Estwing Fireside Friend

http://www.amazon.com/Estwing-Fireside-Splitting-Nylon-Vinyl-Cushion/dp/B000HAEI1A

Any one have one of these things? I am looking for something small to make kindling myself. Just a few reviews on amazon and they sound positive.

much cheaper at sears
http://www.sears.com/estwing-fireside-friend-splitting-tool/p-00979493000P

FWIW I have http://www2.fiskars.com/Products/Yard-and-Garden/Axes-and-Striking/X5-Hatchet-8

The place I ordered my bigger one had a deal, I picked up the smaller one for 1/2 off with the purchase of the bigger one.

Diane,

This is my absolute favorite tool to make kindling and split small rounds. It comes in very handy and is well made and well balanced. As you can see I even post it in my signature. You won't regret buying it, well worth the money.

Should work nice & have good control.
(Made in USA , a rare find)
Do you use allot of kindling?

how about this one? must be a misprint

http://www.sears.com/estwing-axes-ff4-fireside-friend-splitting-tool-with/p-SPM6088594904P

I've been using a plain ol' hatchet. It's hard to tell from the pic; Does that thing have a wider head? If so, I'd think it would pop kindling apart easier than a hatchet. Not that I'm looking for ways to spend more money...

I got one last year at Lowes and really like it.

Cool
I bet they (Ramsplitter) comes to your shop to as questions on what features to put on their new designs for log splitters.
Do you get a consulting fee? $$

Thanks for bringing this up ! I've been looking for something to go along with my fiskars hatchet but with a bit more weight for seating wedges.

Useful tool for opening up a split to check the MC.

I use to split a lot of kindling, but now I use Super Cedars with a lot less kindling.

The head is much wider and has a nice weight to it. It easily splits kindling and I rarely use my small hatchet to split kindling anymore. My wife is also a big fan of the Estwing fireside friend and also grabs it before I can when we are preparing the kindling. I purchased one at Home Depot for around $30 a few years back.

I picked up one of the Fireside Friends this past winter to help my wife split up kindling when I wasnt home. Not great for accuracy, but its a 4 lb head, so it really makes quick work of kindling. We keep it next to the boiler, and it has worked amazingly well for us. Very glad I made the investment, works better than a hatchet for me.

I bought one today at home depot - $33. Brought it home and started to test it out. It is definitely something I can handle for making kindling. My husband was splitting up the big stuff that was still left from a maple coming down in our yard. I was able to take the half splits and create kindling size pieces no problems. I have not tried it in oak or ash. Our neighbor was over and he was a bit surprised to see me splitting as I am usually the stacker. Definitely a good ab work out I must say...tell my kids all the time to forget about the gym - just come over and we will give them a good work out. The whole family did take a nice hike out to our wood lot - we did not take the jeep and glad we did as the road had so many wash outs. Hike out was about 2.5 miles, quick a rocky road now and mostly uphill.

These things are great for making kindling. I picked one up this summer and am very pleased with it.

A word of warning. They are very sharp. Don't ask me how I know...

I found out the hard way tonight. I have no idea how I did this. I was splitting a bunch of scrap 2x4s for kindling. I must have steadied a small split with my left hand and the Fireside glanced off the side. Dumb dumb dumb. 46 years old and never had stitches. Got 8 tonight. At least I was in and out of the ER in under 1 1/2 hours.

That must have hurt big time!

I hate when that happens!

Ouch! Hard to believe you've never had stitches before. I must be way dumber than you...
I picked up an FF, and it works great. The Buck 91 needs a lot of flame in the box to get up to temp from a cold start, so I've been splitting some soft Maple into 1.5-2" splits. The 4# head is great for that. The kindling yields a good coal bed quickly and gets the stove temp up in a hurry, then I pack in a full load...

Just a couple of weeks ago I started to wear learther work gloves when making kindling after a split piece flew up and hit my hand jscraping off skin. Guess I should put the darn safety glasses on too.

At least you get some bragging rights!

Gary

Brian wins this thread!