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Monikieman

Full Member
Jun 17, 2013
915
11
Monikie, Angus
Looks great. But wait a minute, my hydraulic log splitter struggles on gnarly bits of oak, beech, elm etc. and come to think about it, I never get wood like that in the video.

Ah well, back to the drawing board:)
 
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Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Looks impressive, but I think that would be a sore thing on the wrists and elbows......maybe not, depends on just how balanced it actually is in use. :dunno:

Anyone actually had a shot with one ?

M
 

ozzy1977

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
8,558
3
46
Henley
I have seen this before, its quite expensive from what I remember, plus I don't think my wrists will thank me for useing it.
 

slowworm

Full Member
May 8, 2008
1,982
934
Devon
An axe that twist through 80 degrees on impact? Hasn't that got to hurt your wrists?

Probably not if you follow their instructions: "The tool is very simple to use. Use your VIPUKIRVES™ like a conventional axe, but when its blade strikes the wood, you should loosen your grip on the handle. Then the blade is able to perform its lever function unobstructed. It is important that you allow the handle of your VIPUKIRVES™ to turn as you hold on to it with both hands!"

I'm tempted to get one if I have a lot of straight grained timber to chop. There's a thread about it, where the inventor has answered questions such as the twisting, here: http://forum.downsizer.net/viewtopic.php?t=56456
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
Hmmm, I just don't agree that that is okay - slackening my grip on an axe doesn't seem wise. I'm sure it can be made to work - but it seems expensive to me for what it is and I'm not convinced - however, if you get one, do let us know how you get on with it - nothing trumps hands on experience!

For me, I'll stick with my 7 tonne pneumatic splitter which didn't cost much more :)
 

mr dazzler

Native
Aug 28, 2004
1,722
83
uk
The geezer who invetned it is an enterprising old darling I'll say that; he recently went on bodgers web site trying to drum up support. (They cost £188.....)
http://www.bodgers.org.uk/bb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2838&sid=c12997468cb0e6bac25b77b1b8bfbf34
My husquie splitter is like uncle bens axe, it never sticks. It will handle baby birch like in his videos with ease, and splitting from the edge inwards on larger logs. For his axe to have any real value it needs to be able to do what existing axes cannot do-eg rubbishy gnarly roots and crotches, elm etc.....
Not that you'd get a worthwhile power splitter for £188, I built my own rotary spiral screw splitter for around £350 including a new 9.5 hp engine.....
at the end of the day, not impressed, FAIL
 

dancan

Nomad
Sep 29, 2007
271
0
Nova Scotia Canada
He got argumentative with me when I pointed out that his side by side videos were rubbish on another forum .
He told me to make my own videos , I kindly asked for a demo axe and would buy a cord of wood , divide and split with his and what I have while making a video without the intention of trying to make one of the axes look bad .
A faster splitter means more beer time for me :) but I have not received an axe yet :( .
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
Not that you'd get a worthwhile power splitter for £188, I built my own rotary spiral screw splitter for around £350 including a new 9.5 hp engine.....
at the end of the day, not impressed, FAIL

Depends what you want it to do - mine works just fine. It doesn't split anything I can't split by hand - indeed with 4 steel wedges and a 10lb sledge I can split huge knotty rounds - but with the hydraulic splitter I can keep going all day - which I can't with the maul or axe
 

Uilleachan

Full Member
Aug 14, 2013
585
5
Northwest Scotland
I find my long shaft splitter works just fine, had it almost 25 years now and it's still going strong, never sticks and never needs sharpened.

There are always a few long shaft splitter resistant rounds in any load mind, I just throw them to the back of the shed and make a project out of them, they all split eventually.

My longest lasting shed pig was from the big gale of 2006, a gnarly knuckle of beach that finally gave in to a few well placed thumps back in the tail end of last year. Quite a sense of satisfaction gotten from cracking that uncooperative sod.
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
I find my long shaft splitter works just fine, had it almost 25 years now and it's still going strong, never sticks and never needs sharpened.

There are always a few long shaft splitter resistant rounds in any load mind, I just throw them to the back of the shed and make a project out of them, they all split eventually.

My longest lasting shed pig was from the big gale of 2006, a gnarly knuckle of beach that finally gave in to a few well placed thumps back in the tail end of last year. Quite a sense of satisfaction gotten from cracking that uncooperative sod.

I have had a few of those - still have a few - they end up on the "stag beetle" pile (a pile of nasty, rotten, gnarly, cross grained and otherwise awkward wood that I leave for beetles and other critters to eat and lay eggs in - the woodpeckers love it). The stuff I want to burn thats like that I just cut up with a chainsaw now - so much easier - and its usually only a few bits in a load.
 

Uilleachan

Full Member
Aug 14, 2013
585
5
Northwest Scotland
I have had a few of those - still have a few - they end up on the "stag beetle" pile (a pile of nasty, rotten, gnarly, cross grained and otherwise awkward wood that I leave for beetles and other critters to eat and lay eggs in - the woodpeckers love it). The stuff I want to burn thats like that I just cut up with a chainsaw now - so much easier - and its usually only a few bits in a load.

Yes, often just cutting an awkward round through is enough to get splitting the remainder.
 

mr dazzler

Native
Aug 28, 2004
1,722
83
uk
Depends what you want it to do - mine works just fine. It doesn't split anything I can't split by hand - indeed with 4 steel wedges and a 10lb sledge I can split huge knotty rounds - but with the hydraulic splitter I can keep going all day - which I can't with the maul or axe

Perhaps I should of worded that better, when I said FAIL I was referring to the £188 price tag for a "revolutionary" axe design (actually a sawn off piece of extruded or rolled section epoxed onto a steel tube)....If you have a stack of clean easy baby little birch like kirves man uses in his videos, then a machine mart jobbie may be ok if your doing one lot a year.....at least you can work standing upright :)
 

Macaroon

A bemused & bewildered
Jan 5, 2013
7,209
362
73
SE Wales
From his blurb:

"The basic shape and design of the axe hasn't changed in, well, millennia, as attested to by archaeological discoveries from around the world."

There's a very good reason for that.
 

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