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Fancy yellow handled splitting axes.....

Started by Percy, November 28, 2006, 07:23:46 PM

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Percy

Like most people here, I burn wood for heat at home. I usually buy hickory handled axes but bein as most folks around here call me "Lightning" when I operate an axe(never hits the same spot twice :D) I thought Id try one of them fancy yellow handled things(plastic or fiberglass..I dunno for sure). Since I been using it, I havent broken one handle but lately Im getting sore wrists, just aches like mad. Issit the handle of this axe thats getting me or mebey Im just getting a tad old???  Iguess I could just switch back to hickory and find out but......mebey some of you guys know this stuff....... ;D
GOLDEN RULE : The guy with the gold, makes the rules.

Fla._Deadheader


Could it be that the handle doesn't flex, like the wood handle ??  You are absorbing all the shock in your wrists ??  Down here, there is a flexible wood that is only used for handles. Can't remember the name of the wood  ::) ::)
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

blaze83

percy

I know the feeling...I've split a few cords also and I HATE those fiberglass, plastic handles....They don't absorb the shock like hickory...and to me the force of the blow goes into my hands instead of the wood..... to quote Clint Eastwood from the movie pale rider  "nothing like a good piece of hickory" :D...   what's your weapon of choice...for me it's a double bit axe. nothing scientific here, just my 2 cents smiley_flipping
I'm always amazed that no matter how bad i screw up Jesus still loves me

leweee

 :D :D :D Percy your getting OLD ::) :D :D :D
Next door neighbor's kid has one of them yeller handled mauls.(6Ibs.)
Says the only thing that hurts is his back.He's 25 & slender 6ft. tall.
Now myself with a gimpy knee & tendionitis in both elbows can only tell him how I useta split wood when I was his age. ::) Us oldtimers can still do a days work but it might take two days. :'(



:D :D :D Lightning :D :D :D never strikes twice in the same place. I like it. :D
just another beaver with a chainsaw &  it's never so bad that it couldn't get worse.

Tom

There is nothing like a wood handled axe.  I like the bent handle best, but can use a straight handle too.  Rather I used to be able to.  Maybe when these shoulders get better I'll be bustin' up wood again. :D

I took on wood splitting as if I were learning to hit a baseball.  I found that most folks who break handles are taking off too big of a bite.  It's natural to try to place the axe head dead center in the log and hope it breaks in two.  Even if it does, it might not split straight and the first thing to hit after the head is the handle.

I made a point to not swing deeper into the log than axe head was wide if I was breaking the log apart.  If the handle doesn't get close to the log, it can't get broken.

I also will break apart a log from the rim.  Instead of hitting it in line with the pith, I'll come down on the edge of the top of the log so that the blade is parallel to the growth rings.  This pops a small piece off of the side of the log.  Once I have an opening, I walk around the log taking pieces off of the side until I'm left with a small core that can be split down the middle.   Logs come apart real easy this way.

If you bend your knees as you strike and come down with the axe instead of straightening your knees and leaning back, you will gain a lot more accuracy too.'

Now, I know you "up north" guys have probaby split more wood than I have, see'in as how you need it for heat an all, but, I stayed in a Holiday Inn one night. :D

Sprucegum

An axe's job is to split wood , your job is to swing'er straight and fast. No need to hang on tight all the way through - relax your grip the instant the cutting edge of the axe kisses the wood. Watch it cut cleanly through the billet and lightly tap the top of the chopping block.   8)

I have a 6 pounder with a yellow handle and a 3 pounder with hickory. They both keep me warm.   ;D  ;D

Furby

I do like Sprucegum, relax my grip.
Sure takes the impact off!

Tom


isawlogs

  I need to relaxe my grip also , I need to , to be able to push back on the lever .  ;)
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

Furby


Kcwoodbutcher

I've got one of them yellow handles and I like it. Make sure you relax your grip on contact and swing directly over your head, not over your shoulder, you'll get a lot more force in the blow. The only thing that hurts is my lower back, but I'm tall (6'3") and have to bend a lot.
My job is to do everything nobody else felt like doing today

Coon

One thing my grandfather taught me about splitting with an axe was just as a few of you said relax your grip.  It takes a bit of getting used to until you get one of those yellow handled axes.  If you guys think you get it bad from those axes think again.  When those handles get really frozen they vibrate even worse even when you got a relaxed grip.  What I have gone and done with my grandfathers advice (after he tried the yellow axe) is took a piece of rubber hose about 4 inches long (do not use the pvc hose it makes it worse) and made a slice through through the length of it and wrapped it around the handle of the axe right behind the axe head.  I then used sports tape to tape it to the handle as tight as I could.  This piece of hose acts like a shock absorber as well as protects the handle right behind the head.

Have fun splitting.
Brad.
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 w/Kohler,
Husqvarna, Stihl and, Jonsereds Saws

Part_Timer

I bought one of those yellow handeled splitting mauls about a couple of months ago.  I bought it because my son (Zac) and marcus's son (Mathew)don't seem to have any depth perseption. I think it is teenaged induced vision imparement or an alergy to work. :)  Doesn't hurt my wrist's at all when they are using it. ;)

Acutually I like it.  It's an 8 lb'er and I like it a lot on that hickory we've been splitting.  If I grip it to tight I feel it in the elbows. 

I'll go back to hickory when the kids can see straight. :)
Peterson 8" ATS.
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

Tom

Another thing that helps is a splitting block.  A block of wood to put the block that you are splitting upon.   I used to split on the ground sometimes, especially the bigger pieces and they don't come apart nearly as easily with the ground taking up the force of the blow.  It doesn't have to be a tall one, just something to make a solid base.

SwampDonkey

Also, makes a lot easier hand split'n when you split it frozen and green. If you wait until it's seasoned and in the cellar all dry, you'll split your guts out. Father used to do that and tore up the cement floor split'n dry hardwood.  Never do nothing easy, oh no. ::)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

beenthere

What I find makes splitin easy (easier?) is havin someone set the blocks up on end so I don't have to bend over and set them up.  ;D
Or better yet, that person also swings the maul after they set the blocks up....... :)

No fancy non-wood handle for me.......regardless of color.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

DonE911

I have 2 of them yeller handled things....  thats all the big box store had and I needed one ( and yet I got 2 and can't recall why) ... I figured that the kid would break the handle soon and I'd put a proper wood handle on it.  Well its been 2 splitt'n seasons and the yeller handle is still in good shape...   They are ugly and don't have any feel to them, but they work and have not broken.

SwampDonkey

I have one on a 5 lb maul. All I could remember about the mauls dad had was they were all taped up as the handles were are split to heck or half broken and you'de be lucky the wooden handle didn't let the head go into orbit from your initial swing.  I've had to lend mine several time to dad as he never had a 'good one' to use pounding stakes in the raspberry patch and fencing the pear trees from the deer. ::)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

ely

mine has a black plastic handle on it like marcel was saying it never vibrates my wrists. and he honda engine on it is pretty quiet on the ears too.

moosehunter

I like my BLUE handled splitter


So far it has been indistructable AND invaluable.
Thats Logrite blue by-the-way.

mh
"And the days that I keep my gratitude
Higher than my expectations
Well, I have really good days".    Ray Wylie Hubbard

SwampDonkey

Looks like a dandy splitting maul moosehunter.   ;D 8)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

rebocardo

Mostly I split with my chainsaw, though sometimes I split with a double bit axe or sledge and wedges.

I have been wanting one of those all metal 12 pound splitting mauls with the triangle heads.

Has anyone tried one of those and do they work well?  I saw them in the last Bailey's catalog and have been thinking about it for a good workout and to save some time on the chain saws.


Onthesauk

Seems to me that 12 pounds is too heavy if you're going to do any great amount.  Tend to use 6 and 8 lb splitting mauls and adaquate for anything I do.  If I run into a lot of knarly old maple I call for my neighbor down the street with the 10hp splitter.   ;D
John Deere 3038E
Sukuki LT-F500

Don't attribute irritating behavior to malevolence when mere stupidity will suffice as an explanation.

TeaW

Back in the day's when we used to split by hand , we never used  a store bought axe handle. We always made our own,usually out of Ironwood ,White Oak or Blue Beech. We would always split the wood we needed out of a nice clear stick 6 to 8 inches diameter. Mark a pattern on and rough it out with the chain saw and a draw knife.We used them green . They would last for several years but they dried out over the summer and had to be re wedged after that.Now I have one of those Dang yellow handled things that rides arround in the back of the skidder ,once and a while I drive a felling wedge with it.
TeaW

SwampDonkey

I've widdled several with just an axe , same for paddles. Sometimes I'de use a piece of rock maple plank for the axe handle, or cut something in the woods with a buck saw (before I bothered with a chain saw). A piece of straight grained (hopefully) yellow birch was used for my paddles. I would split it in half green with an axe. Then just widdle away in the cellar to shape my paddle. Then I figured it was quicker to cut out the shape on the bandsaw. Then shave a lot of the sacrificial wood off with my jointer and use a draw knife and the belt sander or table sander to shape it. It sure used to be a lot of widdling with the axe though. But it is fun sculpturing with wood. Ain't made any in a long time, I'm not too hard on axe handles and paddles. ;D

Someone used to give my uncle red oak axe handles, he'd bust them all up in short order splitting stove wood. Sometimes the shock of the blow would fracture the handle, hickory does the same. The earlywood is weaker and so that is where the fracture occurs. Never seen rock maple or ironwood do that. So his uncle used to make handles from ironwood mostly and they'd last a good while, but the splitting process would always chew away at the handle because wood doesn't always split leaving a plane flat surface. Often it's jagged edged and such and his uncle would say 'your over shooting'. But, that wasn't the reason at all.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

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