Physics-exploiting axe splits wood in record time - Galt's Gulch

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Physics-exploiting axe splits wood in record time

Posted by Eudaimonia 10 years, 10 months ago to Science

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One of the oldest human tools reinvented.
This is kinda cool.

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SOURCE URL: http://www.geek.com/news/physics-exploiting-axe-splits-wood-in-record-time-1591725/

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Posted by Herb7734 10 years, 10 months ago

A great illustration of the never-ending inventiveness of man. Just imagine -- an improvement on a tool that has remained basically the same for thousands of years. I wonder how many other commonly used items could be improved upon?

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  Posted by Eudaimonia 10 years, 10 months ago
  
  Exactly. +1
  
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Posted by iroseland 10 years, 10 months ago

Its been a very long time and I don't particularly miss splitting wood. But dammm I would have killed for that thing back then..

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Posted by johnrobert2 10 years, 10 months ago

Neat axe but what was the most enlightening was the use of the tire to contain the wood while splitting.

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  Posted by Eudaimonia 10 years, 10 months ago
  
  A lot of people on the article thread also commented on the tire.
  
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  Posted by preimert1 10 years, 10 months ago
  
  Yeah, that use of an old tire in and of itself is ingenious since you don't have to pick up the individual splits for the next cuts. Wonder it would work as well with a regular axe?
  
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    Posted by johnrobert2 10 years, 10 months ago
    
    Don't know why not. Plan to try next time I split wood. Although splitting birch (?), as he was, may be different from oak I would be splitting. Also, the wood looked cured, not fresh cut. Could make a difference with that type of wood. Would probably work for pine, also cured.
    
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Posted by NealS 10 years, 10 months ago

Most of my firewood doesn't split that easy and much it has knots. Since I'm now 72 years old, I use a Northern Tool 30-Ton Vertical and/or Horizontal Splitter. Works Great.

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Posted by plusaf 10 years, 10 months ago

Yep, innovative, efficient and wonderful for firewood-splitting. Useless for wood-turners...

But if I ever needed a wood-splitting axe, that would be my weapon of choice!

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Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 10 years, 10 months ago

Awesome! Now that wood burning stoves are being outlawed...

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Posted by Snoogoo 10 years, 10 months ago

Has it been banned yet?

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Posted by Kittyhawk 10 years, 10 months ago

I love this example of ingenuity! Thanks for sharing it, very inspiring!

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Posted by jlc 10 years, 10 months ago

I will wait for the price to go down...but then I will buy one. Wow. How can I not? (See prior thread on buying stuff to make yourself happy. Sigh - but this is such a 'helpful toy' [rationalization alert!!].)

When camping and using fallen softwood (alder), I find that smashing the wood (against a granite boulder) is TONS more efficient than cutting it with an axe. I find fallen wood that is 4-6" in diameter, and each smash can break off a chunk about the length of my forearm.

Jan

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Posted by johnpe1 10 years, 10 months ago

I have been using this technique for decades, with a traditional 8 pound maul. you swing it with a slight spin (think of it as "English") which generates a twist at impact, prying the wood apart shortly after the blade enters the wood. right-handed, I find that a slight counter-clockwise spin is easiest. [entered this comment without reading any of the other comments] -- j

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Posted by Susanne 10 years, 10 months ago

I wonder how it would do on some of the knottier local woods (Oak, Walnut, Almond)? We normally burn through a few cords every winter, and I've been tempted to get a hydraulic splitter, but that may change the equation. Pretty nifty axe! (And the tire idea... that's one of those Why didn't I think of that things...)

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Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 10 months ago

OK, that's cool. But, those logs were also incredibly dry and cold. I suspect that a traditional axe blade could have done a similar job.

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Posted by kathywiso 10 years, 10 months ago

Have to say that looks so much easier than when I did it.. Nice product. May need to get a few for the prepper inventory :-)

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Posted by barwick11 10 years, 10 months ago

That's pretty sweet (the axe).

On the tire everyon ekeeps talking about, I used to split my wood with a tire at the old house, it's super duper handy if you have the right size tire and splitting block.

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  Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 10 months ago
  
  Correct. If you have too small of a log, you're going to get the split pieces falling over and jammed in or under the tire, and if the log is too large, there won't be enough room around the log to allow for the pieces to split apart. But, overall, a neat idea. I could maybe see a metal cable wrapped around the log to hold it in place, with the ends attached to a fixed post via bungy or springs to allow for variations in size and to let the pieces split off but not fly off. Hmmm - maybe I should get a patent app in on that?
  
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Posted by wiggys 10 years, 10 months ago

absolutely fabulous product.
it should sell well in Alaska.

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Posted by Temlakos 10 years, 10 months ago

Sounds like the kind of ax that Andrew Stockton might have invented during the great strike. If would have been just the thing when so many men made their permanent homes in the valley, and they all built them out of wood.

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  Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 10 months ago
  
  Wouldn't do well for felling trees, just splitting logs for firewood.
  
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Posted by SRS66East 10 years, 10 months ago

OK that is awesome!

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Posted by Maphesdus 10 years, 10 months ago

Awesome. I don't even ever split wood, but that video makes me want one anyway.

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