My 16" model came yesterday. Feels pretty good picking up splits and at 16" it can double as my cut measuring stick. Got to order a log load so I can play with it.
Oops, didn't mean FHC branded, just the tool itself. Though with permission of the powers that be, maybe?
I'm no expect with a pickaroon, but I did make one and I have talked with a old broke down pulpwooder, plus I ordered 5 different ones from off ebay from Oregon. The pulpwooder used it to drag short lengths across/over the steel cable so they could be lifted with the winch on to the truck. This was back when they loaded pulp wood cross ways to the truck, now they load it length ways so it antiquated the pick for that use. The ones from Oregon had pretty blunt ends, they were used to work slabs off a saw mill, one sent showed the damage of hitting a blade. The one I made was sharp pointed, it was the pick type rather than the hook type, and I found there is a reason to be very careful when picking up small cut rounds. It is very easy to ricochet off the target and when you do, it heads directly towards your ankle. So to use what I've learned, don't ever try to catch the log at the bottom of the arc, while swinging towards you, swing more downward, and the sharpness can actuality be a disadvantage, because it's hard to get out of the log. One as sharp as shown probably doesn't even need to be swung, just "hooked". They are very, very good at unloading a truck. Sorry for being long winded, I'm not a wordsmith.
Try to have him split it on the ground. The X27 has a longer handle and is meant for really tall people and a block or shorter-normal sized people with the rounds on the ground. He looks like he is struggling way to hard for those little rounds, he'd be much better off with the shorter x25 on the block or just try to use it on the ground once... works SOOOOO much better and is easier to use. Have him snap his wrists over just as the axe hits the block and as another guy said a slight bend in the knees right before impact. The effectiveness of the fiskars is the technique, not just brute force. (of coarse, he's young...lol)
Mine met its match this weekend. Red maple, fresh cut green and frozen. No matter where I hit the wood the pickaroon would bounce right back out. I couldn't get it to bite. Both in the bark and on the ends. I had to use my pulp hooks instead. They have a blunter barbed tip that could catch. On dried splits no problem. East to stick and easy to release where as the barbed pulp hooks can sometimes be a bit hard to release. I guess that is why you can buy these tools with so many different styles of points. Each has its sweet spot. It just wasn't the day for the pickaroon.
Looks that way but it #@^$%#@*$ sucked dragging that red maple through 15" deep snow with a little crust on top. Needed to get some wood for my camp though and I don't get there nearly enough.
Yeah, sometimes pictures can be deceptive. I've never seen snow that deep in my life, so I still get excited when I get to split some wood in slushy inch deep snow
