Wood splitting with the Twist

If you are splitting with an axe this is the best technique to use. It prevents a lot of sticks in the wood and hits into the ground. True also that it saves the handle. For larger or twisted grain wood I would use a maul, but I don't like using the twist technique with a maul. With a maul I like using a chopping block and straight powerful blows. Splitting large or twisted wood with a maul is a tremendous physical fitness exercise and I like to push myself and expend energy for the strength and cardio benefits. If I'm splitting with a traditional axe I prefer a SB over a DB as I believe the twist technique is more effective with the poll weight concentrated at the far end of the axe. When the axe strikes with a twist the weight of the poll keeps driving down with momentum to leverage the wood apart. The DB has the weight concentrated in the center and does not give as much leverage. To me the DB is at its best as a felling/chopping tool and is inferior as a splitting tool except on the smaller straight grained wood that was demonstrated in the videos.

My favorite all-round splitting tool has become the Fiskars 36" splitting axe. With this tool you can benefit from keeping it very sharp and use it effectively with straight blows or the twist. Its virtually indestructible with reasonable usage and will outsplit a regular axe if you have some tougher wood mixed in.

Having said all that I greatly respect females who are both willing to learn and work in the outdoors and yet be lady enough to wear dresses--great video. My wife has worked along side me in her skirt through all types of building projects and outdoor activities--roughing it and being a lady...like our pioneer ladies.
 
thunderstick said:
If you are splitting with an axe this is the best technique to use. It prevents a lot of sticks in the wood and hits into the ground. True also that it saves the handle. For larger or twisted grain wood I would use a maul, but I don't like using the twist technique with a maul. With a maul I like using a chopping block and straight powerful blows. Splitting large or twisted wood with a maul is a tremendous physical fitness exercise and I like to push myself and expend energy for the strength and cardio benefits. If I'm splitting with a traditional axe I prefer a SB over a DB as I believe the twist technique is more effective with the poll weight concentrated at the far end of the axe. When the axe strikes with a twist the weight of the poll keeps driving down with momentum to leverage the wood apart. The DB has the weight concentrated in the center and does not give as much leverage. To me the DB is at its best as a felling/chopping tool and is inferior as a splitting tool except on the smaller straight grained wood that was demonstrated in the videos.

My favorite all-round splitting tool has become the Fiskars 36" splitting axe. With this tool you can benefit from keeping it very sharp and use it effectively with straight blows or the twist. Its virtually indestructible with reasonable usage and will outsplit a regular axe if you have some tougher wood mixed in.

Having said all that I greatly respect females who are both willing to learn and work in the outdoors and yet be lady enough to wear dresses--great video. My wife has worked along side me in her skirt through all types of building projects and outdoor activities--roughing it and being a lady...like our pioneer ladies.
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Excellent post, Thunderstick. I agree with your assessment of single bits being preferable for splitting while double bits are fine choppers/fellers.

I sometimes use the twist method and sometimes use the straight-swing method. I like gauging how much force it will take to make a particular split and I find pleasure when I hit the wood just hard enough.

I worked on a trails project last week with a young woman who could swing an axe with the best of them. It's fun to see a stereotype blasted all to hell. :D
She told me about her time in trailwork school. The first two weeks each student had to demonstrate that their axe would shave the hair off their arm before they went out to work. What a great lesson for a young trail builder.
 
Here's a video showing a splitting contest between one guy with an axe (using the Twist method) against 2 guys with a splitting machine.

[video=youtube;95Z2UXEFUIw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Z2UXEFUIw[/video]

(suggested in a comment to the AxeConnected blog)
 
Steve Tall said:
Here's a video showing a splitting contest between one guy with an axe (using the Twist method) against 2 guys with a splitting machine.

[video=youtube;95Z2UXEFUIw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Z2UXEFUIw[/video]

(suggested in a comment to the AxeConnected blog)
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Awesome vid
"Machines are gonna fail and the system's gonna fail...then, survival. Who has the ability to survive? That's the game - survive."
 
Sparrow92 said:
Thanks for posting this video, Steve!
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I'd like to introduce Sparrow92 to the forum, she is the 19-year-old woodchopper who appears in the first two videos in this thread. (She's also, as she says, "the girl who never finished that log cabin" which appears in a previous thread "Log Cabin in Progress".)
 
Steve Tall said:
I'd like to introduce Sparrow92 to the forum, she is the 19-year-old woodchopper who appears in the first two videos in this thread. (She's also, as she says, "the girl who never finished that log cabin" which appears in a previous thread "Log Cabin in Progress".)
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Wood Splitter said:
Welcome to the forum Sparrow!
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Thanks for the welcome to this forum. I've actually been following it on and off ever since it was brought our attention over a year ago, just never made any comments, thinking that whatever I could add to the discussions would not be all that useful or interesting… so I usually keep quiet. :)
 
Sparrow92 said:
Thanks for the welcome to this forum. I've actually been following it on and off ever since it was brought our attention over a year ago, just never made any comments, thinking that whatever I could add to the discussions would not be all that useful or interesting… so I usually keep quiet. :)
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By all means, add to the conversation. It being useful or not depends on the person reading it;)

I am still learning about axes myself (with the immense help of this forum). I am only 15, but I have been using axes for going on 5 years.

I would consider myself good with an axe, but no wear near as good some of the old timers I have seen.

I guess axe use is kind of in my family... my grandpa was a logger, and participated (and actually set up) the loggers sports in his area...Won every competition he entered too:) Including axe trowing.
I have actually inherited my grandpa's fathers Gransfors Bruks double bit from my dad. It's a 3 1/2lb on its original 35" helve. I believe it was made around 1910.

I would love to see some pictures of the double bit you were using in those two videos. You could start a new thread on it, and/or you could post up a picture or two over in the photo thread I started.

Reno
 
Welcome, Sparrow!
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I have a friend your age who has lived her entire life off grid. You're not the only one your age who appreciates learning traditional skills. I think it's very cool.

P.S. - How's the weather down south in New Brunswick? :D
I'm in Washington State at about the same latitude as Cambellton.
 
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Welcome Sparrow!

Here's another video about Tom Clark, he shows off his "Buster" a bit more in this one. Oh, to run across one of those at a flea market someday!

[video=youtube;_BxCmG5sG6A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BxCmG5sG6A&feature=relmfu[/video]
 
nickzdon said:
Welcome Sparrow!

Here's another video about Tom Clark, he shows off his "Buster" a bit more in this one. Oh, to run across one of those at a flea market someday!
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I have a 5 lb German made ATCO that looks similar to the axe he was using. Defenitely not the same but has the long bit and very heavy poll. Hung on a 38" handle. Wish I had some big diameter wood to split but I cleared all the big stuff out of the wood lot I'm working in months ago- all split and stacked now...
 
Wood Splitter said:
I guess axe use is kind of in my family... my grandpa was a logger, and participated (and actually set up) the loggers sports in his area...Won every competition he entered too:) Including axe trowing.
I have actually inherited my grandpa's fathers Gransfors Bruks double bit from my dad. It's a 3 1/2lb on its original 35" helve. I believe it was made around 1910.
I would love to see some pictures of the double bit you were using in those two videos. You could start a new thread on it, and/or you could post up a picture or two over in the photo thread I started.
Reno
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Do you actually use the ax you inherited, or as a 'family heirloom' is just hung on the wall?
The guy who owned the double bit I now use was going to try and figure out when it was made, but I don't know if it would be over a 100 years old!
I actually have only two photos of that double bit, one posted over at AxeConnected; the other just taken yesterday after doing some splitting. (I'll post the photo sometime soon.) Nothing too showy looking; it's seen some rough days, but it still works great!
 
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