Wood splitting axe selection?

os_tempore

os_tempore

Wargrip & Cerakote
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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So, I wanted a 35 ton hydraulic wood splitter, my wife said I can get an axe.

I want the best wood splitting axe I can get!

The wood is 16" round and down. 16" long is what I'm cutting them at. And everything from oak to mamosa.

What ya think?!
 
The best splitter that I have used is the Gransfors Bruk big splitting axe/maul.

I have the Fiskars X27 and the big IsoCore 8Lb Fiskars as well. The fiskars X27 is ok for small stuff and quick tasks. I find the bird beak at the end of the handle to be blister producer for me. Can't stand it it.
 
The Council 5lb splitter is fantastic, and readily available, as is the Husqvarna splitting maul. I'm personally quite a fan of the 2500g (~5.5lb) Rinaldi maul as well, though they're hard to obtain at the moment.
 
os_tempore said:
Any particular brand??
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Whichever the brand they're always too thick in the cheek-to-edge transition and benefit from considerable thinning out in the cheeks to give them a nice smooth convex. I do that to all of my splitting wedges, too. Greatly aids in initial penetration so the geometry further up can actually do its job.
 
Gato do mato said:
The best splitting ax I've ever used is the Fiskars X27. Great value for money.
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I second this - except I prefer the X25 which is the 28" version. I bought mine when it was still called the super splitter or something like that and only came in 28" length. They later made a longer one and then changed the names of them. I think the profile of the newer ones might be slightly different.

I'll quickly add that I've been splitting wood for a little over 30 years - and for about 20 of those years I split 5-10 cords per year. I primarily used the standard 8lb mauls but for a while when I was a macho teen, used those horrid monster mauls which were like 12-15lbs or something. I've also tried axes from time to time and on easy to split wood, axes can work good but if you get into anything big or gnarly, axes are a joke. The fiskars splitting axes are for sure the best. They are definitely not the coolest, but they are for sure the most efficient splitting tool.
 
FLINT77 said:
I second this - except I prefer the X25 which is the 28" version. I bought mine when it was still called the super splitter or something like that and only came in 28" length. They later made a longer one and then changed the names of them. I think the profile of the newer ones might be slightly different.

I'll quickly add that I've been splitting wood for a little over 30 years - and for about 20 of those years I split 5-10 cords per year. I primarily used the standard 8lb mauls but for a while when I was a macho teen, used those horrid monster mauls which were like 12-15lbs or something. I've also tried axes from time to time and on easy to split wood, axes can work good but if you get into anything big or gnarly, axes are a joke. The fiskars splitting axes are for sure the best. They are definitely not the coolest, but they are for sure the most efficient splitting tool.
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I wouldn't necessarily call them the MOST efficient, but they're for sure near the top of the pack and the durability of the handles does make them dependable workhorses. I have other splitters I prefer, but I always use more "delicate" wooden-handled splitters with the confidence that I have one of the Fiskars in the stable ready to go if I need it.
 
16” diameter is not too bad, an axe might actually work out ok. Heavier the better. Truth is though, a maul is almost always best for lots of splitting. No matter what you choose, have a pair of wedges and a sledge handy. Wedges get stuck, the second will help get the first one out. If you can thin them out like 42 says, do it for sure. They always come too blunt.
 
I have no idea what the hell I was using before. I just sharpened whatever was hanging in the barn when I inherited the job for my mother in law (because her son was lazy and I married her daughter) of splitting a lot of oak and ash, as storms brought it down on her 80 acres. It was probably a craftsman from the seventies or eighties. But someone reccommended the Fiskars X27 and almost instantly every strike was a one strike split.

That’s the only experience I have either way. I’m not tall, but I’m wide, built, strong as a bull. I can do the job in 1/3 the time it took before. Admittedly I was probably using a chopping axe and occasionally 5lb maul, before, but I just think you can’t go wrong with the Fisk and I think it was 1/2 the price or cheaper of some of the nicer splitters people recommend.

** EDIT: I don’t know if this makes any difference, if there are different versions of the X27, but the one I got is called the Super Splitting Axe.
 
Scott.Maslowe said:
I have no idea what the hell I was using before. I just sharpened whatever was hanging in the barn when I inherited the job for my mother in law (because her son was lazy and I married her daughter) of splitting a lot of oak and ash, as storms brought it down on her 80 acres. It was probably a craftsman from the seventies or eighties. But someone reccommended the Fiskars X27 and almost instantly every strike was a one strike split.

That’s the only experience I have either way. I’m not tall, but I’m wide, built, strong as a bull. I can do the job in 1/3 the time it took before. Admittedly I was probably using a chopping axe and occasionally 5lb maul, before, but I just think you can’t go wrong with the Fisk and I think it was 1/2 the price or cheaper of some of the nicer splitters people recommend.

** EDIT: I don’t know if this makes any difference, if there are different versions of the X27, but the one I got was called the Super Splitting Axe.
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A lot of that is that the geometry just reasonable out of the box, while the majority of off-the-shelf mauls are too thick from the factory and made worse through abuse and neglect. Give 'em a nice thinned convex transition into the cheeks and it VASTLY increases their performance.
 
I started with a splitting axe and switched to a maul. It splits much more quickly.

My current maul is a Ochsenkopf Big Ox. It’s not refined, but it is one tough tool.
 
my splitting axe is a worn down no name yankee pattern of some sort... i use it for splitting layed down wood logs, the cow boy -trapper- bushcraft way (you name it). rarely standing on a block. for this i have a generic maul if it gets messy, or a leborgne not well known brand but very efficient.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Whichever the brand they're always too thick in the cheek-to-edge transition and benefit from considerable thinning out in the cheeks to give them a nice smooth convex. I do that to all of my splitting wedges, too. Greatly aids in initial penetration so the geometry further up can actually do its job.
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How about a pic of one you re-profiled? I have a couple cheap mauls I need to work on.
 
carnifex knifeworks said:
How about a pic of one you re-profiled? I have a couple cheap mauls I need to work on.
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Wedge:

454297113_10231741523509520_2512753071603638888_n.jpg

454435406_10231741524069534_5256662324585199471_n.jpg

454399177_10231741524429543_7619701611501983244_n.jpg


Maul:
453722334_10231741525349566_3715441613343546642_n.jpg

454314338_10231741525949581_5397093263103779968_n.jpg


Take those "speed bumps" of the usual harsh cheek-to-edge transition and work it back into a nice low convex. REALLY makes a night and day difference.
 
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