Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Philbert]

From my point of view, fiskars are over rated. . . .when they break, they are throw aways.

Um, no - they have a lifetime guarantee. If you break it they send you a new one. Couple of A.S. members can testify to that.

Philbert

 

[4x4American]

Lifetime guarantee dont mean nothin if the company goes outta business

 

[nomad_archer]

Some back yard firewood tonight. The wife wanted this huge lead removed from an ash in the backyard as it was blocking sun from her mini orchard. I consulted my arborist friend about it and got the all clear to remove the lead. Today I executed and all went as planned and I got it limbed out.
Thing was a decent size tree in its own right.

 

[CTYank]

From my point of view, fiskars are over rated. The bits are soft, and when they break, they are throw aways. Sure you might say well they're cheap enough just buy another, but look at that throughout your lifetime, the price of how many times you're gonna buy a new fiskars vs put a new wood handle on an old bit. There's just something to that for me. Keeping it sharp, and using it throughout your lifetime, and then passing it on. All shiny from being work polished. Plus you can always make a handle from a sapling or a branch if need be. Anyways, that's just me.

You could say the fiskars X-whatevers leave me pretty underwhelmed too, having tried the long-handled one side-by-side with a Mueller 6.6 lb maul. There are small forges in Sweden, Austria, Germany and North Carolina (Council Tools) that have skilled smiths making tools. I'm still listening to hear what folks think of Council's mauls- found out about them a few months back.

Seeing how well the Mueller maul worked, I took a disc-grinder to a few big-box-store cheapie mauls to flatten their cheeks similarly. Well worth the effort- just the metallurgy of some of the cheapies is pretty low-rent.

A year+ back Baileys had a special on Wetterlings 5.5 lb maul. Really nice tool. Next time you're down in Ashokan NY, ask Bob (aka Spike60) to show you the maul that Husqvarna has made for them by Hultafors. Last I saw, priced about same as fiskars biggest. And IMHO, a far superior tool. For one thing, if a company will keep replacing a tool that you keep breaking, they're not doing something right. The best mauls I have deflect the split pieces away from the handle. Over time they just keep getting shinier- don't spit steel chunks.

 

[4x4American]

You could say the fiskars X-whatevers leave me pretty underwhelmed too, having tried the long-handled one side-by-side with a Mueller 6.6 lb maul. There are small forges in Sweden, Austria, Germany and North Carolina (Council Tools) that have skilled smiths making tools. I'm still listening to hear what folks think of Council's mauls- found out about them a few months back.

Seeing how well the Mueller maul worked, I took a disc-grinder to a few big-box-store cheapie mauls to flatten their cheeks similarly. Well worth the effort- just the metallurgy of some of the cheapies is pretty low-rent.

A year+ back Baileys had a special on Wetterlings 5.5 lb maul. Really nice tool. Next time you're down in Ashokan NY, ask Bob (aka Spike60) to show you the maul that Husqvarna has made for them by Hultafors. Last I saw, priced about same as fiskars biggest. And IMHO, a far superior tool. For one thing, if a company will keep replacing a tool that you keep breaking, they're not doing something right. The best mauls I have deflect the split pieces away from the handle. Over time they just keep getting shinier- don't spit steel chunks.

I missed out on the Wetterlings go devils! I actually was down in Ashokan a few weekends ago at Bobs, picked up a 372 xpw and a huskyvarny splitting axe. Very nice piece. Real nice leather sheath too. So far all I have to split is some bear oak, and the splitting axe isn't doing much in that, but this weekend I'll be getting more wood, hopefully something that I can use the spiltting axe on

 

[4x4American]

Even if Fiskars never went outta business, then you still are SOL until the shipping and processing gets did. That could take quite awhile, when with the traditional way, you could repair the tool and put it back to work same day, no telephones, shipping, trucking, headaches involved.

See, I like the traditional methods, those methods are what got us here today.

 

[Philbert]

Lifetime guarantee dont mean nothin if the company goes outta business

Good point.

They were founded in 1649, and have annual sales of approximately $1 billion (US).

Could be a fly-by-night organization.

I like my Fiskars axes and splitters. No tool does everything for everybody though.

Philbert

 

[Philbert]

See, I like the traditional methods, those methods are what got us here today.

Dump your saws and truck. Get an axe and a mule. Oh, and about your computer . . .

Philbert

 

[Dalmatian90]

Even if Fiskars never went outta business, then you still are SOL until the shipping and processing gets did. That could take quite awhile, when with the traditional way, you could repair the tool and put it back to work same day, no telephones, shipping, trucking, headaches involved.

See, I like the traditional methods, those methods are what got us here today.

Take photo. Email Fiskars. Grab one of your other axes and continue working till replacement arrives.

Or go walking through the woods, find a good candidate for a handle, if you have the skills and the wood working tools spend what, an hour, two hours shaping it (probably more since most of us don't have drawer knives or benches set up for this kind of work).

Only place I've found that carries *good* wood handles consistently and with a good selection is an hour drive, one way, from my house. Plenty of other places I could check and spend all afternoon driving from one to another looking for the right style, decent quality, and in stock.

Nothing wrong with traditional methods, but please don't make it out like it is some big time saving convenience for the vast majority of people.

 

[4x4American]

different strokes fer different folks, i reckon

 

[4x4American]

Take photo. Email Fiskars. Grab one of your other axes and continue working till replacement arrives.

Or go walking through the woods, find a good candidate for a handle, if you have the skills and the wood working tools spend what, an hour, two hours shaping it (probably more since most of us don't have drawer knives or benches set up for this kind of work).

Only place I've found that carries *good* wood handles consistently and with a good selection is an hour drive, one way, from my house. Plenty of other places I could check and spend all afternoon driving from one to another looking for the right style, decent quality, and in stock.

Nothing wrong with traditional methods, but please don't make it out like it is some big time saving convenience for the vast majority of people.

not about that, to me its more of a worst case scenario type deal. if i was living out in the bush, I would rather have me the traditional tools, over the modern cornvenience sissy tools

 

[Philbert]

not about that, to me its more of a worst case scenario type deal. if i was living out in the bush, I would rather have me the traditional tools, over the modern cornvenience sissy tools

How would you buck those rounds you planned to split with your traditional maul?

Philbert

 

[audible fart]

Fiskars X27 for the win.

 

[zogger]

Even if Fiskars never went outta business, then you still are SOL until the shipping and processing gets did. That could take quite awhile, when with the traditional way, you could repair the tool and put it back to work same day, no telephones, shipping, trucking, headaches involved.

See, I like the traditional methods, those methods are what got us here today.

I have both old traditional and new modern. Latest was an old traditional husky splitting axe. I gave it close to two cords stock as a tryout, and...man I am glad I switched back to the fiskars orioginal designj 28" supersplitter. Out performs it, three or four to 1 in my hands, and speaking of hands, my hands hurt after 20 minutes with the husky axe, two three hours later I can still feel a tingle, with the fiskars, nada, feel the same after splitting as before. And the husky axe (wetterlings rebadged) cost more.

It is now backup, just in case of the zombie apocalypse and i break the fiskars. And speaking of breaking, the huskly axe is already being worn away under the head, the wood handle part, fiskars, outside of some scuff marks, looks and feels the same as the day I got it, many many cords under it's belt now.

If we have a ww3 or carrington event EMP etc and technological civilization collapses, I have enough "old" stuff to get by..plus hands on experience. In the meantime, I'll take more modern tech most of the time.

Oh, I have one of those fiskars shovels..I seriously doubt I can break it, even if I tried. I have wooden handled shoves, a fiberglass handle one, then the fiskars steel one. Man, not even close which is better.

Fiskars builds *good stuff* for not very much over the cheapest asian or mexican imports.

 

[MustangMike]

Over the last 40+ years of wood splitting I have used numerous mauls and Monster Mauls, but have never used any hand held device better than the Fiskars Splitting Axe. I heated my house with wood for 25 years and only rented a splitter once. Recently I've been splitting several 30" rounds of Chestnut Oak with it, and they usually require just 4 or 5 in line strikes before they pop.

No hand held device will split everything (I had some twisted grain Norway Maple it did not like) but it split Apple over 20" with no problem, and my neighbor was amazed and said he had never seen anything like it (and he grew up in the rural Western part of NY and split a lot of wood).

I also like that it is lighter than most of the other devices I have used in the past, so I can keep going longer. I have not been able to break mine, but if I were worried about the down time from a break, I would just buy another ... and the 2 of them would be about the same weight as a maul.

 

[svk]

An interesting turn in this thread from scrounging to Fiskars bashing....

Although I am somewhat of a traditionalist, I certainly don't mind including a "newfangled" tool such as an X series axe into the mix. If I can hit a round one time and split it rather than 3-5 times with a standard maul and have less fatigue using a Fiskars, then why not do it?

I've heard varying reports for the high end mauls/splitting axes vs Fiskars from marginally better to not as good. I guess I'm not interested in spending my $$ to find out.

For the argument of "Fiskars handle might break and you cant replace it" I'd say that point is pretty moot. You might break one Fiskars in a lifetime. Expected life of a wood handled maul is what, a couple years at most?? And if the stars are stacked against you its possible to break two maul handles in a day.... If you add up all the replacement handles versus buying a Fiskars every several years (IF they didn't honor the warranty), I know where I would be betting my money as the most cost effective product.....

 

[Dalmatian90]

not about that, to me its more of a worst case scenario type deal. if i was living out in the bush, I would rather have me the traditional tools, over the modern cornvenience sissy tools

Most of us are not living out in the bush nor choosing tools to take with us into the bush. You're struggling to disparage a tool by citing a scenario far removed from most people. Especially in a thread about folks using their trucks to scrounge wood they find off their property.

Most of us don't own a crosscut saw or know how to set the teeth on one. If a Fiskars is sissy, can't even imagine what your opinion of chainsaws is.

No problem with traditional tools or those who know how to use them and maintain them. But that's not a reason to criticize a Fiskars axe.

 

[svk]

Good point.

They were founded in 1649, and have annual sales of approximately $1 billion (US).

Could be a fly-by-night organization.

I like my Fiskars axes and splitters. No tool does everything for everybody though.

Philbert

Still chuckling about this one. Way to go Philbert!

 

[CTYank]

Take photo. Email Fiskars. Grab one of your other axes and continue working till replacement arrives.

Or go walking through the woods, find a good candidate for a handle, if you have the skills and the wood working tools spend what, an hour, two hours shaping it (probably more since most of us don't have drawer knives or benches set up for this kind of work).

Only place I've found that carries *good* wood handles consistently and with a good selection is an hour drive, one way, from my house. Plenty of other places I could check and spend all afternoon driving from one to another looking for the right style, decent quality, and in stock.

Nothing wrong with traditional methods, but please don't make it out like it is some big time saving convenience for the vast majority of people.

So far, the best wood handles I've used came as part of Mueller & Wetterlings mauls. Like new after 3 & 1 yrs use, respectively. Part of the reason for the longevity is the shape of the heads, opening the splits to keep them away from the handle. I've never found any plastic tool handle, yet, preferable to hickory.

Fiskars makes big noise about surviving over-strikes with their splitting axes. Only person I've ever seen do that is my #1 son at age 13. Split a hickory handle to kindling in 1/2 day and got it all "out of his system." No biggie to find & fit replacement to that "Bradlees special" maul.

Fiskars may have been around since the flood, but they sure have caught on about modern marketing and package engineering.

 

[nomad_archer]

Good point.

They were founded in 1649, and have annual sales of approximately $1 billion (US).

Could be a fly-by-night organization.

I like my Fiskars axes and splitters. No tool does everything for everybody though.

Philbert

Well I am going to add to that profit. Conveniently work gave me an amazon gift card and after the arborist friend swears by his x15. He says he has done everything imaginable to the fiskars and it has held up. He wont use another ax. So what the heck I have ax x15 and x27 on the way so I hope that over 3/4 of AS isnt making it up on how good these tools are. My ax and splitting maul need replaced anyways. Using a hatchet to drive wedges leaves something to be desired when you need a little extra oomph to drive the wedge in.