
New axe design uses lever action to make splitting wood easier - sinned
http://www.vipukirves.fi/english/description.htm
======
jeffbarr
I bought a Vipukirves axe early this year. I have a wood-fired pizza oven in
my backyard and use small, nicely split pieces of wood in order to retain some
control over the fire.

Before buying the axe I used a four-sided wedge (basically an elongated
pyramid) and a sledgehammer for splitting.

So, how does this axe perform? Overall, I am very happy with it and proudly
show it off at every opportunity. After spending some time learning how to use
it, I can report that, for some types and conditions of wood and with the
right grip on the handle, it truly does split wood in the manner shown in the
video.

As noted in the other comments, certain types of wood are easier to split than
others. After my pizza oven was finished, I somewhat foolishly bought a 1/2
cord of apple wood from the apple-growing region of Washington state. This
wood is incredibly dense and has proven difficult to split by any means, even
after 3 years of seasoning. The splitting issue is made worse by the overall
knottiness of the wood.

I also bought a 1/2 cord of mixed wood from a local supplier. The axe is at
its best on straight, dry, knot-free pine, oak, cedar, and so forth. The
vertical motion is translated into horizontal motion milliseconds after the
blade of the axe penetrates the wood and the split-off portion flies to the
side with explosive force, often landing 8 to 10 feet away.

It took me an hour or two to learn to use the axe properly, with a relaxed
grip to allow the head to rotate after it strikes the wood. Wearing gloves
(recommended in any case) can make this even easier.

The blade of the axe is not razor sharp and does not require sharpening or
other maintenance.

~~~
bradleyland
I don't know how common the "tire guard" featured in the video is, but it
seems like a damned good idea. It would solve the problem of split pieces
flying off with explosive force. I'd probably pursue that idea posthaste.

~~~
jeffbarr
I should mention that the pieces fly off in a very predictable pattern and end
up in a stack! The force is tightly constrained based on the direction and
orientation of the axe when it strikes the wood.

My son joked that I could probably reproduce something we once saw in a
cartoon, where the chopped pieces assembled themselves into a log cabin.

~~~
bradleysmith
That's remarkable. I'd love to see a video of someone making a pile of wood
from the chopping block. The rest of the internets probably wouldn't mind it
either.

~~~
easy_rider
Some sushi/tepanyaki chefs on HN maybe?

------
linhat
This axe looks really awesome, physics for the win.

Also, instead of using an old rubber tire, I highly recommend building a
variable length, tensioning chain, much like this one:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrLiSMQGHvY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrLiSMQGHvY)
Makes chopping wood so much more fun.

And then, there is also the stikkan:
[http://www.stikkan.com/](http://www.stikkan.com/) Perfect to hang it up next
to your fireplace to do some more fine grained wood chopping, cutting larger
pieces into smaller ones.

~~~
jobu
It amazes me when someone makes improvements to a job as old as splitting
wood. Millions (billions?) of people have been doing it for thousands of
years, and there's still room for improvement.

~~~
wmil
This is really a specialty tool. Normal axes were also used to fell trees,
demolish wood structures, and occasionally personal defense.

I'm guess that it's less useful if you're chopping against the grain or if you
want precision.

~~~
PeterisP
Chopping firewood takes up so much labor, that there have always been
specialised tools, there is no such thing as a "normal axe" \- an axe for
felling trees is different than an axe for splitting firewood, there are
differences in the shape, width and weight of the axe head and you wouldn't
want use one for other if you're doing it more than once a year; and a
carpenter would use a different type of axe(s) than those.

And that's not a modern invention, it goes back for centuries. I'd guess that
even stone age flint tools have been specialized in similar ways.

------
ghshephard
That has to be some of most seasoned knot free wood ever split. I wonder how
many logs he had to go through to find stuff that split that well - 20 logs
for every one that did that?

Sledge Hammer, Splitting Maul gets the job done 95% of the time. "Eccentric
Axe" the other 5%.

Well - maybe, 85% Splitting Maul 12% Eccentric Axe, and 3% splitting wedge
(which typically has a torsion in it to create a turning effect to split the
wood.)

I would love to hear of an independent comparison of the Eccentric Axe versus
a Splitting maul.

The tire is a really great idea though.

~~~
jtheory
For those who aren't familiar:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splitting_maul](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splitting_maul)
\-- but I have to laugh to notice that the "related" tools listed are
Sledgehammer, Axe, and _War hammer_.

You're offering solutions that take significant strength -- someone who can't
safely swing a splitting maul or 20lb sledgehammer could still use this axe
and get a much better result than a normal axe, I think. A maul is great until
you get tired and hit a glancing blow; at which point you've got a heavy steel
wedge flying off at high velocity, and you'd better be strong enough to hold
on the other end of the handle.

My brother and I split a lot of wood as teenagers; our family heated our house
in NY with a wood-burning fireplace insert, using wood from the forested acre
or so around the house.

We definitely just powered through problematic logs, though -- e.g., splitting
maul, and we'd swing it hard. We had a couple of steel wedges and a
sledgehammer but hardly ever used them; normally it was faster to just beat
the heck out of the knotted/wet/whatever log with the maul.

I'm certainly curious to see how the eccentric axe handles bad wood -- though
in any case I suspect it'd decently handle the same logs a maul would, but
requiring less strength. You could always fall back to wedges plus a light
sledge (and patience) for the really nasty logs.

~~~
JackFr
When your using a good size maul, you really should let gravity do the work
for most of the logs. You really should only have to swing through on really
tough ones. (That isn't to say you don't need some strength -- picking up a
heavy maul over your head is not easy.)

I split a lot of wood in high school, while working for a tree cutting
company. After half a day of splitting with a 15-lb head, steel handled maul
you'd be unable to make a fist from the shock your hands took. We used to have
wood splitting competitions, in which you'd pick logs for your opponents. I
still remember one exceptionally knotty piece of cherry that a guy who I was
working with found for me. While he split all his logs, the maul would just
bounce of that log.

~~~
jtheory
I don't disagree -- esp. with decent logs, the strength you need for a maul is
more about safety when things go wrong than about swinging it; i.e., strength
grants control rather than brute force.

The head is heavy and out on a long handle specifically so you can apply a lot
of force just starting up high and letting it drop to the wood, but that works
against you if you miss your target and it goes flying off to the side.

And of course, if you've been at it for a while and are tiring, or you're less
strong to begin with, aim suffers.

> ...the maul would just bounce of that log

I remember a few like that! I'll bet it was also pretty green and/or water
logged... that would have that effect.

------
fit2rule
I thought it was already common knowledge among the axe-wielding cognescenti
that the way you chop wood, without tiring yourself out completely, is that
you add a little 'twist' to your down-swing, just as the blade makes contact,
that has the same leverage effect - albeit with a 'normal' blade.

I dunno, I guess I just learned that little twist from my uncle and
grandfather, and never really thought it was so magical. Not sure how I feel
about the safety of a mighty wood-cutting sharp blade being off-balance on the
downswing - sure, the guy in the video has a fairly safe setup, but if you
don't have the luxury (i.e. are a consumer who just bought one of these Wonder
Axes) of having a safety rig, the potential for mis-direction and glancing
blows from the axe being redirected towards the user seems pretty high ..

------
binarymax
I, as well as others, have a history of strained wrists when splitting wood
with a traditional axe. Clicking through to their website they recommend a
loose grip when the head is about to strike, allowing for the rotation to take
place. This makes sense because before you'd need a strong grip to hold onto
your axe to make sure it doesn't slip out of your hands when giving a swing
strong enough to split. Since you are swinging much more gently, this may
actually work! At the very least I am glad that I don't need to split wood
these days otherwise I'd give this a try in a second.

~~~
jakobe
Losening your grip just as the axe hits the wood also works for normal axes.
Makes chopping a lot easier on the wrist.

~~~
stcredzero
Aren't there materials that become semi-fluid when a shock is applied to them?
(The opposite of your non-Newtonian cornstarch fluid.) How about steel handled
mauls covered with something like that?

------
easy_rider
This is really cool. I've never split more than a couple dozen logs in my life
but Ray Mears teached me to wedge the blade to the side on impact. This seems
to emulate these physics. I'm not a big guy, and it's a pretty hard motion to
get in to when you're swinging down as hard as possible.

This seems like a very capable survival/bushcrafting tool for less
accomplished wood cutters.

tl;dr I wood buy.

~~~
dfc
This is a terrible survival/bushcraft tool. It is big and heavy which could be
acceptable if it was not single purpose.

My fellow Americans please do not hold this post against Ray Mears. He is
rather awesome. I am at a loss when it comes to thinking of his American
equivalent. We do not have a nice guy survival expert. Anyone I can think of
is not as famous and certainly not as kind spirited. The best way I can
describe him is Roy Underhill from the Woodwright's Shop does
bushcraft/survival skills in a Red coat.

~~~
easy_rider
Correct me if i'm wrong, but wouldn't this allow for a smaller force lever,
because the axe multiplies the forces and does not rely on the user to swing
hard enough with the right technique?

~~~
dfc
I don't want to "correct you" but if I had to correct you about something it
would not be on swinging technique or the physics of a lever. I do not think
that it is a good idea to identify the best wood splitting tool in a
laboratory environment and hang a ribbon around it that says "best
survival/bushcraft tool." Obviously all survival situations are different but
there does seem to be a certain mobility component in all survival situations.
This thing is 3ft(90cm) long and 5.5lbs(2.5kg). Not my first choice to carry
that up or down a rocky incline or beat a path through thick brush with it
awkwardly strapped to my back. However you might be able to talk me into the
extra weight and bulk if it did more than one thing. Unfortunately this thing
does not do anything else, but don't take my word for it "VIPUKIRVES™ is a
special tool designed for chopping firewood, not appropriate for carpentry
[AKA felling and hewing trees] or for use as a striking tool."[1] I love the
UNIX philosophy of do one thing and do it well, but you will notice that in
resource constrained environments the 100+ binaries from coreutils are
provided by a single small executable: busybox.

Tangent: When I was reading the description of the ax I thought it was strange
that the handle was birch instead of the hickory that I expected. I was
reminded of one of my favorite Ted Talks, "Have Broad Ax Will Travel", by Roy
Underhill. The handle is not hickory, because, according to Roy, "they
[Europeans] put their mountains on wrong, we thought ahead because we are
Americans."[2]

[1]: FAQ #3:
[http://www.vipukirves.fi/english/description.htm](http://www.vipukirves.fi/english/description.htm)

[2]: Skip to 10:00 if you just want to know which direction to orient your
mountains. But the entire video is definitely worth a full viewing.
[http://youtu.be/Au1TbIyLcPU](http://youtu.be/Au1TbIyLcPU)

------
tzury
This is the page you need to read!

[http://www.vipukirves.fi/english/description.htm](http://www.vipukirves.fi/english/description.htm)

~~~
dang
Yes. We changed it.

------
UweSchmidt
Alternative title:

"New axe design uses lever action to make splitting wood a lot easier"

"Uses physics" sounds like "Stand back: I'm going to try science" to me.

~~~
dfc
When I read "uses physics" my grumpy morning attitude thought "Sorcery would
have been cooler than Physics." How else does one split wood if not with
physics? As someone pointed out elsewhere the article is not well written, 15
seconds on the product's homepage and you get a better idea of what is
happening.

------
lafar6502
For me the greatest part of this innovation was putting the log into a car
tire.

------
wcfields
And for what is probably the least safe way to split wood,
[http://www.thestickler.com/](http://www.thestickler.com/)

It attaches to your car-axle and is a giant screw that splits wood.

------
ggchappell
This is an interesting idea. It's amazing to think that a tool like the axe --
which has been around for millennia -- can still be improved.

[OTOH, I've split a fair amount of wood. And I'd have to say that anyone who
thinks splitting wood with an axe is a good way to produce fuel for the
primary heat source for a house, is pretty much insane. It's exhausting work.
Get a powered splitter for goodness sake. :-) ]

~~~
psykovsky
But that wood is the kind that will heat you 2 times. You don't get that with
a powered splitter. ;)

------
barkingcat
A picture of the axe
[http://www.vipukirves.fi/images/isokuva_kirves1.jpg](http://www.vipukirves.fi/images/isokuva_kirves1.jpg)

~~~
vacri
Interesting that it's not just eccentric, but that it also has a guard on the
blade itself, to prevent it going too far into the wood.

------
arca_vorago
This looks dangerous to me. I grew up in the mountains, and consider them my
home. (The kind of place where the nearest walmart is an hour and a half drive
away, and everyone shares their elk kills and logs and chops their own wood)

One of the most dangerous things an axe can do is go sideways on you on the
hit, that sideways rebound or if the log falls away follow through can mean an
axe in the foot or leg for someone who has been chopping for a few hours and
is tired.

Also, proper drying of logs before splitting can't always be done, and that
log look _very_ dry and doesn't look knotty.

Honestly when I chop wood I keep three tools near, the normal sliceaxe, a
skinny thin and fast one for easy stuff, a larger wedge with splitter arms
([http://www.thehulltruth.com/attachments/dockside-
chat/282042...](http://www.thehulltruth.com/attachments/dockside-
chat/282042d1353172167-splitting-logs-1.jpg)) and a normal handless wedge and
hammer for the really hard stuff.

Just thought I'd share a little bit of info from a guy who spent many hours in
his youth chopping logs. If I was getting paid, I did sometimes cheat and use
a gas powered splitter... if you have two people working it the throughput can
be much higher than two people splitting normally.

~~~
agarden
The manufacturer's website says that the axe is specifically designed to
mitigate those risks.

> The Leveraxe also does not bounce wildly as might happen with traditional
> axe. The axe changes the kinetic energy to rotational motion and is much
> easier to control. It is much rarer that you would totally miss the log,
> because the sideways wing on top of the axe and the stopping knob beneath it
> ensure the axe will catch the log even if the striking edge would miss it.

> The length of Leveraxe handle (90 cm) is longer than in traditional axes.
> This provides more kinetic energy but is also an important safety feature.
> Even if the axe would continue past the log the trajectory will guide it to
> hit the ground before you instead of hitting your legs.

Agreed that his wood looks much drier than what one normally encounters.

------
josefresco
A lot of folks here are claiming that the type of wood being split makes a
huge difference and it's true, however...

To address this the video should show him using both a conventional axe, and
his version on the same wood. Apologies if he does this later in the video as
I didn't watch the entire thing.

------
Theodores
This famous quotation kind of needs an update:

 _" Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four
sharpening the axe."_ \- Some Famous American Bloke

~~~
poulsbohemian
Abraham Lincoln, as I recall.

------
bprater
Knotted wood is much more challenging to split.

Even with a hydraulic splitter, chunks of wood with lots of branches can stall
a machine pressing with tons of force. Great demo, but unrealistic unless you
only chop beautiful limbless tall oaks.

~~~
jimmaswell
I don't think they've ever stalled mine.

I've always liked how it's like a brute force analogy on those things. Just
keep pushing until it breaks, with literal tons of force.

~~~
unfamiliar
Be careful though, if you end up bending the shaft they are useless.

------
3rd3
That’s a typical tool one might find on Cool Tools:
[http://kk.org/cooltools/](http://kk.org/cooltools/)

They recently published a book wich is a lot of fun to browse through on a
lazy afternoon.

------
baq
if you ever tried to use an axe, the video in the article will look like
sorcery.

~~~
adamcharnock
That person can really swing an axe too. Very accurate.

------
jotm
This would hurt sooo many newbies... You're much better off with a normal axe
that won't try to twist and jump out of your hand every single time.

For wood cutting, the size of the axe head matters a lot - too small and it
doesn't have enough force, too large and it gets stuck very easily.

The length of the handle is also important - you'll fare much better with
longer ones, but the longer it is, the harder it is to aim and control.

As with anything, practice is key, but I'm pretty sure you don't want to start
with this axe.

------
hrkristian
I've spent nearly every winter growing up swinging axes, and I cringed a bit
when I saw him strike branches.

For the most part the axe does a wonderful job against anything, and that guy
has ridiculously good aim, but anyone who have at some point been bad at
chopping wood probably knows those twists to the side can do a real number on
your wrists and hands. It seems to happen quite a bit.

It's still an amazing innovation, and I hope to be able to pick one up as a
gift. The article is sadly not very informative.

~~~
claudius
I have no idea about axes in general, so please acquire a large piece of
silicon dioxide before reading on.

That said, it seems that the problem with traditional axes is the large amount
of friction from penetrating the wood. This requires a firm grip of the handle
and long swings to induce sufficient kinetic energy in the head of the axe.
With the rotational design, much less energy is needed, allowing for a) a
loose grip of the handle and b) shorter swings, which in turn allow for better
aim.

But, as ghshephard wrote, some additional/independent information might be
very nice.

~~~
StavrosK
Silicon oxide? Take it with a grain of... quartz?

~~~
graeham
Sand. Probably meant a grain of sodium chloride! :)

~~~
thaumasiotes
Sand is silicon dioxide. Quartz is the same stuff. But if for whatever reason
you have to acquire a "large piece"... quartz is much prettier ;)

------
johnobrien1010
From the website, it looks like it costs $266. I think you'd have to being
chopping a lot of wood for it to be worth it to get that expensive of an ax,
even if it is better.

------
yukichan
This may be an unpopular reply, but splitting fire wood sounds like you're
going to be making an open fire. Open fires are a danger to your health:

[http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-fireplace-
delusion](http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-fireplace-delusion)

> "The unhappy truth about burning wood has been scientifically established to
> a moral certainty: That nice, cozy fire in your fireplace is bad for you. It
> is bad for your children. It is bad for your neighbors and their children."

[http://www.epa.gov/burnwise/healtheffects.html](http://www.epa.gov/burnwise/healtheffects.html)

> "Smoke is made up of a complex mixture of gases and particles produced when
> wood and other organic matter burn. A major health threat from smoke comes
> from fine particles (also called particle pollution, particulate matter, or
> PM). These microscopic particles can get into your eyes and respiratory
> system, where they can cause health problems such as burning eyes, runny
> nose, and illnesses such as bronchitis. In addition to particle pollution,
> wood smoke contains several toxic harmful air pollutants including: benzene,
> formaldhyde, acrolein and methane."

~~~
dfc
I do not know if it is going to be an unpopular reply but it could be a naive
reply. Firewood can also be used in wood burning stoves. Furthermore what do
you and Prof. Harris recommend for camping trips?

~~~
yukichan
I simply commented on the evidence of dangers from smoke on open fires. I
haven't anything else to say. If the comment doesn't apply to you feel free to
ignore it.

~~~
darkarmani
> I simply commented on the evidence of dangers from smoke on open fires.

But you haven't quantified the danger. Sunlight is hazardous to your health
along with internal combustion engines. Neither of those links quantify the
danger, so it doesn't really provide any information. Maybe the danger is so
low that the stress relief a fire provides is less than the danger the smoke
creates? The net sum could be negative.

------
KhalilK
I am most impressed by the use of the tire to keep the wood upright and
positioned.

------
joryhatton
First question of the FAQ...

"Question 1: Can VIPUKIRVES™ be used by a woman?"

~~~
unfamiliar
"In practice, everybody who has tried splitting wood with a traditional axe
knows that it takes a lot of power to penetrate and split the wood.
Consequently, women and children may have serious trouble operating the
traditional axe."

As a physically weak male specimen this amuses me very much.

~~~
jontro
This statement and the faq entry seems so out of touch with reality...

------
ISL
This axe isn't the only one that can deliver such a video. Good wood and a
proper splitting axe allows similar results.

The tire trick, or a bungee cord, can allow big gains in speed.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvuibTcEdmg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvuibTcEdmg)

~~~
ricardobeat
That is quick, but still the axe gets lodged in the wood at least four times
in that video.

------
marktangotango
I'm amazed how many of you have used an axe. Nothing to add, you all have said
it all :)

------
iamthepieman
For splitting wood from a fallen tree or cleaning up around the property a
regular axe and splitting maul are fine. When I've had to split enough wood to
burn for the winter I always just rent a hitch-mounted hydraulic splitter. 60
bucks and I can do 5 cords in day.

This tool could possibly take the place a of a splitting maul but a great
advantage of the maul is it can be used to split knotty wood that doesn't have
straight grain. It takes a bunch of swings and force but does get the job
done. With the wide head of the Vipukirv it wouldn't be able to get down to
the center of a half-split log.

------
mowfask
25cm birch logs surely are fun to split. With any kind of axe.

We use to chop 1m (~3feet) logs of a lot more compact wood (oak, beech), and
this looks like a toy to me. Has anyone seen it used on more serious logs?

------
GalacticDomin8r
It's pretty easy to known who really knows how to split wood with any kind of
axe. You start on the outside working your way in splitting off sections that
look like they present the best chance to avoid a knot. Anything other than
that is snake oil and bluster.

And no, I'm not buying one of these axes, a traditional splitting axe works
very well. I don't see how the featured axe could offer anything beyond the
traditional since you aren't constrained to a plumb blow as the marketing
would have you to believe.

------
micro_cam
Neat idea and i'd love to try it but i'd need to see it side by side with a
good maul which makes use of physics in a few ways.

Especially with dry lodge pole pine I can do about as well as the guy in the
video does with my six pound maul and I'm our of practice though I split a lot
of wood as a kid.

On a related note, I wonder if anyone on hacker news has a favorite wood
stove...I'm really intrigued by the new efficient, low emission ones but they
are costly and in depth reviews are sparse.

------
orky56
The key here is that the axe splits the wood rather than forcefully gets into
the wood. Not sure how this is different? Try turning the wood on its side and
see how the axe works then. By striking it parallel to the wood structure, it
separates the wood from the point of impact. If one were to strike it
orthogonal to the wood structure, this would be pretty pointless.

------
Zigurd
This makes me want to instrument my wood splitting. I suspect that I will find
that improving the fast splitting is less important than avoiding or improving
the outcomes for the toughest pieces to split.

A bit like finding that a faster cache that doesn't reduce cache misses or the
cost of cache misses can disappoint when measuring overall performance.

------
kofejnik
You can get the same effect using an angled strike with a regular axe, here's
some Russian dude demoing it with a big fresh pine log:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Os...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=OsVvCQLx5QI#t=304)

------
VaedaStrike
Is it just me or does it really look like an incisor?

I wonder if similar physical principles are at work in making their appearance
similar.

------
emiliobumachar
This is one of those inventions, like the hot-air baloon, for which we had all
the prerequisite technology for _ages_.

------
dynofuz
Looks like this is more primitive knowledge being rediscovered. Note how
cavemen axes were stones tied to the side of a stick.
[http://www.cbsnews.com/news/evidence-uncovered-of-worlds-
old...](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/evidence-uncovered-of-worlds-oldest-
violent-argument/)

------
dirktheman
Accurate axeman, but with that kind of neat log I guess you can have the same
results with a regular axe and a good technique.

It's very hard to improve something that has been around for the past 35,000
years, I guess. Maybe they're better of working on that car tire so that it
can accomodate logs of different diameters.

------
zomg
there's nothing new or innovative here. people have been doing this for
years... it really depends on the KIND of wood you're chopping. this guy has
it down to an art: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vThcK-
idm0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vThcK-idm0)

------
sbierwagen

      Leveraxe is faster than a hydraulic splitter.
    

Faster than a small one, maybe. The larger ones are pretty damn quick, as
you'd want them to, for the price:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knZkc_vzGUE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knZkc_vzGUE)

~~~
masklinn
That thing is awe-inspiring, the spec sheet quotes 16 tonnes in high-power
mode (split speed of 2.6s) and 7.5 tonnes in high-speed mode (split speed of
1.85s), with a cut length of 68cm

------
jhallenworld
Off topic perhaps, but I switched from oil/steam to gas forced hot air last
year. Between the 96% efficient furnace and new gas hot water heater (compared
with the 75% oil / steam with super inefficient continuous hot water
attachment) and the fracking boom, I can report that gas is much, much
cheaper: for me $3500 -> $700 / year for a 1100 sq/ft apartment near Boston.

[http://theenergycollective.com/lindsay-
wilson/307486/heating...](http://theenergycollective.com/lindsay-
wilson/307486/heating-cost-comparison-oil-heat-vs-gas-heat-vs-electric-heat-
prices)

A heat pump with ground heat-sink may be a better long term option, but it's
much more expensive. Also I'm pretty sure the gas is more efficient when
considering the power plant and transmission line losses.

Even better would be a home gas co-generation plant. Honda has such a thing,
but again not cheap:

[http://world.honda.com/powerproducts-
technology/cogeneration...](http://world.honda.com/powerproducts-
technology/cogeneration/)

------
paul_f
You know what really annoys me? People are now so used to gas starters or
starter logs, that they don't split their wood at all. Just pile up the whole
pieces and try to start a fire. Then fight it for three hours and end up with
smoke a bunch of half burnt wood.

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johngalt
Interesting cross between an axe and a froe. Gives you the levering action of
a froe in one motion.

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3pt14159
I needed to break up a bunch of concrete back in the day, so I bought a medium
duty jackhammer. Later, I discovered the joy of easily splitting wood.

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vanderZwan
As a left-handed person: great, another lethal tool optimised for right-handed
people and therefore more unwieldy and dangerous for us.

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rubberbandage
No, they address that in their FAQ. They found no difference in use for right
or left-handed people. Hooray from a fellow leftie!

~~~
vanderZwan
Oh, that's good to hear! A quick CTRL+F for "left-handed" did not give any
results, but I should have just looked for "left"

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praeivis
After awhile your hands will hurt. For few choppings per day maybe not bad,
but price...

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viggity
cool axe. FWIW, an easier/more efficient way of keeping the wood together
while spiting it is a bungie cord. Using a tire only works if you have a
relatively big logs.

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adambware
Such beauty in the simplicity of this concept!

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anactofgod
Archimedes would approve.

