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Reinventing the Axe
Nerval's Lobster (2598977) writes "The axe has been with us for thousands of years, with its design changing very little during that time. After all, how much can you really alter a basic blade-and-handle? Well, Finnish inventor Heikki Karna has tried to change it a whole lot, with a new, oddly-shaped axe that he claims is a whole lot safer because it transfers a percentage of downward force into rotational energy, cutting down on deflections. 'The Vipukirves [as the axe is called] still has a sharpened blade at the end, but it has a projection coming off the side that shifts the center of gravity away from the middle. At the point of impact, the edge is driven into the wood and slows down, but the kinetic energy contained in the 1.9 kilogram axe head continues down and to the side (because of the odd center of gravity),' is how Geek.com describes the design. 'The rotational energy actually pushes the wood apart like a lever.' The question is, will everyone pick up on this new way of doing things?"
This is really damn clever. Few thoughts though:
- My wrists hurt just watching this guy. I gotta imagine some of that rotational force is transferring into the wrist and elbow, which can’t be good over the long term
- That tire: that's brilliant.
- That price: that's insane.
The question is, will everyone pick up on this new way of doing things?
The new way of doing things is called a log splitter. You can get one pretty cheap now (especially if you can do with electric), and while it doesn't have that same rustic appeal, it works really damn well. Personally splitting and stacking was my chore as a kid (I'd guess I’ve split at least 60 cord in my lifetime), and I'm not planning to ever split a log by hand again.
When can I 3D print one at home? Surely in this era of 3D printed guns and powerful computers, this should be trivial.
Not an axe, axes are not used to split wood. That is a splitting maul, mauls and wedges are used to split wood. And that is actually probably closer to a froe than a maul.
Sounds like someone spent all their time with nice, straight grained woods and not things with nasty interlocking grain. I've seen some woods like Eucalyptus that when hit with an axe were more likely to "peel" than split. That is the split would go around the piece instead of through it. I think this twisting action would make that worse. OTOH, having split a bunch of wood, you often apply a twisting force to open up the split, so on the right wood(s) this could be a good feature.
I cut and hand split a couple of cords of wood every year. There are some woods such as poplar (in the video) or willow that split really easy. There are other woods that can be cracked open at the top by three inches and still need a sledge hammer to split the two halves apart. Without seeing how it works on the tough woods I can't tell how useful this new axe would be.
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Unfortunately, not smart enough to actually develop something that wont exacerbate the underlying physical reasons for his poor technique.
Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
They're selling those things for close to 200 Euros, plus shipping.
The Home Depot sells splitting mauls for $30-$40.
With mass production, the prices should be similar, but not until the price comes way down would I even consider it.
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in the next zombie movie.
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Well, a simple Google image search for "axe catalog" shows 42 different axe heads sold by the Shapleigh company in 1929.
So, the answer would seem to be "quite a lot."
This might be good for splitting wood, but there are a lot more uses for an axe. This axe wouldn't work well for most other uses.
The splitting maul is interesting but it may take some getting used to and many not catch on...
However, from the video I see that he uses an old tire to hold the round and this keeps the pieces from flying all over the place. This is actually a great idea!
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
I heat with natural gas (if at all). I don't even know if burning wood is legal anymore in California...
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Not to be pedantic, but my nearest dictionary (the Dictonary application on my Mac) defines "ax" as
1. a tool typically used for chopping wood
Moreover, in my opinion (whatever it's good for) the difference between those two tools is that a splitting maul is a big, wide-angled wedge. Truly the wide wedge makes it easier to split wood, but an axe can also split wood, and in any case this tool is to skinny to meet my personal expectations of a maul. Finally, maul is defined as
1. a tool with a heavy head and a handle, used for tasks such as ramming, crushing, and driving wedges
Therefore, I see your pedantry and raise you two dictionary definitions.
Like the Pocket Fisherman et al, I'm sure this will have a few fanatical buyers who become very proficient in using it, but for most the more common item is probably better.
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Yep. And there it is, the diversification of the market: the same reason we have both dustbrooms and pushbrooms; the reason we have both cement mixers and racecars.
Another thing that struck me* is that metal and metal working was relatively expensive in the olden days. Deflective wing-like doo-dads may improve safety, but perhaps at the cost of more metal and/or metal-working effort. Remember, they didn't value individual lives as much back then: life was brutal and short and they accepted that. (Besides, if you put an eye out, you always had a second career as a pirate :-)
* No pun intended
Table-ized A.I.
Splitting the wood at the pile has proven to be a work drain
on our farm. Much better to split the wood right where it
is cut! THen you load it once, and unload it onto the stack - once.
If you haul your logs to your pile, and then split, you have to
handle each piece of wood one more time (at least).
So if your in the bush, you likely haven't got that tire thing
to contain the log, which would be "rotationally" spun
of your chopping block every time.
Don't see much of a win for me here. .. and I WAS just out yesterday chopping away in the bush!
As soon as I saw the picture of it, I recognized it as being the same as one that I saw someone using at a campsite I was at in the 1990's. I don't recall the exact year, but I remember the guy saying that it chopped wood a lot easier when I asked about it (I didn't even recognize it as an axe until he used it, where every single blow split his target in only one swing).
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Totally agree. Where I'd have to try one of these to be sure, given the flexibility of your standard axe, it's hard to imagine this being worth it.
In high School, we used to cut wood for money in the winter. We had a stand of post oak that was 20' to 30' to the first branch (no knots) that dad would chop into about 18" lengths that I got to split. Using a double bit axe, it usually took one swing. The colder it was, the easier it split. It took longer to set up each piece than splitting did.
We had a splitting maul, but I hated it because it was way to heavy. The double bit axe was easier to swing, easier to control and faster. This "new" axe head design looks like a painful experience to me. I can imagine all the side and twisting forces wreaking havoc with your wrists and arms. I remember when I was learning, if you didn't line up the axe head with your swing, it would hurt your wrists. I'm going to bet this "new" design does the same.
One thing I can say about chopping wood for a living.. Sure makes programming and engineering look like a cushy job.
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Floki invented this, and Ragnar would have ruled the world if he had not laughed his ass off when he saw it.
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I split wood for exercise. (also I have a fireplace) That's not an Axe, it's a maul. Using an axe to split would would be awful.
Secondly, the woods frozen. So he's cheating. With a maul from home depot I could do the same. When frozen, wood basically shatters because the water inside it is frozen. People that actually want to chop would fast always do it in the winter. Those of us that don't care about efficiency (I mean, really... how much wood do you need?) just do it whenever.
I can imagine all the side and twisting forces wreaking havoc with your wrists and arms.
The instructions tell you not to hold on to the axe handle when it hits the target. Not only because it's bad for the wrist, but the harder you hold on to it, the more you prevent the rotating of the axe head which we are told makes it work so well.
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I can imagine all the side and twisting forces wreaking havoc with your wrists and arms.
The instructions tell you not to hold on to the axe handle when it hits the target. Not only because it's bad for the wrist, but the harder you hold on to it, the more you prevent the rotating of the axe head which we are told makes it work so well.
Oh that's a great idea. Let go of a fast moving, sharp piece of metal hurtling though the air. Yea, this inverter isn't very bright and violates the first rule of splitting with an axe (after wearing steal toed boots), don't let go of the axe handle during your swing.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
This maul (not an axe) actually looks more prone to glancing off and causing an injury, just look at the head bounce and twist on impact. I've split countless cords of wood a $40 13lb steel maul that is still working just fine after 25 years. This is a gimmick IMHO.
I wonder why it is so insanely expensive (US$250). That won't help it catch on.
One thing I can say about chopping wood for a living.. Sure makes programming and engineering look like a cushy job.
Well, sometimes I pine for the days of splitting wood. There's no amount of technique that'll compensate for the beating that my wrists get from using a keyboard all day.
Never got to use an adze, but always thought that it looked like a good idea for certain surfaces. Used a sharpened pickaxe for hollowing and debarking, which is where an adze is usually used. Probably would have been easier/safer with an adze handle.
Grizzly Adams wouldn't use such a thing; he'd just carry a double-bladed axe -- the multi-purpose tool for all situations including defending against a pack of wolves or a mountain lion.
This wouldn't have been possible 200 years ago. We didn't have the kind of metals that would stand up to the long term punishment with that kind of constant torque long term.
The Geek.com article seems so close to the Boing Boing article I read last week I'd be surprised if he didn't just shift a couple of words around.
This axe received the InnoFinland honorary award in 2005. http://www.vipukirves.fi/english/description.htm
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Although I won't be trying this thing out because it's not worth the cost, I can see the advantages it offers. I think your haste to jump to a negative conclusion is a poor attitude, especially on a place like /. where geeks mull over novel ideas such as this.
Personally, I have my reservations about this idea -- it seems like it would be ideal for easy to split wood but the tough stuff not so much. Basically, because of the weight limitation the automatic rotation doesn't seem like it will matter so much. It still has the same limitation of a regular axe - weight. A maul/wedge combo still seems like it would be better.
I'd still like to try it myself to put it to the test. Perhaps if they go into mass production and show up at Lowes for ~$50 I'd pick one up. If it's the miracle axe the video portrays it'd save me a helluva a lot of time and energy. I have my doubts, but I have even greater doubts about your description of a "defective axe."
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I watched a few promotional videos for the Vipukirven on YouTube. People lined up at trade shows to try out this new axe, and the promo guys were kept busy heaping the resulting split firewood onto a huge pile. It occurred to me that touring a "new axe" around to trade shows and getting passers-by to split enormous piles of wood for you for free is a great business model for a firewood vendor ...
Of course, if you can sell the occasional axe (for US$200+), so much the better!
licet differant, aequabitur
You can call this thing whatever you want, but at 1.9kg (4lb) and a narrow angle cutting wedge, it's closer to an axe than a maul. A maul is heavier, often 8 to 16 lbs and has a much steeper sloped wedge to split with both kinetic energy and wedging action. An axe of course has a narrower sloped cutting edge to bite in more. This also has nothing to do with a froe which is use with a mallet and a lever action without kinetic energy to control a split. And you can definitely split wood with an axe. You just have to rotate the axe at the point of impact in a similar way to what this tool is supposedly designed to do automatically. The technique for splitting wood with an axe was probably the inspiration for this tool.
No, the first rule of using an axe is to either use an axe with a long handle, or a hatchet, but never anything in between.
I'm not much worried about my toes wielding a long-handled axe, but I am worried about more distal objects (and people) in the plane of the swinging motion. Medium-handled axes are for crazy people who never much liked walking around in the first place, or who get an unbearable itch to perform a District 9 pedicure.
The inventor used Newtonian physics (300+ years old) to improve on an iron-age (2000-3000 years old) device. And he did it well.
That takes some real balls. I hope he's patented the hell out of it.
Anyone who knows how to properly split wood is already doing what this funny looking axe does with their wrists.
1. Buy a basic splitting axe. This is the one with the wide ramped head.
2. Learn to twist the axe head during impact to split the wood more effectively.
3. Look like a man.
I mean, come on, if you want the modern version of the axe to make it easier to split wood, buy a Sawzall.
a HERRING!
179 responses, and this is the best Monty Python reference we can get? Not a single mention of skipping and jumping or pressing wildflowers.
Slashdot is truly dying.
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Good point, taken...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
I cedar what you did there.
It's probably very good for splitting. But I've only ever done a couple of weeks of regular splitting, and a standard felling axe was perfectly good for that, and could do other jobs too. I'll stick with a standard axe, or for close and varied work, a billhook.
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