Splitting large rounds of wood without the proper tools !

[Thomas Linton]

Not an axe-making company out there won't tell you that the pole of an axe is not meant to be pounded with a steel tool. They are left too soft so they can stand the impacts of the blade against hard wood. You will mushroom over the edges and/or reshape the eye if they have a conventional eye and handle. Just a matter of time (That's the title to a song as well. ).

You can split big rounds by taking off smaller sections from the edge - sorta like makin' shingles - with the same split/wedge technique. Small teeth. Small bites

 

[ZombaiO]

not good for your axe to beat on it with a hammer. Either get a heavier baton or put a piece of wood on the back of the axe and beat on the wood with the hammer.

That's right!I've broken an axe that way(not the handle - the metal part of it ).Well,it was a chep 2 $ chinese axe...But after that i've never tried it again
I have the largest spliting axe from Fiskars and it goes trough that sized hard wood like trough butter .Gonna get one of those smaller Fiskars,like your Gerber.
Aren't Fiskars and Gerber axes identhical,just the brands are diferent.Fiskars owns Gerber,right ?

 

[baldtaco-II]

"Aren't Fiskars and Gerber axes identhical,just the brands are diferent.Fiskars owns Gerber,right?"

Yup. And you can throw Wilkinson Sword into that mix too. Here you can get the familiar Gerber / Fiskars synthetic jobs exactly as you are familiar with them but with Wilkinson Sword written on them, although they do have Fiskars printed on them too in small print. Same as with the Fiskars Gardening being the cheaper route to the Gerber Sport, Wilkinson Sword Gardening... The only difference I've seen is that you can get the Wilkinson Sword on a wooden shaft too, but not the other two.

As for striking with metal. I've no first hand knowledge of one breaking, but I have had a chip nick and me in the face. That was scary enough. What was proper scary was digging a match head size lump out my mates hand. That was a few moments after my face got the little cut. It hit his hand and traveled about a cm along under the skin. I pulled it out the way it went in with tweezers. Yup, the folly of youth. That was whacking an Estwing with a bolster. Sod that for a game of shrapnel.