Fiskars accident

murphy,

Sorry to hear about that. I had an accident a while back with my thumb and a knife so I feel your pain (literally.)

I always wear steel toed boots - I forget what brand and where I got em from. I want to say Costco but who knows. The big thing is to have some kind of foot protection whenever you're working. With me, its more likely that I drop a round on my toe or something which would hurt a lot too.

Regarding the Fiskars, I'm about your height and one thing I do to avoid my feet is bend my knees a lot. I end up in a sort of squat. If the Super Splitter glances off a round, it'll be nowhere near my feet.

Yeeks... glad things werent worse. I really want to try one, but all this kinda talk - and the fact they are suppose to be comming out with a longer handled one and I think I'll wait for that.

Anyone know when the long handled one is suppose to be out?

HeatsTwice said:

I am a white collar dude who wishes he was a blue collar dude.

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Be careful what you ask for. I speak from experience.

New long-handled Fiskars due out in Jan. '11 ( I heard,anyway )

murphy0421 said:

Thanks for the replies. I too am a teacher and only need the boots to split wood on the weekends. I have done some more research on this site and the rest of the net.

One question, would any steal toe heavy duty boot be acceptable? Or do most people use something specific to chainsawing. I don't mind spending a little extra if this won't happen again. I also plan to exercise a little more caution when splitting from now on. Speed was the name of the game, now it will be safety.

I haven't tried the old tire trick but I do use old bike tubes to hold the rounds together while splitting them. The tire might provide more bounce back if my swing is off.

Any suggestions welcome.

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I'd suggest a 6 lb. maul with a std long handle. A maul is a wood-splitting tool, whereas an axe is an edge tool- meant for cutting. IME, an axe used for splitting anything bigger than kindling is very dangerous.

Technique matters. Put the target up on a block, and work on your swing so that when the head hits, the handle is level.
Then work on the speed. After a while, you may find your feet leaving the ground.

Steel toe would help; even better would be a steel instep guard.

Heads of axes and mauls are made of steEl. :coolsmile:

CTYank said:

I'd suggest a 6 lb. maul with a std long handle. A maul is a wood-splitting tool, whereas an axe is an edge tool- meant for cutting. IME, an axe used for splitting anything bigger than kindling is very dangerous.

Technique matters. Put the target up on a block, and work on your swing so that when the head hits, the handle is level.
Then work on the speed. After a while, you may find your feet leaving the ground.

Steel toe would help; even better would be a steel instep guard.

Heads of axes and mauls are made of steEl. :coolsmile:

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Have you ever tried a Fiskars SSA? It is not really an axe or a maul, exclusively, but it certainly is a wood splitting tool. I'd even describe it as a hybrid of the two or a splitting wedge on an axe handle. The head does not flare out from heel to toe as is typical with chopping axes.

Most people who have bad things to say about the Fiskars SSA have never used one.

I split some honey locust after work today. The rounds were directly on the ground and the SS powered through them and hit the gravel.

Dulled the hell out of the edge, but its all sharpened up and ready to go tommarrow.

I took my Fiskars SS out to my wood lot this afternoon to split some wood in order to test my new moisture meter. The SS went through many pieces of water oak (all cut about 18 inches long) like a knife through butter with very little effort. Bounced right off a few pignut hickory rounds. And I have several 24 inch rounds from another water oak that was hit by lightning about four years ago. I cut it down and bucked, split, stacked and burned all of the top but, unfortunately never got around to doing anything with almost 20 feet of 24 inch trunk. So, it's being laying on the ground rotting. Today, I shaved off a three to four inch ring of punky rot. The inner core, 12-14 inches or better, is still so solid that the SS had a devil of a time splitting it, but finally did. At least I know that log isn't going to be a total waste, once I scrape off that punky rot.

I appreciate this post. Sorry for your injury, but I will take it to heart and learn from it.

I have the same yellow Home Depot axe and it's getting worn. I just ordered the Fiskar SSA and will make sure I wear my steel toe boots. I will also use a tire and mind the sharp edge.

I wish I had known they were coming out with something new and a longer handle. I think mine said 28 inches?

My maul and axe now are dull and I doubt they could cut my skin if I was splitting bare foot, but the Fiskars could probably fillet a fish.