wedges that look like a big plumb bob. The only thing I even use an axe for is chopping suckers off the bottoms of trees and busting up kindling. For that I have a little 2lb hatchet on a longer "boys" axe handle.

Might be some time then, only buying used at the flea market and so on, before you get to use a fiskars one afternoon. They are a pretty serious technological leap over traditional heavy mauls and ye old sledge and wedge, for most wood. Once you get the technique down and get used to it...man. I still have my heavy maul, but really don't have to touch it very often.

There are numerous threads on the firewood forum about them.

 

[jropo]

If you get a Fiskars you might want to concider some chaps and good boots until you either get used to it or dull it. They are REALLY sharp and if your like me ,when bored like too sharpin your ax, one miss your going to the E.R.

This is what happined when mine "Touched" my shin while moving wood w/ one hand and hanging on to the X-27 w/ the other wearing thin pants. .5'' hole.

View attachment 214924


But it will do this to Dead Elm as well!!!!!!!

View attachment 214925

This something that I have not even bothered to try to do since I was a boy on a camping trip going out to the woods w/ the DULL camp ax to get firewood witch took me all day to chop thru a rotten 6'' log.
I'm a out of shape HEAVY smoker and was able to chop thru this log in a impressive time.
This ax makes me want a cross cut saw!

 

[flyboy553]

I have a Masterforce 4.5 lb splitting maul. I got it at Menards for about 30 bucks. I don't use it often because I have a splitter. The maul has wings built in to the sides of the maul. When you split a piece, the parts fly apart. Works well.

When I was looking for this maul, only place I found it was Menards. Lowes, Home Depot, etc. didn't stock it.

Ted

 

[watsonr]

GET A FISKERS!!!!
I threw out all the other junk after I purchased one. Get a super splitter, split any tree....including 5' diameter oak with it.

 

[Whiskers]

I used to split with a 6 lb maul that I've had for a long time until 6 days ago when I got a Fiskars X27. It was $50, and the best investment I've made in wood cutting in a long time. The 36" handle took a bit to get used to as it was significantly longer than what I had been using, but once I got in the groove it was awesome.

 

[SteveH]

I've got a couple double-bit axes that I find a real pleasure to use for splitting. I have some half dozen different mauls that I've bought or been given. They are all "budget" and, really, they all work about the same though some are heavier and needed for the tougher jobs. Couple have fiberglass handles and the rest are all wood. I prefer the wood for some reason, just feels better to me.

But then a couple yr. ago I got a Fiskars from Bailey's and after a few months of using a variety of my mauls and axes, I find that nowadays I use the Fiskars all the time, only grabbing a double-bit axe on rare occasions because I see it there and feel like using it...to me there's a pleasant balance to a double-bit and I enjoy swinging them into the wood. I swing it a few times into a round or two, then I go back to the Fiskars.

Someone mentioned how sharp they are. I noticed this immediately and you gotta be careful, even more so than with a different brand/style. Hitting your leg or foot with a maul is not gonna be real fun. But you hit yourself with a Fiskars and you're gonna have some real problems.

 

[madhatte]

Go to an antique store and find an old Plumb or Kelly. Re-handle it, sharpen it, and use it for the rest of your life. Look for one with sharply tapering cheeks to avoid pinching, and not too much mushrooming on the poll. Should be $20-$40 for the axe, $10 for the handle. Take the time to learn how to hang an axe. It's worth it. Store-bought will never be good enough again.

 

[kamikaze]

Go to an antique store and find an old Plumb or Kelly.

I don't know if I have a store around here that would have something like that....
thanks for all the input everyone has given thus far

 

[bower4311]

Buy a Fiskars X27 or X25, if you're taller go with the X27, I prefer the X25 my brother prefers the X27 and he's taller. We have both and can split a lot of wood with them. Then get a couple wedges and a sledge hammer if you need every piece split. Some big ones won't split with the Fiskars.

 

[zogger]

I don't know if I have a store around here that would have something like that....
thanks for all the input everyone has given thus far

I strongly recommend splitting inside a tire if you get a fiskars. Like is stated above, one over swing or whatever, you can get hurt, as in no joke hurt. The tire keeps rounds from falling off your splitting block, plus checks overswing.

Like I mentioned before, check out the threads on the firewood forum, plenty of reviews there, plus advice on how to use one, as they are not a maul and should be swung differently. Not all positive reviews, but most guys have found they work well for them in most wood.

 

[ancy]

Best one I have found.

View attachment 214933

 

[parrisw]

Problem solved! LOL

 

[jropo]

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH Whats the fun in that!!!!

Thats what we aught to do a Fiskars vs. Log Splitter Race!!!!:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Officer's Match]

As long as we are talking consumer grade hydraulic, the Fiskars will walk it no trouble.

 

[jropo]

As long as we are talking consumer grade hydraulic, the Fiskars will walk it no trouble.

Might need a noodle saw idleing near by but ya I think it could be done.