Which small splitting axe

[UKAndyB]

We have just got our first log fire, and was after some recommendations to splitting axes.
Just after a small 'hand axe' size one with a head weight about 4lb. Just for splitting small stuff.
Anybody have anything they would recommend?
Something along the lines of 'Estwing Fireside Friend Axe' perhaps.
Dont need to be paying out a fortune as it wont be used a lot, but it may also be used whilst on scout camps.

Thanks

Andy

 

[sunndog]

Have a look at hultafors axes. Not fancy like a gransfors and may need edge work but that's pretty moot in a splitting axe
They are plenty good enough for the price though

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai...DvpFxzV9wnD9HSyyVTUg7rJYmLkBiCyBoC1tkQAvD_BwE

 

[Kepis]

Some of the Roughneck stuff from Toolstation/Screwfix is pretty good https://www.toolstation.com/roughneck-log-splitting-set/p18928

 

[mikehill]

Car boot sales might turn something nice up and cheap

 

[Broch]

Too late in the year for car boot fairs unfortunately but, to be honest, just get yourself down to your local farm supply shop and pick up something from there; it will do the job just fine. Then look out for something 'nicer' later.

All these are from car booty fairs, IIRC the most expensive was £3:

 

[bobnewboy]

I would agree with Broch - boot fairs are the thing. Or alternatively check to see if your neighbours are having a garden shed clearout. That's where I got my worn but serviceable old kent pattern small axe. A bit of TLC and a nice bit of ash, along with a little effort got me an axe for firewood for essentially nothing.

Cheers, Bob

 

[Janne]

By our burner we have a nice Gransfors, which I have 'tarted up' by staining and TruOil finished. The steel ( not the edge) I cold blued.

In the cellar, I have a Hultafors and something rusty that came with the house.

The Hultafors is a dual use tool, I split wood and soften dried Cod with it, the rusty one is for knotty wood and wood that might have nails and such in.

I agree with the above though, you can find some fantastic quality old rusty axes cheaply in bootfairs!

 

[demographic]

Over the years I've had a few axes and for a home kindling cutting as well as splitting big rounds of hardwood I just have a big maul.

One sides a hammer for wedges and the other a splitting axe.
For big rounds I use it two handed and its a beast (about 7 Lbs) but for kindling even my wife whos not exactly big just chokes the handle right up to the head and holds it one handed.
It's heavy enough that she doesn't need to move it fast, almost just let the weight do the work.

If i had to carry it a few miles I'd have a totally different answer but even when Ive been chainsawing logs in a wood I've had access to a quad bike and trailer or its just by the fireplace.

If I had to cart it about all the time I'd be looking at something light with a longish shaft to get speed instead of mass.

 

[crosslandkelly]

I use a japanese handaxe, it's wedge shape makes it an ideal splitter of kindling and some larger rounds. Being bearded means you can also choke up on the grip, to produce feathers. The laminated steel takes and holds a great edge, they seem to be getting hard to come by now though.

 

[Robson Valley]

If your home heating is round wood and cold enough that you will need 5+ cords,
you need something more efficient than an axe.
Most everybody here splits with a 3.5 - 4.5lb axe. Kindling maybe a 2.5lb axe.

Splitting requires just the righ amount of dull edge to split, not cut.
Making feather sticks of course you want a sharp cuitting edge.
Big jobs, rent the highschool kids with the hydraulic splitter.
Look at the rounds in my avatar.

 

[Joe tahkahikew]

If your home heating is round wood and cold enough that you will need 5+ cords,
you need something more efficient than an axe.
Most everybody here splits with a 3.5 - 4.5lb axe. Kindling maybe a 2.5lb axe.

Splitting requires just the righ amount of dull edge to split, not cut.
Making feather sticks of course you want a sharp cuitting edge.
Big jobs, rent the highschool kids with the hydraulic splitter.
Look at the rounds in my avatar.

What are feather sticks?

 

[Robson Valley]

Some people insist that you have to make a partly shaved stick like a little wooden tree for fire starter kindling = feather stick.
I think maybe they don't have any pine or spruce for resin twigs to bash into fiber so they use a knife to make something..

 

[Broch]

Yep, it's one of those annoying things that every instructor in the UK insists that their students can do before they can possibly be a successful 'bushcrafter' (whatever that is) when really what they should be teaching is how to get to the dry inner wood as quickly as possible to get the fire going with as little fuss as possible. The really daft thing is that many will tell you that the best wood to turn into feather sticks is pine or spruce

 

[Robson Valley]

The little persistent twigs near the biggest branch bases of pine and spruce are the best and driest.
It takes nearly 2" rain to wet those on my big spruce trees in the front yard (16" butts).

Unlike the broad leaf species, conifers have resin ducts in both the wood and the bark.
The resin is hydrocarbon = most flammable. That bit of wood anatomy is useful.

Next, we smash those twigs, lots of them, into fiber between some rocks to build a tinder bundle to catch sparks.
So you have a big wad of very flammable fiber with huge surface area. Char cloth would be similar.

If you live in places with only broad-leaf species of woody plants, learning to make really good feather sticks is useful.
Any wood, off the ground, is bound to be drier than any wood on the ground.
I'd still carry some cheap waxy candles and cut to the chase.

 

[TLM]

Feather sticks are a good way to learn whittling. Useful in lighting a fire but one can get by without. Dry soft pine or spruce are the easiest but those are exactly what is seldom found in the wild.

 

[demographic]

Knowing the name of an item in a foreign language where the item is in more common usage helps sometimes.

I've had a Dictum catalogue which I accidentally ordered in German a few years ago, never really thought about it.
Just recently I was looking for a few items in it and realised using the german name might give good ebay results.
Sure enough it did. You'll have to get that one yourself as I'm not about to give a load of competitors my search terms but I don't mind telling you that Carpenters axe = Zimmermannsaxt.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=zimmermannsaxt&_trksid=m5467.l1311&_odkw=zimmermanns+axt

And splitting axe = Spaltaxt.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=spaltaxt&_trksid=m5467.l1311&_odkw=spa+taste

Now thats just in German and theres plenty other countries that use axes more than the UK, France, Poland and so on. Find the right words and broaden your choices a lot.

 

[UKAndyB]

Thanks for all the input.
Ended up getting one of these from eBay
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CLEARANC...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
£9 posted, and with a bit of work on the edge, should be fine.

Andy

 

[Nice65]

Thanks for all the input.
Ended up getting one of these from eBay
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CLEARANCE-LOT-B26602-1KG-WEDGE-SHAPE-LOG-SPLITTING-HAND-AXE-KINDLING-HATCHET/153706300091?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
£9 posted, and with a bit of work on the edge, should be fine.

Andy

Some good stuff in that clearance sale, bow saw blades etc.

Don’t go mad for a sharp edge, it’ll only get stuck. Mauls and splitters are usually pretty blunt and bounce rather than dig in.

 

[Robson Valley]

Don’t go mad for a sharp edge, it’ll only get stuck. Mauls and splitters are usually pretty blunt and bounce rather than dig in.

Exactly. you want the wood to split ever so slightly ahead of the blade edge. Rather than have the blade edge actually cut into the wood.
That means your first strike has to be a big one to set the splitter into the log. Same as with a froe.

 

[junior]

You were lucky getting any of those for £3 up here it would be a tenner or more.