Fiskars Axe is junk!!!!!

[zogger]

I just now walked in from a short Fiskars session, four large rounds, four good wheelbarrows full (which works out to four days wood for me sometime in the future).

OK, here goes, I am getting good at this I can condense it and hit the important parts

It is not a maul, don't swing it like a maul, or think of it like a maul, it ain't, it won't work that way

It works by SPEED not brute force..it WILL take your muscles awhile to get over the muscle memory of swinging a heavy maul and get into the real fast swing necessary for it to work well

On rounds that require more than a few splits to get them to size, work your way around the round, shave off the bark and a little wood first.

Wood that sucks, just sucks. You run into that with anything, monster maul, axe, regular maul, even hydraulic.

For me, I prefer splitting after the rounds have sat and are developing good cracks. That's me, I just don't like doing green wood, and it doesn't freeze hard enough here to do the "frozen solid it blows apart" trick. I mean I like that frozen wood splitting, but I live in jawjah now, not left moose testicle maine..sorta different here...

You stand with legs spread and bring it up over your head, and then straight down-FAST- not sideways like a maul. No speed, no accuracy, no split. Aww shoot..driving a golf ball. You got to get that good before it works well.

It takes some time to get fair to good with it, I am merely in the good range now, not great, but it is by far and away out performing my regular maul and sledge and wedge. I got "fair" with it almost immediately though, because I used to split a ton of my wood with an axe, not a maul, so it came back to me how it is different.

If you get into good wood, you can fly, if it is gnarly twisty string but pops *some* you can hold it apart and shave the strings off. Just be careful

I split on a low block with a tire once the round will fit, for safety sake. I adjust it so the height results in the axe head just coming in perfectly straight and the handle is parallel with the ground when the head hits my target area on the round, that or a little lower, some guys like way low, and it can help to be lower than that, whatever is the most comfortable for you.

Rock maple is named that for a reason....it should split pretty good once it has the least bit of cracking to it, done a lot before with just a regular old plain vanilla axe. I mean, I get some rounds that suck, when I *know* they should split well, they feel like rubber hitting 'em when first cut and you try to split them. Swell, I let them sit in the pile for awhile, they start cracking, whomp whomp whomp they come apart easy then. I get that all the time. I don't care, go cut some more then, something. They all get split eventually and I always have a pile to play with here, works out OK.

Emphasize, start from the outside and work your way in on big ones, just be real careful of over swing and blow out when you do that. Them suckahs is sharp little guys, tell ya whut, no need to give the doctor store any of your loot....

Good luck, give it some time, don't get mad, go back to your maul for awhile, just experiment around with it. No diff from any other tool, like I doubt most guys here first time they picked up a dremel turned them into master saw builders...

Merry Christmas man, you'll get it, find you some lighter dry pine or ash or something to practice on. Once you get used to it it will get loads easier.

 

[trailmaker]

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 wouldn't return it just yet Good Wood. As people have pointed out, the Fiskars relies on head speed to get the job done. Your technique may need to be adjusted for the new lighter axe. Of course it's possible that your technique is fine but the Fiskars just isn't working for you for whatever reason.

 

[Dalmatian90]

my dealer said Fiskars makes both the Stihl Splitting axe and splitting maul, the axe head is pretty similar to the fiskars.

Dealer's wrong. The Stihl mauls are made by Iltis Ox, a German firm.

Red Maple, when it grows with it's feet "wet", is the worst wood I regularly split when green. It helps to wait to a nice 20º day when they're frozen solid.

The Red Maple that grows on top of the hill with "dry" feet splits nicely.

Learned early on if the Fiskars, using the overhead technique, didn't split it easily neither would my maul.

Crotches and the base pieces from Red Oak I usually just noodle then Fiskarize and move on.

 

[indiansprings]

Thanks for the correction, it makes more sense with Stihl having a German company make them.

 

[OH_Varmntr]

But I can't help believe in basic physics, swing a bigger hammer at the same speed more kinetic energy.

That's why the Fiskars work so well. Good luck swinging that 8# bad boy as fast as you can the Fiskars. :msp_thumbup:

Or can you?

 

[howellhandmade]

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.

Trying to remember the formula for kinetic energy -- I think it's half the mass times velocity squared. So, you need a greater increase in mass than you do in speed to get the same increase in energy. Dealing with a more or less constant power source like a human, in order to increase speed you need to decrease weight. BUT, if you can increase speed enough you can still come out ahead with the decreased weight. That's the Fiskars trick, and it works. Plus the head design is nearly surgical. Some guys would rather increase the mass that greater amount (monster maul), but I like the Fiskars way better.

Two things, though. First, I don't like the X27 as much as the old Super Splitter, and it's the Super Splitter that made the legend. If they'd started out with the X27 I don't think everybody would have raved. The head shape on the X27 is different, with a longer edge, lighter head, and less flare to the cheeks than the SS. It's more like an axe than the SS. The SS is more compact and a better wedge, hits with more pop. I think the shorter handle makes for a snappier and faster swing, too. I think Fiskars made the X27 because people who are used to a long maul kept asking for it, but it's not an SS. Does the X27 gain speed with its longer handle? Maybe for some. For most, I think it's a wash due to the longer, loopier, maul-like swing it encourages, and the lighter head (which I would guess is meant to increase speed) takes it out of the SS butter zone where mass and velocity are optimized for the human power source.

Second, maple can be really miserable to split by hand. It's wet, it's mushy, it doesn't have much grain, and if a round is big enough and you tackle it down the middle you can bury a wedge, let alone a Fiskars, without splitting it. Better to slab off the sides like mentioned already, or let the rounds dry a bit and tighten up. But my experience has been that if a SS won't get it done a maul won't either, so I reach for the wedge. For which I DO need the maul.

 

[memory]

I just recently bought a Fiskars x27 and I love it. Everybody keeps saying the Fiskars does not replace a maul. IMO, it does. I split some stuff with the Fiskars that the 8lb maul would not touch. Even the stuff that the Fiskars had no problem with, just a couple of hits, an 8lb maul could not begin to split it. I am sure if I swung it several more times, it would have split but why work harder than you have to. I will not swing an 8lb maul again unless I need to hit wedges. If the Fiskars will not split it, it goes directly to the hydraulic splitter or it gets noodled. I wish they had this out along time ago.

Also, everybody keeps saying don't swing it like a maul. I don't know what they mean but I swing my Fiskars the exact same way as I did my 8lb maul.

 

[MacLaren]

Both of mine are the old style. I like them a lot.

 

[OH_Varmntr]

Also, everybody keeps saying don't swing it like a maul. I don't know what they mean but I swing my Fiskars the exact same way as I did my 8lb maul.

I swing my Fiskars a bit differently just because I am able to muster up enough energy to really drive her home. My 8# maul doesn't get the same energy behind it because I'm too much of a sissy. :hmm3grin2orange:

As far a replacing my maul, there's times when I need my maul. If I can put 3 or 4 really good hits in on a round, to the point where the head enters the round a good inch and a half and does nothing (you can see penetration depth marks on the head) I'll go for the extra umph of the 8#'er.

That will usually get me a good crack going, where I pick the X27 back up and finish her off.

 

[logbutcher]

As with any tool or weapon it takes time for Mr. User to get it.
Yup, fresh cut wet Red Maple is a bitc& to split, as some other heliotropic woods ( grows somewhat following the sun: no straight grain such as oaks or ashes ). I fell, buck, trailer, and store until 1/2 dry in spring to split.

One tip I got from here long ago. It will protect your delicate shins from the sharp bite of the Fiskars 'axe'.
Screw a tire ( 15"-18") onto a large DBH stump just about knee high. Logs inside the secured tire will not drop, the tire will protect you from a miss ( you will ), and absorb the force of the axe or maul. Big time and injury saver.

PM me for the bill.:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[indiansprings]

That's why the Fiskars work so well. Good luck swinging that 8# bad boy as fast as you can the Fiskars. :msp_thumbup:

Or can you?

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.

 

[VTWoodchuck]

View attachment 213201
Split this tree with just my fiskars.

 

[StubornDutchman]

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 felt the same way when I first got my X27 a couple months ago. I watched a couple of videos and modified my swing. I've been practicing on some fresh cut ash and am just now starting to get the hang of it. I'm glad I got it, now. Consider giving it more of a chance.

 

[Iron Head]

Fiskar aren't junk but they aren't the ultimate wood splitter either.
I use my Fiskars as well as my Big Ox and my wedges. They all work great as a team.

 

[howellhandmade]

I felt the same way when I first got my X27 a couple months ago. I watched a couple of videos and modified my swing. I've been practicing on some fresh cut ash and am just now starting to get the hang of it. I'm glad I got it, now. Consider giving it more of a chance.

Or trying different wood. Yesterday a tree crew dropped two trees across the street and asked if I wanted the wood. Big red oak, slightly smaller maple. The trunk rounds of both trees were too big to move and it was nearly dark by the time I got to them so I didn't want to fire up a saw but I didn't want to wake up and have them gone, so I got busy trying to bust them up. Clear oak rounds, 24"-plus, I halved and quartered with the Fiskars SS. Took a few hits on some of them, and I tried a 6# maul too, but if I put three or four hits in the same spot with the Fiskars a crack started and it was quick from there. Slightly knotty pieces, I used the wedge and maul. Maple, though, even clear rounds took the wedge to split. Very spongy by comparison, just soaked up the impact and stuck either the Fiskars or the maul. Knotty maple I had to leave for the morning and the saw.

Now, there have always been guys who just didn't get on with the Fiskars and you might be one of them, but it's not junk.

 

[unclemoustache]

I agree with the OP. I've never gotten the Fiskars to work, especially on square drive and hex shank screws. Much slower than your traditional screwdriver. :msp_mad:

 

[fields_mj]

For one thing, everyone here seems to be fascinated over the fancy formula for KE. Problem is that KE is not the governing principle over impacts and collisions. Momentum is, and momentum is just mass X velocity. Now that's for an ideally "perfect" collision where nothing changes shape (think billiard balls on the table). That isn't what we are dealing with, so it's a bit of a mix between KE and momentum. So it's just like the others have been saying. Some times a piece of wood is best split with an 8lb maul, and other times an axe will do just fine.

I have an X27, and I love it to death. It's far better than the splitting axes that I've used in the past. For me it pretty much eliminates the nitch for a 6 lb maul. I had a 48" white oak trunk that I bucked up this summer (late June) into 23" long rounds, and after noodling it into 8" wide sections, I used a 6lb maul, an 8lb maul, and my X27 to split the 8"x24" slabs into 8x8 pcs. The 6lb maul, and the X27 did about the same with a very slight advantage going to the 6lb maul. Depending on the grain, sometimes I could get them to split, and sometimes I couldn't. The 8lb maul did a little better, but not much. The tree had been dropped the previous winter, and was still pretty green. I split two of the rounds that day into firewood, and about half of that I couldn't even get teh 8lb maul to bust it and had to noodle it. I came back a month later, to work on it some more (mid Aug), and by that time the rounds had dried enough that I was no longer getting a face full of sap every time I hit it. Once I noodled the rounds into 8" slabs, everything could be split with the X27. I hated to leave it there that long because it's near the main lane, and I figured someone would come along and take advantage of the work that was already done. Thankfully, nobody was willing to work that hard

On the other hand, I can split stuff with my X27 that my regular axe wouldn't even touch. I can tell a slight difference between swinging a 3.5# head vs the 4.5# Fiskars, but the extra work is very minimal. However, I can tell a huge difference between using that X27 and a 6 lb maul for a few hours. I can't run a maul all day any more, but the X27 ain't bad at all.

I swing my X27 just like I do any other axe, and it works great. I don't swing an axe and a maul the same way, but I also don't use the over head swing that others seem to like. I've got my own swing that I've used for over 25 years now, and it works really well for me. Its similar to the swing that I use with a maul, but the timing of the hands is a lot different allowing me to snap my wrist at the end to pick up a lot of speed.

I do hear a lot of folks on here talking about slabing off pieces of a big round. I don't care to do that. I've noticed that a lot of folks burn what I would call kindling. I have an indoor wood furnace, and I don't like feeding it anything under 4", and I really prefer to stay between 6" and 8". I also cut my firewood 24" long. It fits my fire box just right for those cold winter nights. A little room left on each end. I also cut them in half to burn when the weather is more mild. I started doing that this year and it has worked out nice for me allowing me to use the wood furnace up to about 50 deg instead of having to let the Nat Gas kick in. Still, when I split it, it's 24" long and that tends to make it a little harder to split. On big rounds, I will go through the center (or near it) just like with a maul. Having said that, when I was a young teen with more energy than brains, and old guy taught me how to read the grain on the wood so that I could find places to hit it and split it easier. He was in his 80's at the time, and he could out split me and his grandson (4 years older than me) put together, and it wasn't because he was fast. He just worked smarter. I use this technique to try to find a place that I can halve the round, and from there it's pretty easy to split. I also rarely split anything when it's still green. If I can get it in the truck safely, then I don't split it. When I get it home, it gets unloaded in a pile. I'll come back later and split and stack it. By then it has started to check (crack) some, which gives me more weaknesses to attack. Having said that, I Prefer to cut when it's well below freezing, and on those days, it all gets split right there on the spot. That frozen stuff splits like candy

At the end of the day, if I give a round 3 or 4 well placed hits and it doesn't split, then I'll tip it over against another split and noodle it with ol' Bertha. I'll go a few more hits on a bigger round (+20"), but I won't give my X27 any more chances than I would give a 6lb maul. The Fiskars splitting axes are no super sledge, and they're not supposed to be. They're supposed to be an excellent splitting axe, and they are. Those 8 and 15lb mauls have their place too, but for me I'd rather run my 064 than swing those things. I'm just not as young as I used to be

 

[Streblerm]

Green soft maple or other soft wood is not where the Fiskars shines. I have buried the head of my fiskars in some green silver maple or pine. It seems like the soft wood just absorbs the impact. After it freezes or dries for a bit it is a whole different story.

You will get the best results if you swing the fiskars more like a baseball bat or a golf club rather than a traditional roundhouse maul swing. I bring the fiskars straight down and then snap my wrists and bend slightly at the knees and waist just before impact.

Ever try to ring the bell with a mallet at the fair? You can use all your strength and you won't get it. Snap your wrists right before impact and ding ding ding.

 

[Whitespider]

...everyone here seems to be fascinated over the fancy formula for KE. Problem is that KE is not the governing principle over impacts and collisions. Momentum is...

Now that there is the smartest reply in this thread yet. Momentum is what keeps the head moving through the wood, not kinetic energy. Momentum is one-dimensional... the amount of force in the direction of movement only. Kinetic energy is multi-dimensional... the force imparted in all directions (so kinetic energy includes momentum force). When talking about splitting with an ax or maul it is not possible to have one without the other... which is good because you need both to "split" wood. You need momentum to keep the head moving through the wood on contact, and you need some of the kinetic energy to be stolen from momentum and used to force the wood apart.

Momentum = weight x speed; so if you double either one, you double momentum. The problem with using the human being as the power source, doubling weight will slow the speed some (but not near by half). So a larger, stronger man may get more momentum from an 8 lb maul, while a smaller, weaker man may get more from a 6 lb maul (but still less than the 8 lb).

Kinetic energy = weight x o.5 x speed x speed; so if you double the weight, you double kinetic energy, but if you double speed you quadruple kinetic energy. Once again, using the human being as the power source, speed can only be increased by reducing the weight. And, once again, a larger, stronger man may get more kinetic energy from an 4 lb ax, while a smaller, weaker man may get more from a 3 lb ax (but still less than the 4 lb).

Let's take two extreme examples of a 6 lb "splitting" tool; one is very long and thin (like i knife blade) and the other is short and shaped in a wide, steep "V"... both are the same weight moving at the same human powered speed, so momentum and kinetic energy are identical. Striking the round with the thin tool results in it being buried deep in the wood, but it won't split because near all of the kinetic energy was used for momentum force. Striking the round with the wide, steep "V" shaped tool results in shallow crack and the tool bounces off because not enough of the kinetic energy was used for momentum force. In fact, a big portion of the kinetic energy was reversed to "bounce" the tool.

You can't really compare kinetic energy to momentum in a "one verses another" way because momentum is part of, or a percentage of, the kinetic energy. When it comes to "splitting" wood, kinetic energy is worthless without a certain amount of it being used for momentum. To say that one relies on kinetic energy and the other relies on momentum to get the job done is ridiculous. The heads of splitting tools are designed to change the percentage used for momentum as it travels deeper into the wood... flaring wider as the need for momentum reduces. A splitting ax (such as the Fiskars) is designed for use on smaller and/or easier splitting wood where large mounts of momentum are not needed... yes, you can swing it harder/faster to gain more momentum, but a large part of the energy you expend is wasted, evidenced by the splits flying violently to the side (i.e. more sideways force than needed was stolen from the momentum). A maul and a splitting ax are two entirely different tools, designed to be used under entirely different sets of circumstances. One does not replace the other... nor are they intended too.

 

[c5rulz]

The heads of splitting tools are designed to change the percentage used for momentum as it travels deeper into the wood... flaring wider as the need for momentum reduces. A splitting ax (such as the Fiskars) is designed for use on smaller and/or easier splitting wood where large mounts of momentum are not needed... yes, you can swing it harder/faster to gain more momentum, but a large part of the energy you expend is wasted, evidenced by the splits flying violently to the side (i.e. more sideways force than needed was stolen from the momentum). A maul and a splitting ax are two entirely different tools, designed to be used under entirely different sets of circumstances. One does not replace the other... nor are they intended too.

I agree,

I believe the success of the Fiskars splitting ax is the design of the flare of the head. It is very sharp, but flares at an increasing rate. Once the head penetrates so far, more energy is diverted to splitting rather than penetrating. Fiskars has figured this concept out and explains why it works better than most mauls and axes.