I've just bought a rather nice 2kg hand axe which is very efficient for cutting small logs for kindling. But it is very sharp and I would like to keep all my fingers. Anybody recommend a way of holding the log steady whilst I take a swing at it with the axe?
Davy
Seriously - if you can't do such a simple job, give it to someone who knows what to do! That may save other body parts from injury as well as your fingers.
Usual thing is to hold the axe against the log and bring them both down on the block with 'moderate' force so the axe goes in a fraction and sticks to the log. Then bring them both down with enough force to do the job.
With a piece of kindling. You just have to cut the first piece carefully...
What he said. Hold it with another bit of wood. It's what I do now I'm bored of skimming the ends off fingers...
carefully...
thanks guys, your suggestion does have the advantage that if I accidentally hit the piece of kindling that I am using to steady the log then no harm is done to the axe. Not true of my first attempt when I used bbq tongs! I have just had a log burning stove installed so I'm suddenly needing to learn new skills - including how to use a 6lb log-splitting maul. That is some animal!
BRG's post does leaves a nasty taste in the mouth though. But I suppose that if you ask questions on a newsgroup then you've got to expect occasional replies/trolls like that.
thanks to everyone
Davy
He was right.
In message , Davy writes
Sorry, but I completely agree with him
I can't believe anyone can be so clueless
In message , Davy writes
It obviously makes some people feel better to make smart arse, or just plain rude comments, rather than anything helpful, or just keeping their mouth shut.
Forget them and move on, most people most of the time here are helpful.
>
I agree with that too. But blimey! Where do you start? I dare say someone will pop a great idea up for patenting, hollow logs or something.
Still, this is a help group. But, blimey!
You can make kindling from newspaper by rolling it into strips and twisting it tight enough to hold its shape. Then there is the subtle art of collecting dead twigs from trees.
I sometimes think along those lines, but some people just don't have the benefit of having seen someone else do it. I'm happy to tackle most jobs on a car, but I know people who wouldn't know how to start checking the oil, simply because they've had parents who've never done it, or their father wasn't around to show them. A lot of "common sense" is stuff you learn through observation without realising it IMO.
Easy peasy. Get a big wide bit of log to use as a block, and swing it like a sledgehammer.
Carefully.
2kg (4lb) seems a bit heavy to me for a hand axe. Indeed looking at what Screwfix have on offer, 4lb is of heavy felling axe size. This is not the tool for spliting kindling. A hand axe has a shaft about 15" long and a head weight of about 0.5kg...
But there are limits
I think that this one crossed the line
Not intended as "smart arse or rude" simply factual - if a question like that has to be asked in a public group for a task that is so simple that it was being done by ten year olds in my day, then the competence of the OP must be doubted for his own safety - remember, you can easily cut the fingers off your hand, but it's a damn site harder to replace them.
So the moral here was simply to either get someone who knows how to do the job, or get that person to show him how it is done - a million words typed in this group does not count for the experience of being shown.
Especially with -- "Easy peasy. Get a big wide bit of log to use as a block, and swing it like a sledgehammer."
In this case, using that method can cause a large lump of the block to fly and either hit the OP in the face or an innocent bystander such as a child - doing rather a lot of damage to soft tissue. Again. someone giving advice without really knowing what to do himself.
BTW, I could have been far more acerbic, abusive and foul-mouthed in my reply but that was not my intention.
I gave my opinion of the matter as simply as I could and if that has caused offence, then my response to that is simply to get a thicker skin as very often the truth hurts far worse than bullshit!
BRG
In message , Weatherlawyer writes
Yep, sometimes I see questions that I think, 'what, that's so obvious as to not need a question. but I'd suggest that if someone isn't able to post a helpful reply to genuine question - even if the think the question is stupid question they just move on to the next thread.
Firstly, I never consider any question a stupid one.
Would you then rather the advice not be given, even if it is actually true - surely it's not the purpose of this group to give just the advice that someone wants to hear - even if it is said rather plainly (which seems to be the problem with one or two here)?
Or would rather me have made some rather inane statement (like some in this thread) that really would not ease the ignorance of the OP and perhaps cause injury - it's too late when the fingers are gone.
BRG
I'd like you to explain how. Hit a log square on with a splitting maul and you'd be doing very well to make anything fly upwards at you. IMO there's no room for innocent bystanders when you're splitting logs as stuff will fly out to the sides, but not up into your face.
By hook or by crook? :-)
AJH
I didn't think it was stupid, inane or troll-like.
Not that my opinion matters :-)
Mary
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