I still have a hard time watching that video. It looks like the head rotates a good 45 deg. or more every time he strikes the wood. It may appear to split that soft wood fast, but I think there is a lot of wasted energy there and a large potential for injury. I have a little experience using an axe and much more using a sledge hammer. Little background: I used to set up large circus tents for years using 3 foot wood stakes and 20 lb. sledge hammers. Any hit with a sledge hammer that wasn't square with the head of the stake resulted in a loud thud-like sound. It sent vibrations though the stake making it harder to hit on the next swing. Usually the stake made no downward progress. And the sledge handle would vibrate and twist in your hands, causing your forearms to tire faster. While at the same time you were trying to readjust your grip before your next swing came around, sometimes messing up the whole process. The reason I'm saying all this is that all that vibration, noise, and twisting, was the direct result of wasted energy. A solid square strike made a beautiful sound, sending all of its energy directly down from the steel through the length of the stake and into the earth. Consequently, if you could string together a bunch of "good" hits, less energy was exerted, your hands didn't blister or hurt as much, and the job was done faster. Now, I understand that when splitting wood, not all people want the energy being longitudinal. They want some lateral energy to cause the wood to split off to the side, which this head does in an erratic unnatural way. I'm curious to see what happens when different types of wood are split, harder woods with knots and such. I could see where extended use could cause hand, wrist, forearm, or elbow pain. I think there are safer, more efficient (not necessarily faster) ways to do this than using a warped piece of steel that if used in any other type of chopping, pounding, or striking movement, it would be tossed into the melt pile. I'd personally see how this thing stands the test of time before spending any money on it. Anyone have similar concerns?
