Fiskars Super splitting axe review

[Brushwacker]

I am a fan of the SS axe. My technique to keep the axe from my feet and shins is to take a wider stance and bend my knees when the axe comes down to the wood's level. This puts a lot of power behind the swing so you have to exert less effort with your arms and shoulders. It also lowers the center of the axes path which makes it less likely to rotate into the foot/shin area. There have been several excellent suggestions too.

If there was one with the longer handle and maybe an extra half pound or so I'd be in line to get one.

yip, a wider stance and swing it inbetween the feet feels good and safer to me. Mine has split very well through some tough wood but I had of couple very tough blocks I started swinging harder on and had the fiskers bounce back and com fairly close to my forehead a couple times. A hard hat or better not swing it near full strength in knotty or tough wood.

 

[MotorSeven]

AKK, you were dead on with the "method". No bungees though.................

RD

 

[Northland]

I cut down a number of maples and a few birch trees around the house this morning. After lunch I ended up splitting every tree with my new Fiskars Super Splitting Axe.

The axe is amazing testament to some thought and engineering being put into an old tool. I found although it weighs much less then my 6 and 8 lb mauls it splits wood way easier and more effectively. I split for three to four hours until I got tired. Note the picture shows 20" pieces of fresh 12"+ around maple that split with nominal effort.

As an added bonus the sharpness and design of the axe head makes it versatile for separating pieces, sideways, of mostly split wood that are held together by wood fibre strands. You can't do that with an old style maul.

Best $50 I have ever spent! I think it will save me, for now, from buying a $1000 wood splitter that would run off my tractor hydraulics.

Thanks Peter and Akkamaan for showing me the light!

 

[AKKAMAAN]

I cut down a number of maples and a few birch trees around the house this morning. After lunch I ended up splitting every tree with my new Fiskars Super Splitting Axe.

The axe is amazing testament to some thought and engineering being put into an old tool. I found although it weighs much less then my 6 and 8 lb mauls it splits wood way easier and more effectively. I split for three to four hours until I got tired. Note the picture shows 20" pieces of fresh 12"+ around maple that split with nominal effort.

As an added bonus the sharpness and design of the axe head makes it versatile for separating pieces, sideways, of mostly split wood that are held together by wood fibre strands. You can't do that with an old style maul.

Best $50 I have ever spent! I think it will save me, for now, from buying a $1000 wood splitter that would run off my tractor hydraulics.

Thanks Peter and Akkamaan for showing me the light!

It is for feedback like this I spend my hours at this forum....Thanks
for all credit...

I wish I had commision from Fiskars

I can see your Finnish flag brother.....Be proud!!

I'm a pure bread Swede....Fins and Swedes allways had a great rivalry in both sports, especially hockey and industry....Sweden used to be big brother to Finland......today the Fins have bought a lot of the major Swedish steel manufacturing.....and I believe Finland is one of, if not the best, steel manufacturing nation in the world, AND they usually beat Sweden in hockey...:angry2:

Keep swing'n your Fiskars...

"aw come on"

 

[blis]

It is for feedback like this I spend my hours at this forum....Thanks
for all credit...

I wish I had commision from Fiskars

I can see your Finnish flag brother.....Be proud!!

I'm a pure bread Swede....Fins and Swedes allways had a great rivalry in both sports, especially hockey and industry....Sweden used to be big brother to Finland......today the Fins have bought a lot of the major Swedish steel manufacturing.....and I believe Finland is one of, if not the best, steel manufacturing nation in the world, AND they usually beat Sweden in hockey...:angry2:

Keep swing'n your Fiskars...

"aw come on"

I'm still bitter about swedes winning us on hockey -97 or was it -95...

 

[Northland]

It is for feedback like this I spend my hours at this forum....Thanks
for all credit...

I wish I had commision from Fiskars

I can see your Finnish flag brother.....Be proud!!

I'm a pure bread Swede....Fins and Swedes allways had a great rivalry in both sports, especially hockey and industry....Sweden used to be big brother to Finland......today the Fins have bought a lot of the major Swedish steel manufacturing.....and I believe Finland is one of, if not the best, steel manufacturing nation in the world, AND they usually beat Sweden in hockey...:angry2:

Keep swing'n your Fiskars...

"aw come on"

Your welcome Akkamaan. It's great to be able learn so much from forums like this.

Since you are a Swede I am glad I put my beloved Husqvarna 365 into the photo. That Swedish made product just keeps churning through the maple of my property.

 

[AKKAMAAN]

AKK, you were dead on with the "method". No bungees though.................

RD

Thanks a lot M7!!

 

[nocdpc]

How does one recommend sharpening the Old Fiskars 7854 SS?

 

[Northland]

with one of these

http://www.fiskars.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10101&categoryId=10277&productId=10535&page=products

I use it on my Fiskars brush axe, 14" hatchet and now my Super Splitter axe

 

[rick2752]

im probably screwin myself here, you guys will buy them all up, but ebay has the super splitters again supposedly. I just bought one but I may not get it as I left negative feedback last time because they waited a week to tell me they were out of stock. Last time I bought it they had eight left same as today. we'll just have to wait and see.....

 

[willsaw4beer]

I'm starting to like my pro splitting axe more the more I use it. You have to get to understand how it works best for it to really shine.

 

[gruff4531]

Finally got to try mine out

This past weekend. I purchased one from Menards a couple weeks ago, and I really like it. I was splitting hackberry really easy and it was a lot nicer to swing than the 8ld or the 16ld. Like many have said before me I thought it would be to short but after a couple hours of use you really get acclimated to it. I really like the weight because it means one less tool I take with me to the tree by replacing the axe and maul combo.

 

[nocdpc]

with one of these

http://www.fiskars.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10101&categoryId=10277&productId=10535&page=products

I use it on my Fiskars brush axe, 14" hatchet and now my Super Splitter axe

I have a small knick in the blade that I am almost positive this thing will not be able to sharpen out. What other devices are out there? I have a grinding wheel still in the box how about one of those? I just have to set it up.

 

[AKKAMAAN]

I have a small knick in the blade that I am almost positive this thing will not be able to sharpen out. What other devices are out there? I have a grinding wheel still in the box how about one of those? I just have to set it up.

NEVER EVER use a high speed grinding tool on an axe edge. You have to use cold processing on an axe. The heat from grinding will screw up the steel. As soon as the steel get that blue-ish colour from heat, you will have carbon loss from the steel.

If you have some knicks on the edge, tighten the axe into a wise and use a flat file, start with a course if needed, then a fine....The best is to use a Slow Speed Wet Sharpener ... Hone with a dry or wet stone to finish...

I've seen high speed grinding tools used with water cooling (saw chain sharpener), that worked out ok, but it is a mess with water flying around, and unsafe if you use electric grinder...

 

[Dalmatian90]

I use one of my grandfather's whetstones. It's actually kind of relaxing to do in the evening watching TV

Google it, there's some youtube videos that show the technique, basically you're just pretending to take a super thin slice off the stone.

=========
Grandpa* started off as a woodsmen in Finland, emmigrated to Minnesota. Story goes he was too darn handsome and got all the new ladies in the town they were in, so his buddies hatched a plan to reduce competetion. Got him completely plastered one night, having previously bought two train tickets, including one for a friend who already wanted to move to New York. Grandpa woke up, asked "Where am I?" Traveling companion looked out the train window, "Pennsylvania."

That's how he ended up in NYC building piers and other carpentry work. Then my grannie (also from Finland) had relatives in this part of Connecticut and once they had kids she wanted to leave the city and buy a farm. Her father is buried in Worcester, MA -- he died in the U.S. while on a business trip for the family tanning factory. My grannie fled Finland just before the Russian Revolution, she had the equivelant of a Junior College education which was quite an achievement for a woman in Czarist Russia and one of the things that always grated on her was the diploma was seized along with other papers by border guards when she was leaving. But at least she got out, one of her traveling companions was taken off the ship and back to the mainland.

So the sharpening stone I use on my Fiskars was also used by someone who grew up in Finland

(* Papu & Mumu would be my half-sister's grandparents...also from Finland)

 

[blis]

NEVER EVER use a high speed grinding tool on an axe edge. You have to use cold processing on an axe. The heat from grinding will screw up the steel. As soon as the steel get that blue-ish colour from heat, you will have carbon loss from the steel.

If you have some knicks on the edge, tighten the axe into a wise and use a flat file, start with a course if needed, then a fine....The best is to use a Slow Speed Wet Sharpener ... Hone with a dry or wet stone to finish...

I've seen high speed grinding tools used with water cooling (saw chain sharpener), that worked out ok, but it is a mess with water flying around, and unsafe if you use electric grinder...

Actually, carbon loss wont occur until steel reaches temperatures high as 760'c, but otherwise you're right. Using grinder etc.. to sharpen axe will mess up the tempering in axes head which will lead to soft spot in the blade which is no good...

wet stone is the best way to sharpen anything that has blade if you want it really sharp (heck, i could shave my beard with axe after grinding it). If you dont have the tools flat file is good for cleaning out the nicks as mentioned or small hand held whetstone will do, just takes some time...

 

[muncybob]

Our local Sears store also has this axe for $39.99. You can go on line and sign up for their mailing list...they will then provide you with a $5 off $50 coupon...plan to use that to pick up the axe and the sharpener along with something else(qt of oil maybe) to push it over $50 total.

 

[rick2752]

Bob make sure you check that closely, my sears only carries the pro axe which only has a 2lb head not the 4 1/2 like the super.

 

[AKKAMAAN]

Actually, carbon loss wont occur until steel reaches temperatures high as 760'c, but otherwise you're right.

I have my own hands on experience on that......
You are right about temperature, but the outer, very thin, edge (less than 1/16" wide zone) will go RED in a few seconds if high speed grinding...carbon was "flaking" off the edge

 

[Dakotas Dad]

Ok, so been splitting firewood since I was about 10, didn't split much while I was in the army for 20 years, but some. Retired and built our house 12 years ago, house was built with a standard contractors fireplace, we figured once we used up the wood from the few trees knocked down in construction, we would change to gas logs... never happened. each spring we would have a tree or two come down and so I would split it and stack it, and we would have some wood for the winter to burn and enjoy.. no heat, just ambiance. So this year, after the ice storm we decided as much wood as we had down, we might as well put in an actual wood stove and get some benefit from the fire.. been splitting what I could when I could, spring weather and bad joints and such, swinging the 'ol 8lb maul dutifully.. been reading on some forums about this Fiskars splitting axe... ordered on the e-bay Monday, arrived to day..

started bucking this little cherry Monday.. and went out today, even though it has rained for the last 36 hours, just to give the new axe a quick try...

Pretty impressed. In my case I would say it turned a "strength" exercise into an "aerobic" exercise. How so you ask? Well, I am swinging twice as often as with the old heavy maul, and have to throw/pile lumber twice as often per minute. I have been tired from splitting before, but never "winded", until this afternoon. Dang, son. Gonna have to try the bungie or tire trick, to cut down on the retrieving step some...


Decent bit of wood down here in the main trunk..

General size of the rounds..

Two went into the woods.. only one returned..lol