At Home In The Woods

[motownbrowne]

That's a technique, though not a tool, that I use every time I split wood. I use a gransfors bruks splitting maul, which I LOVE, I learned about "splitting with a twist" from peter video, a renowned scythe advocate from Canada. He's right about it being easy to do with any axe or a sharp maul that will penetrate a round. I use the technique in conjunction with a bungee cord around the round. First I stand up the round, put the bungee around it, then spilt the sides off all the way around. Then I split the sides into small pieces (our evaporator likes small wood). I use the twist method to split the sides which are on the opposite side from where I'm standing because it protects the handle. All I do is hold the bit at a slight angle while still swinging straight down. The weight of the head levers the pieces apart. Takes some getting used to, but it's a great tool to have. The bungee method holds all the pieces together, and really makes the task a joy.


Axe Connected: Wood Splitting with the Twist

 

[Bill 55]

I know what you mean about not having to cut standing trees, We have about 75 wooded acres, and the past couple of years storms have uprooted or broken off more trees than I will be able to burn in my lifetime. I heated with wood for many years but with free gas I don't think I will be heating anything with wood unless I can get rich and build a shop/garage/meatcutting room.
Bill

 

[Scooter78]

I know what you mean about not having to cut standing trees, We have about 75 wooded acres, and the past couple of years storms have uprooted or broken off more trees than I will be able to burn in my lifetime. I heated with wood for many years but with free gas I don't think I will be heating anything with wood unless I can get rich and build a shop/garage/meatcutting room. Bill

How do we got some of that free gas!

 

[PhysAssist]

The vipukirve axes seem to be very expensive, and I would worry about it torquing my wrists, if I held onto it to firmly, something I would have a hard time letting go of, given extensive past use of regular axes...

That axe is crazy!

 

[PhysAssist]

Beans!?!

How do we got some of that free gas!

 

[Bill 55]

My inlaws left us 140 acres that had two gas wells on it. When they passed and we sold the house, barns and about 40 acres we kept the mineral rights and the free gas that went with it. Royalty wise we made $119 in the past 6 years but heat in the house is free. Free is hard to beat

 

[Beltman60]

I like free :dance1:

 

[Iowachild]

That axe is crazy!

It is a 12 lbs. splitting axe available at ACE. Splitting Axe

 

[dsquire]

Hi Guys

It has been a few years since I have chopped any wood. I have had plenty of practice both manual and power splitting. I have used an axe and a splitting maul. The secret that I have found is to let the head of the tool do the work rather than just powering thru. I would have loved to have had one of these new style wood splitters shown in this short video. This is slow motion so you can see how it works.

Vipukirves slow-motion video, part 3 - YouTube

Cheers :drink:

Don

 

[motownbrowne]

Like I mentioned, you can do that with any Axe. Just hold it at a slight angle and still swing straight down. Don't grip too tight, because it'll do the same thing as that fancy one. One downfall to the vipukirves is that that's the only thing it does, it's not also an axe , can't drive a wedge, etc.