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Okay, let’s get serious for a little bit. I normally use our Iron First Hydraulic splitter because of the sheer volume of wood we usually pick up. For various reasons though, I sometimes still split wood the old school way.
If we are on a site where we have lots of time, and it’s a nice load of birch, alder or anything that’s manageable by hand, rather than haul it all back to the farm, we split it on site.
A few wacks per round and it’s onto the next one. It’s quick, it’s great exercise and as I always say… it’s fun. Plus it’s all split and ready to be stacked as soon as we get home.
It’s more fun when you’re using a splitter that actually works. There’s nothing worse than trying to do anything with a crappy tool. I’ve tried a lot of different splitters and mauls over the years and it’s my opinion that these two are by far the best I’ve ever used.
The first one is a 30″ 8lb splitting axe, made in Germany by Ochenkopf. This thing is as tough as it gets and has a perfectly shaped hickory handle. It’s not too heavy to use for an extended period of time and it splits wood beautifully. I’ve had mine for almost 20 years and I’m only on my 2nd handle. This axe is truly wonderful, great craftsmanship and old school tough.
The second one, I was introduced to about 5 years ago by a fellow wood whore. He knew I loved my old wooden handled axe, but he couldn’t wait to show me his new one. When I first saw it I thought it looked a bit too plastic and it probably wouldn’t be very strong. Man was I wrong! The Fiskars X27 Splitting Axe <—CLICK HERE—THIS IS AN AFFILIATE LINK —HELP SUPPORT OUR BEER FUND is a Finnish made, 36″ wonder axe. This thing has an amazing head on it as well as a high tech fibre compound handle that is supposed to be unbreakable. For 5 years of abuse, so far it has been. The longer handle combined with the unique axe head are a perfect combination that allow you to swing this thing all day long. It’s a great axe.
If you’re splitting by hand, I highly recommend either of these two wood splitting axes.
