Rockforge..........I done been had.....bad

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turn_n_burn

turn_n_burn

Burning Hunk
Aug 14, 2015
174
Idaho
So a little rant here. After drooling over a Fiskars at Walmart for months, I stop by Home Depot, and here is this little yellow gem of a splitter with flared sides made by the above mentioned company in title line. Don't even wanna say or type it again. 3 swings into a big, soft lodgepole round and i have a 1/3 inch chip missing from the blade.Looks like i swung it at a piece of rebar. It gets stuck often, and I've had it. My 30 year old Pulaski does a better job. Would it improve the situation to grind the flares down to a straight angle on the sides? I didn't do my homework here.
 
I agree - take it back. The main issue sounds like you do not have enough weight in the splitter for that type of wood. Grinding even MORE weight off the sides of the tool will not help ...well, I guess you could grind so much weight off that the splitter bounces off the wood, so that would technically cure the "getting stuck" part. But overall, real wood means you need a real splitter.

Also sound like it may be a bit defective metallurgically... if you really did chip the blade in plain wood....or maybe there really is re-bar, nail, spike, etc in the tree?
 
The weight isn't an issue for me, I find I have better luck with lighter mauls, the issue here I think is the flares on the side. They increase in angle the farther back on the head they get, and I want something like a straight V-angle, not one where the top of the V flares out. More like a Fiskars. The steel quality is horrible. Harbor Freight stuff would embarrass this brand. Lost the freakin receipt too. [Hearth.com] Rockforge..........I done been had.....bad
 
I think this thing was forged with a rock. Minus heat, other metals, a bellows, or any measure of skill on the part of the 'smithy.
 
If you bought it at HD with a credit card, they will have the sales receipt in their computer. Take it back.
 
HD sells fiskers, just take it back for store credit and purchase the fiskers using the credit.
 
Hmmmm, looks like they cheapened it by putting less metal into the head! My Fiskars looks nothing like that! Been using mine for several seasons with great success. Even hit the concrete with it a few times.......LMAO
 
AmbDrvr253 said:
Hmmmm, looks like they cheapened it by putting less metal into the head! My Fiskars looks nothing like that! Been using mine for several seasons with great success. Even hit the concrete with it a few times.......LMAO
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It ain't a Fiskars. He bought the yellow imitator.
 
When did they start making axes out of white metal? I'd take it back and do a bit of a polite rant, with the words "safety issue" mixed in.

PS I've clobbered rocks with some pretty cheap axes, broke my share of handles, and never took a chunk like that out of the edge.
 
I got the yellow one many years ago, it does get stuck a lot in certain woods and the fiberglass handle disintegrated. But I never had any issues with the metal. The Fiskars X25 I got my daughter, on the other hand, looked like it had been used on petrified wood after she used it for an hour. The edge was completely ragged. (Same wood had no similar effect on my 8lb maul.) It splits fine, but I have no faith in the quality of the metal.
 
I own the lowes brand of the yellow one, my friend owns the yellow hd one, they look very similar but they split totally different, the yellow has a different feel to. I don't know what the difference it other then one being yellow and one being red.
 
That axe head is either cast or has a forging defect.

You can be sure that a cheapo company has no way to really inspect cracks in their products.
 
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That is a really crappy cast. Even the unfinished parts are real happy (waiving all over the place).
 
bag of hammers said:
When did they start making axes out of white metal? I'd take it back and do a bit of a polite rant, with the words "safety issue" mixed in.

PS I've clobbered rocks with some pretty cheap axes, broke my share of handles, and never took a chunk like that out of the edge.
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Bag of hammers.......Oh God that is my favorite movie line ever!!!!!!!!! [Hearth.com] Rockforge..........I done been had.....bad
 
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