Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

New axe design uses lever action to make splitting wood easier

vipukirves.fi

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 159 posts

Re: New axe design uses lever action to make splitting wood easier

#71

Post by untothebreach »

yukichan wrote: post #66

This may be an unpopular reply, but splitting fire wood sounds like you're going to be making an open fire. Open fires are a danger to your health: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-fireplace-delusion > "The unhappy truth about burning wood has been scientifically established to a moral certainty: That nice, cozy fire in your fireplace is bad for you. It is bad for your children. It is bad for your neighbors and…

Every winter, myself and a group of ~15 others hike out to a 3-walled cabin and usually spend 3-4 days there, hiking and generally enjoying the outdoors. It is about as rustic as you can get, and with the temp getting down to -20F this past winter, being able to quickly cut and split firewood is important (you know, to survive the night...).

Needless to say, I will be starting a pool to buy one of these axes this year...

Re: New axe design uses lever action to make splitting wood easier

#72

Post by rsync »

bradleyland wrote: post #52
jeffbarr wrote: post #43

I bought a Vipukirves axe early this year. I have a wood-fired pizza oven in my backyard and use small, nicely split pieces of wood in order to retain some control over the fire. Before buying the axe I used a four-sided wedge (basically an elongated pyramid) and a sledgehammer for splitting. So, how does this axe perform? Overall, I am very happy with it and proudly show it off at every opportunity. After spending s…

I don't know how common the "tire guard" featured in the video is, but it seems like a damned good idea. It would solve the problem of split pieces flying off with explosive force. I'd probably pursue that idea posthaste.

I think the tire trick is fairly well known / common ... I've seen it as a setup in quite a few splitting tutorials on youtube, etc.

Re: New axe design uses lever action to make splitting wood easier

#73

Post by e28eta »

jeffbarr wrote: post #59
lsdafjklsd wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bah, living the dream. Have you figured out how to make exceptional neapolitan pies yet? I'm a regular at Paulie Gee's and would love to be able to make pizza like that.

We are doing our best to make exceptional pizzas! So far the most important factors are: * High heat - I aim for a deck temperature above 900 degrees Fahrenheit, but am having trouble keeping it that high during the cooking process. * Great dough - My wife uses double-zero (00) flour and a Jamie Oliver recipe that seems to work well. We are working on extending the proofing time for a better rise. We don't know how t…

Honestly, just start tossing it. It was much easier than I expected. Make an extra dough ball, so if you drop it dinner isn't ruined.

Re: New axe design uses lever action to make splitting wood easier

#74

Post by dfc »

easy_rider wrote: post #39
dfc wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a terrible survival/bushcraft tool. It is big and heavy which could be acceptable if it was not single purpose. My fellow Americans please do not hold this post against Ray Mears. He is rather awesome. I am at a loss when it comes to thinking of his American equivalent. We do not have a nice guy survival expert. Anyone I can think of is not as famous and certainly not as kind spirited. The best way I can desc…

Correct me if i'm wrong, but wouldn't this allow for a smaller force lever, because the axe multiplies the forces and does not rely on the user to swing hard enough with the right technique?

I don't want to "correct you" but if I had to correct you about something it would not be on swinging technique or the physics of a lever. I do not think that it is a good idea to identify the best wood splitting tool in a laboratory environment and hang a ribbon around it that says "best survival/bushcraft tool." Obviously all survival situations are different but there does seem to be a certain mobility component in all survival situations. This thing is 3ft(90cm) long and 5.5lbs(2.5kg). Not my first choice to carry that up or down a rocky incline or beat a path through thick brush with it awkwardly strapped to my back. However you might be able to talk me into the extra weight and bulk if it did more than one thing. Unfortunately this thing does not do anything else, but don't take my word for it "VIPUKIRVES™ is a special tool designed for chopping firewood, not appropriate for carpentry [AKA felling and hewing trees] or for use as a striking tool."[1] I love the UNIX philosophy of do one thing and do it well, but you will notice that in resource constrained environments the 100+ binaries from coreutils are provided by a single small executable: busybox.

Tangent: When I was reading the description of the ax I thought it was strange that the handle was birch instead of the hickory that I expected. I was reminded of one of my favorite Ted Talks, "Have Broad Ax Will Travel", by Roy Underhill. The handle is not hickory, because, according to Roy, "they [Europeans] put their mountains on wrong, we thought ahead because we are Americans."[2]

[1]: FAQ #3: http://www.vipukirves.fi/english/description.htm

[2]: Skip to 10:00 if you just want to know which direction to orient your mountains. But the entire video is definitely worth a full viewing. http://youtu.be/Au1TbIyLcPU

Re: New axe design uses lever action to make splitting wood easier

#75

Post by agarden »

arca_vorago wrote: post #57

This looks dangerous to me. I grew up in the mountains, and consider them my home. (The kind of place where the nearest walmart is an hour and a half drive away, and everyone shares their elk kills and logs and chops their own wood) One of the most dangerous things an axe can do is go sideways on you on the hit, that sideways rebound or if the log falls away follow through can mean an axe in the foot or leg for someo…

The manufacturer's website says that the axe is specifically designed to mitigate those risks.

> The Leveraxe also does not bounce wildly as might happen with traditional axe. The axe changes the kinetic energy to rotational motion and is much easier to control. It is much rarer that you would totally miss the log, because the sideways wing on top of the axe and the stopping knob beneath it ensure the axe will catch the log even if the striking edge would miss it.

> The length of Leveraxe handle (90 cm) is longer than in traditional axes. This provides more kinetic energy but is also an important safety feature. Even if the axe would continue past the log the trajectory will guide it to hit the ground before you instead of hitting your legs.

Agreed that his wood looks much drier than what one normally encounters.

Re: New axe design uses lever action to make splitting wood easier

#76

Post by dfc »

yukichan wrote: post #66

This may be an unpopular reply, but splitting fire wood sounds like you're going to be making an open fire. Open fires are a danger to your health: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-fireplace-delusion > "The unhappy truth about burning wood has been scientifically established to a moral certainty: That nice, cozy fire in your fireplace is bad for you. It is bad for your children. It is bad for your neighbors and…

I do not know if it is going to be an unpopular reply but it could be a naive reply. Firewood can also be used in wood burning stoves. Furthermore what do you and Prof. Harris recommend for camping trips?

Re: New axe design uses lever action to make splitting wood easier

#77

Post by bradleysmith »

bradleyland wrote: post #52
jeffbarr wrote: post #43

I bought a Vipukirves axe early this year. I have a wood-fired pizza oven in my backyard and use small, nicely split pieces of wood in order to retain some control over the fire. Before buying the axe I used a four-sided wedge (basically an elongated pyramid) and a sledgehammer for splitting. So, how does this axe perform? Overall, I am very happy with it and proudly show it off at every opportunity. After spending s…

I don't know how common the "tire guard" featured in the video is, but it seems like a damned good idea. It would solve the problem of split pieces flying off with explosive force. I'd probably pursue that idea posthaste.

This is one of those things that seems common once you see it. I spent a couple years living in Prescott National Forest in northern Arizona, and split wood to warm my house. It didn't take long for a neighbor to come over and suggest a tire after watching me chase down all the wood I flung in every direction.

It seems this leveraged action (which is absolutely awesome, by the by) would necessitate the use of a tire even more. Beware of windows, cars, etc. without one.

Re: New axe design uses lever action to make splitting wood easier

#78

Post by bradleysmith »

jeffbarr wrote: post #60
bradleyland wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how common the "tire guard" featured in the video is, but it seems like a damned good idea. It would solve the problem of split pieces flying off with explosive force. I'd probably pursue that idea posthaste.

I should mention that the pieces fly off in a very predictable pattern and end up in a stack! The force is tightly constrained based on the direction and orientation of the axe when it strikes the wood. My son joked that I could probably reproduce something we once saw in a cartoon, where the chopped pieces assembled themselves into a log cabin.

That's remarkable. I'd love to see a video of someone making a pile of wood from the chopping block. The rest of the internets probably wouldn't mind it either.
Post reply on HN