I took the axepill, as jointly recommended by PrepHole and PrepHole. I have been chopping through a large and knotty pile of different types of wood all summer. No power saws; just my axe and my splitters and my bowsaw to get certain pieces under the 18"/46cm recommended for sale as firewood (I have sold off 4 cords for spare cash thus far while keeping the others for the wood stove that PrepHole also recommended that I install).
Some observations:
>I definitely got stronger. Smashing full-force into dense rounds of wood is violent exercise that jolts your whole skeleton. My fingers and wrists are measurably thicker after just 6 months.
>My lower legs took a beating. Sometimes, chunks of wood fly off and nail me in the shins. I could take protective measures against this, but any additional gear makes things even hotter, and during the summer, that's just no good. I chose to take the hits. I have scars, but no actual broken bones.
>You need more water than you'd think. I could suck down whole gallon of icewater during a 2+ hour battle with a large chunk of wood full of knots, and still need more.
>This is tough on the elbows in particular. After several months, I can tell that I need a multi-week fall/winter break to let my arm-joints heal up and stop hurting.
>Shit breaks, even good shit. If you are hitting hard every day, splitters and axes will eventually develop microfractures which grow into macrofractures and require repairs or replacements. No way around this; even oldschool loggers complained about this.
>You get better over time. You can glance at the top of a round of wood and immediately note the direction of the fractures and rings and start swinging/splitting to exploit those flaws. You know where knots and branch-stubs are located intuitively.
>My legs are beefier from carrying buckets of cut wood over to the piles.
Overall, 7.5/10. Some nice gains since March, but also more and more injuries accumulating over time.
Get yourself some 'soccer' shin pads.
I should add a bit about how to sit your chunks of wood to be cut.
>Bare ground/dirt = crap
Too much force is absorbed by the dirt.
>Gravel = okay, but temporary
If you use a lot of force, it will eventually dig through the gravel.
>Asphalt/concrete/cement = good for splitting, but bad for the axe
Every time you swing into the ground, you will damage the metal.
>Putting a piece of wood on a low-cut larger piece of wood = a good compromise
The old wisdom is correct. Wood absorbs more of your force than harder surfaces like concrete, which means that cutting is somewhat harder. But it protects your blade and is still a lot more efficient than cutting on dirt.
dont have a nice day anon
consider chainmail leggins when felling
You get used to it after a while. It's like kickboxer training. You know that your lower legs are going to take a beating, and you just accept it for the sake of progress.
Have you checked the thickness of the handle? They're generally too fat and transmit a lot of shock. US forest service has a handbook on it.
If one cannot find the handbook on it, one has only to look at old logging photos. The handles were very thin compared to today. The mfgs went moron mode trying to give the market what it though it needed - the idea being that thicker is better. Thicker handles do not flex as well, not only transmitting more shock to the user, but also isolating shock at the eye, where a break is prone to occur. A good hickory handle is probably a good place to start. If one is breaking properly tuned hickory handles, then he is likely swinging too hard, which is also bad for the body.
how does fibreglass compare to various woods?
Normally I would say fiberglass is garbage for a chopper. If one needed it, then I would try the Seymour S400 Jobsite Pulaski. It has a lot of give to it. The big down side is the rubber on the handle. You must wear gloves with this tool. The rubber will raise massive blisters. Also, you will need to profile the edge for chopping. Otherwise, it has been a good tool. It looks to be out of production, though. Make sure any plastic handles are flexible enough. The Husqvarna is a great splitter.
https://www.husqvarna.com/us/axes/composite-splitting-axe-large/
I have gotten the vibe up the handle that I get when hickory breaks a few times. I assume that a hickory handle would have broken each time. For splitting, nothing beats this Husky. Avoid their wooden offerings at all costs. Their new ones are all trash.
>how does fibreglass compare
I went all long winded and did not really address the direct comparison. Fiberglass is usually too stiff and dead. It transmits a lot of energy back into your joints. I usually only use it for ditch tools. Hickory is very weather resistant once properly treated with s o y bean oil.
ive never held a fiberglass handle not too girthy
thinner is better on a swing tool
The Seymour S400 has a good taper to it.
sounds like youre selling me a dildo
I think that you could find a better dildo for less money.
>axe
your rotator cuffs can only take swinging those c**ts around for so long.
Every lazy c**t I’ve ever met feels the need to give out this advice completely unprovoked.
Because dumbfricks think their shoulders don't wear like automobile ball joints. You're stupid and deserve a shoulder replacement.
In my experience, chopping wood doesn't affect the shoulders the most, provided that you have good swinging form. It will tend to affect the elbow of the stabilizing arm, eventually causing a kind of soreness similar to the sports injury known as 'tennis elbow.' Secondarily, it can jolt the nerves in the wrist, causing temporary tingling/numbness in the arms when laying down (like during sleep). These symptoms usually resolve after a period of rest from chopping wood.
If you have a weak back, you will also end up using your arms to stabilize your swings to a greater extent, which leads to more stress on the elbow and wrists.
forces pass through the shoulder, not into it, provided you have proper form
I'm seconding the advice on looking after your body. The long term issues I've picked up have come from ignoring my body over time. We live in an age where we have machines to do the work for us and take the wear that humans cannot. I'm not saying you should completely cease the physical activity, just do it in moderation, with protection and rest. You're future self will be thankful, or maybe more realistically you may take it for granted which is good because it means you lack the experience of chronic issues that force you to manage your ability and can be somewhat of a downer.
I never had any issues. My father never had any issues. My grandfather never had any issues. I assume that my great grandfather never had any issues, or I probably would have heard about it. It sounds more like an issue of how someone swings an axe rather than that they swing an axe. Also, that newfangled plastic axe from Husqvarna is a beast - a true professional tool. I have had plenty of over strikes and never did any real damage to it. I don't do firewood professionally anymore, so it does not see that kind of use, but I am an arborist, and it sees a fair bit of use.
Yes. First statement is paramount. Unfortunately, it takes either experience or hands-on training to learn how to look after your body. Most of us learned the hard way. If we were trained to do so at a young age, then it might've been different, but that sort of situation is in short supply these days. It is, however, very important to remember that the body can heal and regenerate, but if you don't use it, then you will lose it. Better to be a burly, beaten up old man with a sore body and fingers the size of sausages saying "Boy, it sucks getting old!" as it takes you 5 minutes to get up from your seat because you had to consciously engage each of your individual muscle groups to stand than it is to be a soft, sensitive, possibly even self-hating coward from the lack of punishment you had to endure.
>My lower legs took a beating. Sometimes, chunks of wood fly off and nail me in the shins
>a large chunk of wood full of knots
>This is tough on the elbows in particular. After several months, I can tell that I need a multi-week fall/winter break to let my arm-joints heal up and stop hurting
>Shit breaks, even good shit
It's a hard life for an eejit
Trees is hard job.
For you
>kill 3000 year old tree
>build some shitty house
>house rots within 20 years
TOTALLY WORTH IT GUYS