Long term review of fiskars x27

[KDubU]

I have to agree with the reviews. Had one of these previously before moving south and now that I am back in the NE, bought another on the weekend. They just work.

 

[Poindexter]

I have a Fiskars X27. Fair disclosure, I won it here for being one of the 5-10 people that might have made the 1 millionth post on hearth dot com back in the day. I paid zero dollars for the fool thing, and already had all my wood put up that season when the delivery guy dropped it on my front porch.

I left it standing up in a corner of my garage for almost a year before I did anything with it. In my best years (old guy) I have about 8 cords dropped on my driveway as 16" rounds, and split them myself with my electric/ hydraulic splitter on their way to the stacks. At the end of the deliveries I have perhaps 1-2 dozen rounds in the snow beside the driveway that my electric splitter just could not handle.

I split my first cord by hand in, well Carter was in the White House, so I guess the mid to late 1970s. I bought probably a dozen splitting mauls over the decades with upgraded tech, and finally sprung for an electric splitter. My last "best" maul had a swoopy red fiberglass handle and a very sexy metal head on it, think Star Trek or Star Wars. It was pretty good, best yet.

The Fiskars X27 absolutely kicked butt and took names against the Star Trek maul. I set two rounds on my driveway as bases, and then one round each on those to split, Star Wars one side, Fiskars on the other. One swing, change mauls and position, one swing, repeat, the X27 kicks @55.

All my other mauls left the property at the next garage sale after I tried out the X27. I let all of them go for $1 or less, each.

FWIW I am a Fiskars fanboi. I bought three of the chopping axe (full retail) when I decided to teach myself axe throwing and I am completely satisfied with those in every way. Those three are still hanging on the wall near my wood lathe, breaking into my shop wearing a ski mask while I am turning is a really bad idea.

I have one of the Fiskars hatchet (full retail), I keep it in my house, but do take it with me when camping from my boat. I do keep a lesser hatchet in my truck tool box, it has some rust on it but I fell comfortable using it for whatever.

I love Love LOVE Fiskars scissors. I am a bit of a scissors fiend, don't know why. Once upon a time I moved (solo) out of a two bedroom apartment and counted 8 pairs of scissors going into boxes. Fiskars scissors (full retail x all) are awesome.

Besides the X27, Fiskars makes, or used to make, a X25 and an X29. I am 5' 10" tall, average build with somewhat long arms, and I find the X27 perfect. If your height or sleeve length is much different then mine you might look for one of the other two. My arms are not long enough to be a stealth boxer because of excessive reach, or a famous point guard because of wingspan, but I do have a bit of trouble with sleeve length from off the rack shirts.

If you want to split by hand, my experience is to pick the Fiskars X that fits your height and arm length, and ignore everything else on the market.

 

[Doublebogey]

I have been using an x27 for about three years now. I mostly love it but I went through a ton of mulberry and locust this year that I seemed to hit the 12 o’clock portion of the log on and they broke in an L shape that left a solid hunk of wood for the handle to strike just under the head. This seemed to really send a shock up through the handle that was really causing a problem in the web of my hand where my thumb meets the palm. It was happening several times each use. On a whim I picked up one of the Fiskars mauls and I can’t believe how well it works. It is literally the best splitting tool I lave ever used. It has jarred my hand maybe twice. I am still a fan of the x27 but I would recommend the fiskars maul first and foremost every time.

 

[Woody Stover]

I am still a fan of the x27 but I would recommend the fiskars maul first and foremost every time.

The X27 has a good combination of of ax speed, a little more head weight than an ax, plus the little wedge that's just enough splitting force but not so wide that it gets stopped like a maul can.
I really missed mine for the two years that it went on vacation. Then two of my SILs were out there terminating invasives and found my baby, which had fallen off the quad. Was I ever glad to see her come back home to me! 🤗
She's a bit rust-pitted, but I figure that just gives me more speed! 😉 Also has a little chip out of the plastic near the head.. don't recall when that happened.
Oh, great. Now, thanks to you, I hafta spend more of my wood heat savings to add the IsoCore maul to the fold. 😫😉 I already have an 8# maul, but I can see the Fisker is gonna be friskier..

 

[Woody Stover]

Alrighty, now, thanks to the help of enabler Doublebogey, I've got both the 6# and 8# IsoCore mauls coming. 💸😆
The numbers are a bit confusing...at least to an easily-confused guy like me. 😏
Compare these two 6-pounders; One appears to have a bigger mashie head on the back of it. The other one, which is what I ordered from Amazon, is the smaller black mashie head...it's also the one that appears on the Fiskars website.

Amazon product ASIN B087RRRB5Y

Then on the Fiskars website, the 8# is number 751000-1004. If you go to Amazon and search "fiskars 751110-1004" you go to a page (has a link to the Fiskars store) displaying the 751110-1003 number, with no weight in the item description, but item weight is listed "10.4 pounds." 😵😆
Amazon product ASIN B014M9LQGG
It's no surprise then that I went nutty/batty quite a while ago. 🤪

 

[coal and wood man]

I love my Fiskars. Been using it for 3-4 years. Burn 5-6 cords a year. Don't split anything too big, I like to use my log splitter to make bite size pieces that require 3 or 4 splits with the ax. I will spend a few hours just prepping the pieces and then stack them so I can split when I want to. To me splitting wood is a great form of exercise. I have wrapped the bottom on mine with friction tape as the plastic handle just seems too slippery. I do not like the feeling that the ax is twisting in my grip.

 

[Doublebogey]

Alrighty, now, thanks to the help of enabler Doublebogey, I've got both the 6# and 8# IsoCore mauls coming. 💸😆
The numbers are a bit confusing...at least to an easily-confused guy like me. 😏
Compare these two 6-pounders; One appears to have a bigger mashie head on the back of it. The other one, which is what I ordered from Amazon, is the smaller black mashie head...it's also the one that appears on the Fiskars website.

Amazon product ASIN B087RRRB5Y
View attachment 309845

Then on the Fiskars website, the 8# is number 751000-1004. If you go to Amazon and search "fiskars 751110-1004" you go to a page (has a link to the Fiskars store) displaying the 751110-1003 number, with no weight in the item description, but item weight is listed "10.4 pounds." 😵😆
Amazon product ASIN B014M9LQGG
It's no surprise then that I went nutty/batty quite a while ago. 🤪

Sorry to be an enabler... Or happy too... Guess it it remains to be seen when you start swinging them. I have the 8lb. by the way.

 

[Prof]

I have been splitting about 95% of my wood with the X27 since about 2010. I burn between 4-5 cords per year. As others have said, a touch up every now and then with a file helps. I also, don't split into the ground. I use a short round and tire technique to stay out of the dirt. My X27 is about an inch shorter than it once was. I can measure this because the first year I had it, I liked it so much that I bought its replacement when they went on sale at a Sears that was going out of business. That X27 has never split a piece of wood yet, but acts as a measuring tool of sorts for me now. I don't know if I will ever use it. I don't have any delusions that my great grand kid will be using the original X27 (they will probably get the other one), but I have taught my wife, cousin, and kids to split with the original. I had secretly hoped that they would break the thing and Fiskars would send me another. I'm not sure that will ever happen. Truth be told, I don't use my great grandfather's axe these days, but once did when I was a boy.

 

[Woody Stover]

I have wrapped the bottom on mine with friction tape as the plastic handle just seems too slippery. I do not like the feeling that the ax is twisting in my grip.

Yep, you need really grippy gloves. The looser you can hold the handle, the less shock will be transmitted to your hands and arms, and the more speed you get with a freer "release." Sam Snead said about holding a golf club, "Hold it like you'd hold a bird, tightly enough so it can't fly away, but not so tightly that you crush it." Harvey Penick said when he saw The Slammer hit the ball it, sounded like a rifle shot, and that's when he decided to become a teacher instead of a pro player. 😏
You don't have to grip the ax very tightly at all if you have grippy gloves.
These are about the best I've come across. They had them at a place I once worked. You have to buy a dozen, but the are only $4 a pair and they wear like iron. They don't keep your hands very warm, though.

Cordova TOWA ActivGrip Glove, Nitrile Coated AG581

Cordova TOWA ActivGrip Gloves (AG581) are nitrile coated for oil and wet grip hand protection. The nitrile coating protects the hand from liquids penetrating the glove.

www.indsafetyequipstore.com

 

[Woody Stover]

Sorry to be an enabler... Or happy too... Guess it it remains to be seen when you start swinging them. I have the 8lb. by the way.

Mauls were "out for delivery" but you know how that goes.. they might get sleepy or something, and have to go home before they get the chance to bring it. 😏
Well, the man in brown just came around and got down! 🪓😎
They say these rubber/plastic blade covers are for shipping only, but I'll see how long they last before they break...or get lost.😏
They probably had to say legally "temporary use" before some guy whacked his buddy with one, thinking the cover made it safe and OK to do. 😆

 

[Doublebogey]

They aren't kidding. I think my cover made it all the way until about the third or fourth time I put it back on.

 

[Woody Stover]

The 6# and 8# seem like they will work better than stock mauls, the few I did split yesterday. Hard to say yet; The new-burner friend I've been getting dry wood stopped by so I let him have at some White Ash rounds with the two mauls, plus the X27. I mainly just brought him the next round, or set half-rounds back up for him. After he started improving his technique with the X27 and getting solid hits he said "Hey, this is fun!" I said "Ain't it, though?"
Yet another convert to the pleasures of whacking your own wood. He's getting an X27 ASAP. 😏 Good--I don't have time to get him any more dry wood, I've got too much on my plate already.
He just bought a new car--I guess I'll have to gently break it to him that he'll have to take the financial hit, turn around and sell it, and get a wood-haulin' truck, now that he's a probationary Paul Bunion Society member. 😄
I've thought about this before, but remembered again after seeing the Fiskars mauls...why can't we take a stock maul we have lying around and take an angle grinder to it, changing the convex head profile to a more Fiskars-like concave profile. That should improve its performance, right? The Fiskars profile allows the blade to penetrate deeper and get the splitting started, before applying the lateral splitting force to pop it apart, as it gets to the wedge section of the head later than a stock maul. Seems like a far superior design...