Sierra99
ArboristSite Lurker
You guys are a skeptical bunch. It aint cheap, but it's cool! No sucker or easy sell here, just a blacksmith who admires a cool hammer and wants to give it a go. My wood pile is mostly Sierra conifers that are well behaved. I like how this axe doesn't bury itself in the split like a maul, the top flange stopping the fall, so it doesn't fly through an easy split and dull itself on the dirty splitting block. It's unconventional, sure, but I like how the downward energy transitions to a lateral prying action. I think it'll do great on my wood. My collection of mauls and wedges will still get used in the dry elm, oak or pinon that I sometimes find. Of course, hardwoods split easier when green, but wood here in the dry west doesn't stay green for long so when I find it it's usually already dry and tough to split.
I watched the video's at the vipukirve website over the Christmas break. A loosened grip at the strike is needed. Some beginners (in the videos) seem to fight the rotating action. I loosen my grip at impact with my 6 and 8 lb mauls just to ease the shock, like you do when blacksmithing with a 3 lb hammer, so I think it'll work for me.
I've been considering getting a fast splitter, like a Super-Split; it's spendy, but 100% made in the USA (except for the engine), which I support. The leveraxe is 1/10 the cost of a SS. It isn't cheap, but small lot custom steel casting is expensive, unless the plant has no environmental regs and dirt cheap labor as in India or China.
Fiskars makes their axes in China now, I think; they are well made, like Chinese made Gerber knives (Fiskars owns them too), but that's how they can sell it in the US at such a low price. I've got an old Portland USA Gerber knife about 30 years ago, for about the same price as the new ones made in China today; 30 yrs of inflation about equals the cost savings of off shore production. If they were still made in the US, it would cost 3 to 4 times as much. I've got an old 1927 Little Giant power hammer; you can get cast steel replacement parts for it, made in USA; they aren't cheap, and the guy making them is just making a living, not getting rich. I've got a cast steel Nimba anvil made in Tacoma, WA; it wasn't cheap either. Labor costs, payroll taxes, and (usually) excessive government regs, environmental compliance, etc. is what makes USA stuff pricy, same goes for Finland I guess.
I watched the video's at the vipukirve website over the Christmas break. A loosened grip at the strike is needed. Some beginners (in the videos) seem to fight the rotating action. I loosen my grip at impact with my 6 and 8 lb mauls just to ease the shock, like you do when blacksmithing with a 3 lb hammer, so I think it'll work for me.
I've been considering getting a fast splitter, like a Super-Split; it's spendy, but 100% made in the USA (except for the engine), which I support. The leveraxe is 1/10 the cost of a SS. It isn't cheap, but small lot custom steel casting is expensive, unless the plant has no environmental regs and dirt cheap labor as in India or China.
Fiskars makes their axes in China now, I think; they are well made, like Chinese made Gerber knives (Fiskars owns them too), but that's how they can sell it in the US at such a low price. I've got an old Portland USA Gerber knife about 30 years ago, for about the same price as the new ones made in China today; 30 yrs of inflation about equals the cost savings of off shore production. If they were still made in the US, it would cost 3 to 4 times as much. I've got an old 1927 Little Giant power hammer; you can get cast steel replacement parts for it, made in USA; they aren't cheap, and the guy making them is just making a living, not getting rich. I've got a cast steel Nimba anvil made in Tacoma, WA; it wasn't cheap either. Labor costs, payroll taxes, and (usually) excessive government regs, environmental compliance, etc. is what makes USA stuff pricy, same goes for Finland I guess.
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