Leveraxe Review (by Wranglerstar)

[British Red]

The topic of these Leveraxes has come up on the forum from time to time

There have been comments about them but I don't recall a member here reviewing them.

Well today Wranglerstar (who some of us watch on youtube) did a detailed review compared to a traditional maul - I thought I would post it up as his conclusions (given that he appears to have been asked to review it by the maker and sent review specimens) gives a fairly unbiased perspective,


Warning - There is a scene of nasty axe injury Cody's sister got in the making of the video

[video=youtube;w_s3Ci1Dl0s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_s3Ci1Dl0s[/video]


(For those who don't want to watch the video - save your money!).

 

[Jared]

Nice to have your instincts confirmed.

Wasn't aware they were $300+ before now either... unbelievable.

 

[andybysea]

Id never seen them before this, looking at it a the start of video i was trying to work out how it worked and couldnt, and seeing it in action it looked awkward.

 

[mrcharly]

I hope his sister got her tooth sorted, that looked painful.

I guess the accident happened when she was trying to yank the lightweight axe out of the log, and she hit herself in the face with the handle. Pretty easy to do and a good example of why a splitting maul is better for splitting than an axe.

thanks for the vid, interesting I'll have to look at some of his other stuff.

 

[Clouston98]

I like wranglerstar a lot, think he was spot on (not that I've ever handled the lever axe) like Jared it was a case of reassuring my first thoughts on it but I know I'll definitely be sticking with he olde faithful maul .

 

[British Red]

I hope his sister got her tooth sorted, that looked painful.

I guess the accident happened when she was trying to yank the lightweight axe out of the log, and she hit herself in the face with the handle. Pretty easy to do and a good example of why a splitting maul is better for splitting than an axe.

thanks for the vid, interesting I'll have to look at some of his other stuff.

He does some very interesting stuff on homesteading, timber framing etc.

Theres a bit o religious stuff, but I just skip those videos as his beliefs are not mine.

Overall though theres some good stuff in there.

 

[woof]

Thanks for posting this Hugh. Before we moved 8yrs ago we had a woodburner so used a lot of logs, we've now sold again, & the property we are hopefully getting has an open fire so we will have another woodburner, but I've still got my maul & axe so won't change to the new fangle one's.
About 10yrs ago, when "in my prime", I could split logs using my large wetterlings axe faster than my friend could with the hydraulic splitter on his tractor, though after 2hrs I was a lot sweatier than he was !.

Rob

 

[British Red]

I confess to having a pneumatic splitter these days Rob - it is faster by hand - but not over 8 hours

 

[demographic]

I didn't realise that David Blunkett designed axes...

 

[Tiley]

I don't much like the look of these tools and the video did not persuade me that they were any better than splitting with a maul or axe. I did quite like the tyre surrounded splitting block, though. That looked as though it could be quite serviceable but obviously only for splitting larger logs end on.

 

[woof]

I confess to having a pneumatic splitter these days Rob - it is faster by hand - but not over 8 hours

Yep, 10yrs of no gym, I'm not going head to head with a "splitter" again !.

Rob

 

[demographic]

Used a weird axe a while ago, had bits that sprang out of the sides when it went in the log. Weird contraption
Chopper 1 splitting axe, here's a pic I found on the net.

Still preferred my maul by quite a margin

 

[sandbender]

Ouch, nasty injury there, could have been worse I suppose.

The leveraxe though, up there with the concrete parachute in the museum of pointless inventions.

 

[sunndog]

Seen these before, and I thought they were crap before I knew the price! Sweet child o mine! $350, that's outrageous

Don't get me wrong, my axe budget is pretty open but its gotta be worth it $350+ for that. I can't get over it
My splitting maul is a roughneck brand about 20-30 quid I think it was...it needed a little file work but i'd pit that against a leveraxe all day long

 

[woof]

Used a weird axe a while ago, had bits that sprang out of the sides when it went in the log. Weird contraption
Chopper 1 splitting axe, here's a pic I found on the net.

Still preferred my maul by quite a margin

Saaw something similar to that about 30yrs ago in a hardware store in Market Harborough when we lived there, never used one though. My maul was a real cheapy about £5 as I recall, does the job though, or did not used it in a while.

Rob

 

[humdrum_hostage]

As the saying goes... "if it aint broke, don't try to fix it!"

 

[Stevenjdowd]

I came across this link accidentally when looking for something else but the video seemed worth a watch to understand how it worked.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-leveraxe-redesigned-ax-2014-4?IR=T

Speed splitting extraordinaire! What do you think?

 

[Stevie777]

Yeh seen those last year...i wonder if when using the axe the twisting the axe does on impact could cause wrist injuries. I guess there's a technique to it.

 

[dewi]

Be interesting to see that splitting method (with axe and tyre) up against the bare-footed axe wielder that was posted up a week or so ago... especially if she had a tyre to chop in.

 

[sandbender]

I have merged Stevenjdowd's new thread on this topic with British Red's earlier one which adds a useful video review and comments.

My own opinion is that the designer is trying to fix something that doesn't need fixing, if someone cannot master the very basic techniques of axe craft then they shouldn't be using an Axe.

IMHO