I just bought the black handled splitting axe at Lowe's. Had a coupon so it was 40 something dollars. I have 6 lb. and 8 lb. traditional malls and a traditional Michigan pattern axe for splitting but have heard good reports about the Fiskars on this site. Would the no fault warranty I have heard so much about still apply with the black only handle I wonder? Hope I haven't gone wrong!
Actually, yes. I checked again. Lifetime warranty. I missed that somehow before! Thanks for the prompt!
I broke my isocore last winter when it was 30 below. I mentioned it when it happened I believe. I just happened to also mention it to the super small, independent hardware store that I purchased it from. They told me to bring the broken isocore to them and they would replace it. I brought it by, and took another x 27 instead. Couldn't be more happy with the store. The same store allowed woodstock to ship my stove to them, and they even bombed it up the road ways.....right to my front porch.
Was able to try out my new black handled Fiskars splitting axe yesterday. While it was not an exhaustive trial, I was favorably impressed. It worked well on straight grained Madrona and Fir. I would normally have used a much heavier maul but the lighter Fiskars was just as effective. It did not work any better on the ugly knotty pieces but neither did the maul. Had to resort to sledge and wedge! I will give it more of a workout shortly.
I grew up with a short handled maul and am 5'6" and the shorter handled x25 is my preference. But sense I grew up swinging shorter handles any thing over 32 inches is uncomfortable to me. I also feel I can get more snap with a shorter handle but that probably has just as much with years of only using short handled splitters.
use an x25. Am 5' 11'', 60 years old and split all my wood with it. If I can't split it I noodle it into smaller piece. Even tough wood like beech, persimmon, and elm when noodled into 6" pieces from a large round can be split by hand without much trouble.