Single bit or double bit traditional axe for splitting wood?

T

thunderstick

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Jan 15, 2007
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A traditional double bit or single bit axe for splitting wood--which do you prefer and why?
Please keep discussion to traditional axes only--not including specialized splitting axes or mauls in this discussion.

I prefer a single bit with a high center for splitting. I don't prefer pulling out DBs with a razor edge aimed up towards me. I prefer a poll when splitting with a twist rather than another long bit to cut off the angle of twist. I have found in straight grain easy splitting wood the double bit works just as well but in the harder splitting wood I think the SB has some advantages.
 
thunderstick said:
A traditional double bit or single bit axe for splitting wood--which do you prefer and why?
Please keep discussion to traditional axes only--not including specialized splitting axes or mauls in this discussion.

I prefer a single bit with a high center for splitting. I don't prefer pulling out DBs with a razor edge aimed up towards me. I prefer a poll when splitting with a twist rather than another long bit to cut off the angle of twist. I have found in straight grain easy splitting wood the double bit works just as well but in the harder splitting wood I think the SB has some advantages.
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I think you have answered your own question. Couldn't have phrased it better.

Tom
 
Gas-powered hydraulic has got to be first, thick-cheeked axe or maul second, any number of others and double-bit has got to be the very last. I have never seen a double-bit that was designed/built specifically for splitting wood. Makes no sense. How would you ever get the GD thing loose when stuck if there was another blade was pointed right in your face?
 
I use a standard Michigan head on a synthetic handle for anything that's either small enough or splits easy enough not to need a maul. Generally I avoid using the maul when I can get away with it. It goes faster if I only have to lift a 3 pound head rather than a 6 pound one over and over again and at the end of the day my back prefers the axe. The axe is also gentler on my chopping block and doesn't send the wood flying as far (which I view as a plus when I have to pick it up to stack). I use the synthetic handle because any splitting tool is going to encounter overstrike at some point and as much as I enjoy fitting a new handle I don't feel it should happen that often.
 
Alocksly said:
The axe is also gentler on my chopping block and doesn't send the wood flying as far (which I view as a plus when I have to pick it up to stack).
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Good points. The idea is to split the wood not send it flying. Flying wood is wasted energy. Part of the skill of splitting wood is judging how strong each blow needs to be to get the job done without wiping out the chopping block and sending wood all over the yard. Ideally the splitting stroke will leave one string of wood remaining just to keep the round together on the block for the next stroke. That remaining string should be small enough to to break on its own when you pick up the wood or knock it off the block. I don't get that ideal split as often as I'd like but it sure is satisfying when I do.
 
I split a LOT of wood every year and use mainly an old Kelly hand made double bit. Picked it up for a buck about 25 years ago and am on only the second handle. This winter I found an old single bit Michigan style head in an old house I was working on and handled that. It splits ok, but I still like my Kelly. Also have a black knight splitting maul and a gas powered wood splitter, but seldom use it. I like doing it the old fashioned way.
 
I was hoping at least one advocate of the DB axe would chime in. I have tried my high center DB a number of times but just can't get to like it as much for splitting. Why do you prefer your DB Kelly over a comparable SB?
 
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