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What’s the default beardy-hipster-stw ace for splitting kindling these days? Got a decent maul and log splitter but my crappy old kindling axe is about knackered - head is loose and it’s a plastic shaft so no chance of banging a wedge in there like the good old days!
Gransfors Bruk
Aldi kindling, 2 quid a bag, lasts a fortnight.
If you want pretty, gransfors bruks.
For a third of the price but also with that Swedish vibe, Hultafors.
I've got a fiskars kindling axe which has a nice heavy head and short blade. Must admit I prefer using the fiskars x7 tho.
What ever the local Hardwear store sells for 9 quid.
It does it wonderfully
I struggle with how much better a grandsfor bruks could
I got a Hultafors trekking axe in December. It's a really nice thing but perhaps a little too long for chopping kindling. I think a shorter axe would be slightly easier to handle for anything over 5 minutes of splitting.
It was my first axe and I don't regret buying it.
Hultafors. Good small axe for a good price.
trail_rat
Member
What ever the local Hardwear store sells for 9 quid.
It does it wonderfully
I struggle with how much better a grandsfor bruks could
^^^ this, for kindling
Cheap one from the local garden centre. It's only for kindling so I can't see why it shouldn't last for years.
Stw-shocker - folk recommending cheap and perfectly adequate product!?! Has the world gone mad?
Can you buy a wooden handle for the current one? Or use the big axe held upright and hammer the wood onto the blade.
Karesuando, because your highly polished axe needs a reindeer fur bed to keep it safe.
For a third of the price but also with that Swedish vibe, Hultafors.
Also on a Scandi vibe the axes by Mora are pretty good. There’s very pronounced curve to the handle that works really well.
Something like this:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/forge-steel-hickory-handle-axe-1-lb/2026c
Had mine about 20 years and sharpen it occasionally with an angle grinder. It just sits by the fire and cuts little bits of wood so you shouldn't need anything more.
hi from Sweden, You lot are hilarious. The real 'scandi vibe' is to save money and not piss it away on silly expensive lifestyle axes 😃
I had a cheap roughneck 1 1/4 lb hatchet from tool station which worked but wasnt fun. Then I was gifted a 1 3/4 Swedish head. I decided to treat it to a good handle and used a longish one 19" Smedberg haft. I enjoy it much more than the 1st tool but beside the enjoyment the heavier head makes it noticeably easier to make kindling. Mostly I choke up on the haft but the extra length is also handy for splitting more stubborn bits. So, while I'd say no need for a gransfors, I'd now recommend slightly larger axe rather than a small hatchet. Anything about 1 3/4 to 2 lb and 18"-24" is small enough to not be clumsy but the size helps for stubborn bits. Hultafors (hults bruk) are decent.... Hanging is often a bit less then perfect but won't be a problem. Other makes will do fine too.
Lol- I can in no way defend the price of the Gransfor. Mine was a gift :0)
I bought my youngest a Stihl kindling axe a year back and for the money it's ace. Anything cheap from screwfix will be fine for the job.
Ive got two Fiskar axe for splitting and they are top draw. Plastic fantastic so no wooden pimpery but great tools. X25/21 iirc.
Mine was less than a fiver from toolstation.
Have a look in B&Q.
My kindling axe cost less than £5 from one of those cheap out of town stores, works perfectly fine. I was brought up in a tiny forestry village in argyll and my pocket money job as a kid was cutting/splitting logs and kindling along with helping my dad in the wood with my mini 21cc brashing chainsaw, the thought that you need an expensive/artisan made specific kindling axe is rather amusing to me but it's your money so if you want to then go for it but it will make **** all difference.
Find a cheap sub £10 axe that feels good in your hand and keep the edge relatively sharp, if the soft wood is dry then it'll split like butter no matter what you use.
As B A Nana said
Fiskars x7
Just close this thread now.
For kindling, that Tool Station axe for a tenner would be perfectly adequate - don’t, whatever you do, use an angle grinder to sharpen it, far too much chance of overheating the edge and losing the temper. Get a couple of good files, a coarse one and a fairly fine one, only use the coarse one on major dings.
Oh, and use a chopping block, that way the minimum amount of sharpening will be needed, a nice piece of tree trunk or thick branch from a felled tree is perfect.
I’ve got an old axe that I found in the shed, blunt as heck, rusty, handle rotten, a classic Kent-style hatchet. I attacked it, carefully, with an angle grinder to reshape the head into a bearded-style, reshaped the edge with a series of different grade files, got a quality hickory handle, and it’s a lovely little axe that has an edge I can shave my arm with. Just took a bit of work.
So long as it’s a decent forged steel, a fine edge is easy with some work.
£10 is all you need to spend, look after it and it’ll last decades.
And I’ve got a Gransförs axe as well, cost around £70; you don’t need to spend that.
This is my modified hatchet, on a chopping block I made from a piece of a dead elm, and three legs made from a length of ash I had for an abandoned walking stick. I’d just finished carving a butter knife from a bit of beech, which I use most days, pretty much all done with the axe, very little knife finishing. If the steel’s good, a good edge is perfectly possible.
very nice work count,lovely hatchet
I prefer a brush hook for kindling.
I just find it easier and quicker than an axe.
^ I figure you must have the limb regrowth of an arachnid 🕷
This reminds me I need to get a shank for the one I used as a kid 50+yrs ago which I recovered from my dad’s garage after he passed away.....
I have a Fiskars of some sort but if I’d know at the time I bought it that dad still had the auld one I would have acquired it..
Got a mini Fiskar (the smallest one they do) for the van. It's too short to swing properly....
Why swing a kindling axe ?
It's all in the flick of the wrist 😉
Split with the grain and pick your wood smart.
Artisnal kiln dried hard wood is not what you want for kindling.
Dry softwood is what you want
Fiskar X11 -is what I use.
Axe?! Pfhhh
Just stick one of these in the garden
https://www.fuelwood.co.uk/Kindling-Wood-Machines/Kindlet-Pro.aspx
Haha! I thought this would spark some debate. Fiskars X11 looks just the job - I don't always have nice, straight grain drier hardwood for kindling. Currently working through a load of hardwood pallets which aren't the easiest to split but do get the stove going very nicely. Plus an X11 will double up nicely for general duties and whacking in felling wedges etc.
Mine's an X11 (not X7 as I stated above)
I have thisHusky hatchet. Nice thing and not too pricey at about £25. I have no idea if it’s artisanal but it’s got a wooden handle and it chops wood onto kindling fairly easily, so it ticks my easy to please boxes.
I do have some cheap hatchets, but usually I just choke up on a bigger 4.5lb axe because that's what I have in my hand at the time if I have been splitting and then need some kindling too. I used to use the hatchets when i split with a maul, but after a muscle injury through using the maul i now split with the lighter axe, and for a small amount of kindling, seems pointless to change tool. N-1 situation.
This would be a nicer thing to have and use than that Fiskars brush hook:
https://woodsmithexperience.co.uk/shop/product/morris-devon-billhook/
I have a Devon pattern bill hook that I use for kindling. The hook can clip the block sometimes, but bill hooks are good for being able to twist stuff apart as well.
Just found an old Knighton pattern in the garage at the new house which should be a bit better.