When we split wood as kids, gravity reversed itself on the downswing so the job was much harder than it is today. And we were grateful.

Exactly. Easy to tell which people have never had to chop firewood for any length of time and would foolishly think that this axe is the greatest and Doug pretty much nailed it.

I feel it is a one trick pony.It is only good for cording wood.An axe can chop wood,pound stakes,scrape hides etc.etc..An axe can be used in most applications a knife does if need be.On the other hand if you have a wood burner at your homestead and had good wood......

BOATMAN
John

We were only allowed 3 wedges, and a log splitter was more expensive to feed than a couple of stupid young stepsons.

Dad would cut those rounds into 6' lengths, then we had to load them into the truck and take them home. He'd cut them down to 2' long rounds, then let us at them. One time my brother slipped in the mud lugging one of those 6 footers and broke his arm. Turned out he had bone cancer and the break revealed the problem. He went through two bone graft operations in the next 5 years to get rid of it. Meanwhile, the wood pile ended up my sole responsibility. While I was glad it wasn't me going under the knife, my brother's absence didn't endear him to me so much.

I think I finally convinced him to leave the damned hemlock alone. In addition to being the hardest to split, it also spit and popped in the fireplace so much it would catch the rug on fire sometimes. By the time he figured out that a wood stove would heat the house better than a plain fireplace, I was old enough that I could go get wood on my own, and I cherry picked every slash pile I came across. I also "acquired" a decent peavey so I didn't have to wrestle muddy logs so much. It was like pulling teeth to get him to let me use the Stihl, though.

An axe is great for trimming and building things. But for making firewood, nothing works as good as a splitting maul and a wood bomb.

I ought to spend some time back in the woodpile again. Back then, I thought it was a real pain. Now, it would be a happy respite from the cold, cruel world.

My Dad was the king of firewood. He easily had 30-40 full cords out back, at all times, dried, cut and split. His splitter (hey, we as 80 and still working) wasn't fast enough. He played with it some and it was super fast. As in - load, fire; load, fire; just that quick.

He heated with wood, in a stove that was old before I left home. The stove is still there.

I do agree with y'all. This ax is a one trick pony. We pass.

We burned wood for many, many years as our primary heat. We had chainsaws but never once had or even saw a hydraulic splitter.