Nordic (hand) splitter...

[Sledge&Wedge]

Those were my "thoughts" (as stated), I was under the impression that was what forums were for, the sharing of thoughts, whether they be like others or different. I know after reading the thread that was linked here, from the arboristsite.com forum, that none of my thoughts have changed, only strengthened.
As per price alone dictating whether a tool or product, is good... certainly it does not, but the idea this tool is the ferrari of axe's is a bit comical, a birch handle and a single cast head? To continue your car analogy, you do not have a ferrari, you have a new Honda civic priced like a ferrari.
Best Regards

 

[FINLAND]

Those were my "thoughts" (as stated), I was under the impression that was what forums were for, the sharing of thoughts, whether they be like others or different. I know after reading the thread that was linked here, from the arboristsite.com forum, that none of my thoughts have changed, only strengthened.
As per price alone dictating whether a tool or product, is good... certainly it does not, but the idea this tool is the ferrari of axe's is a bit comical, a birch handle and a single cast head? To continue your car analogy, you do not have a ferrari, you have a new Honda civic priced like a ferrari.
Best Regards

Thank you very much for the compliment. I really did not mean the comparison that way. I'll give an other example: Do you consider a diamond

as a bad jewellery because it is expensive? Please, do not say, that the LEVERAXE is the diamond of the axes.

I hope the exchange rate of USD to become stronger, maybe then the LEVERAXE will be better, as well.

All the best from Finland.

Regards the inventor www.vipukirves.fi www.vipukirves.net

 

[FINLAND]

Hi
Here are some slow-motion videos about the Leveraxe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZf0Hi9XIkM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBsNxfB9ZCM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9_9wmjK3j8

More to see.

http://www.vipukirves.fi/english/index.htm

 

[Sisu]

Northerntool sells something akin to the initial post as well, I'd imagine harder wood and anything larger than a 10" round laughs at it.

I have tried it.It`s sucks !

Ave anyone tried this one?
http://www.vipukirves.fi/etusivu.htm

I have not tried the axe but have three thoughts on it:
1- At 190 euro or 280 US dollars, they're out of their mind!
2- Even knowing that the design is meant to induce a twisting force upon impact, that blade is Very narrow, which spells getting stuck if striking anywhere near the middle of a bigger round. I guess it's easily argued you never really need to strike near the middle, but popping a small to medium size round in half is plain fun and at a 10th of the cost, a plain 6 or 8lb maul does an amazing job.
3- What about stringy, tough wood? once you create a crack there is no way you're plowing that thing through to finish a tough split.

It's interesting, but even if it were reasonably priced I think it would end up being the gimmick that collected dust behind my all purpose, plain jane mauls.

It is regrettable that there are such people who have strong opinnions about things of which they do not understand anything.
The person above writes as he would be professional though he has NOT used the LEVERAXE.
Here are my answers to those arguments.
1-Does it make the tool bad if it is expensive? For instance,do you consider ferrari as bad car?
2-The LEVERAXE NEVER sticks into the wood. It penetrates to the wood only 5 millimeters on an optimum strike. It spreads the wood up to 8 centimetres. The friction is almost nonexistent. The axeblade remains ON the block. It does NOT go throw the block. It will NOT hurt yourself.
The harder the wood is the better the leverage funktions. During this nearly 3 years marketing there has NOT happened any accidents, not a single one.
3-We have some stringly, tough wood here in Finland,too. I do NOT see any problems in splittign them. I have used all kind of conventional axes during my 60 years career among the firewood and I must say that the LEVERAXE is definitely the best axe what I have ever had.
I will strongly ask you to visit my websites and study this new tool. This is the very fist axe that funktions with leverage. It has built in safety features in purpose that one cannot hurt him(her)self during the splitting. If you do not understand how this axe operates then please, do NOT speculate.
All the best from Finland.
Regards the inventor.
www.vipukirves.fi and www.vipukirves.net

Terve Finland,

There are a lot of opinions here and that is because this is a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. No one here is trying to insult you or your product. Many of the posters here are seasoned metsämiehet (forestmen) and are extremely knowledgeable.

I must admit that you do have an uphill battle to break into the North American market with your axe. Most people here would be reluctant to buy the axe, due to the cost and without knowing how effective it would be to split the wood in their area.

I am sure you have a lot of stringy tough pieces of wood, but there are a lot more variety species of trees in the US and Canada vs Finland. Some species are very difficult to split, even with a hydraulic splitter. Especially if there are knots in the wood, etc. If the Vipukirves makes splitting a little easier on these tree species, most people will buy a cheaper axe. If it makes splitting significantly easier, more people (but not all) will buy the Vipukirves.

If you have a North American distributor, I would suggest they do trials on all North American firewood species, especially the difficult ones. If your axe is as good as you say, word of mouth will help sell it. But the people here will need to see how effective it is with the wood in their forests.

A good example of word of mouth selling is the success of the Fiskars splitting maul. I have never seen it advertised, yet the rave reviews in forums like this are selling the product.

I wish you the best of luck with your business.

Kippis!

 

[xcdustin]

I'm 26 years old, and I've been splitting large quantities (greater than 15 cord/year) entirely by hand for about 4 years now.

I've got two broken Home Depot log splitters (fiberglass handle) sitting in my shed. They cost about $30 each, but they each only made it through about 10 cords before the head flew off.

I've got a Chopper 1 Axe that sits unused in my shed. The design is too complex and heavy. That axe was about $95 after shipping, and the head is starting to slip from the hickory handle.

I bought a Fiskars Super Splitter after reading reviews on the Home Depot website. It's $55 with composite materials, 36" long, very light. Closer to a knife than an axe. I've split 40 cords with it. It's bulletproof. I've even hammered the soft metal head on occasion (big no-no) and it has held up to it. I'm 5'8" and the axe is supposed to be too long for me, but I can get it going very fast, and it's extremely accurate.

I won't be trying any clever designs anymore. I've got an axe that works and holds up, and two sledges with 3 metal wedges. No axe is worth $200.

Source: I've split around 60 cords in the past four years. About 50% oak and the other half a bunch more: sweetgum, pecan, ash, hickory, pine, etc... The Fiskars super splitter has been the most reliable, and I can swing it all day long. I've literally gone out and split for 8-9 hours with a 30 minute lunch break. Maybe some of you supermen out there can swing 8 pound mauls for 9 hours, but I've gotten a huge amount of work done with this axe.

 

[fossil]

The bulk of this discussion took place in 2008, with a couple of stray posts tacked on in 2010. Pretty stale zombie thread. Shuttin' 'er down now. Rick