Leveraxe Splitting Axe, Vipukirves 36-inch

Bought this nine years ago. Used it maybe 5 times for two or three logs at a time, it's okay. Finally used it today for a big splitting job. The handle broke when I missed a log.

This is a great product. I've been chopping wood since I was a kid in Boy Scouts. I've helped friends clear lots with an axe and chainsaw. But splitting logs for firewood has always been a pain. Propping up the log, splitting it and then repositioning it. And if you've got a full log, it's almost impossible. Just after I ordered this axe, my furnace died and it was getting pretty cold. I had a tree cut down but it was in logs. Chopping it up with a normal axe wouldn't have worked (2' diameter sections). But with this axe, I just setup the section and split out wood in minutes. I could reduce a whole piece into 20-30 splits in less than 20 minutes. It took longer to haul them back to the house than it took to split them! If you're looking for a tool to make firewood fast, this is a fantastic choice. Get an old tire and a stump and you're ready to make a ton of firewood. You'll still need an axe or chainsaw to cut down trees or make logs, but this will turn it into firewood fast.

Bought this to use while camping in the high Sierras, so no old tires around. Everyone was required to read the manual before trying to use it. My weight lifting teens could do little with it. [we were a family group of 25] The men even took turns and not much. Back to our normal axes. THEN, I had purchased it early to be sure it arrived before we left. The handle of this axe split long-wise around the fourth day. We returned home the day after it could be returned. So now I am stuck with very expensive trash.

Does what it says it will do and is one of many tools you may choose to have depending on your situation. My situation is that we had several huge trees taken down in our backyard - some were 4 feet in diameter - so once they were cut down to 3 foot sections, they were very heavy and hard to move. Buying or renting a splitter were options - but I would have had to get the thing in the back yard, and if renting it, would have had to work quickly to work through the huge volume of wood. Moving these large sections would have been back-breaking - so I opted to give this axe a try as it seemed that is was worth trying. It does what it claimes to do - I was able to take the large sections, turn them face up and cleave away at their outside knocking off pieces as I went around with the axe until I got the piece down to a 2 ft diameter section so that I could then lift it into the "tire" holder and finish the job. It works best with dry wood without knots (as does every splitter) - it is not hard to use and get the hang of, and I will note that the technique is actually a lot less "damaging" to your forearms/wrists as you essentiall let it go as it is falling and you quickly learn not to absorb all the impact through your arms - but the axe does its job. So, I spit about a cord with this the first weekend out - and used both it and my maul axe. There are times where the maul is the right tool and there were times where this was the right tool - I was glad I had both. The nice thing is I can take my time with all this wood in the backyard. I don't have to rush to get it done so I can return the rented splitter, and I don't have to plan the day around starting up a splitter I own and rolling the heavy logs over to it ... so I can get it done at my own pace The downside - it is way too expensive - I get it that it is a unique design, but the price is outrageous - I only bought it because I thought it would be worth trying instead of renting a splitter for the weekend and getting very little done or buying one at 5-6 times the cost - but at the end of the day - this is a piece of steel on the end of a handle - it shouldn't cost this much. So, happy with the tool in its performance, but feel like the price is highway robbery

It did not live up to its hype.

$300 dollars...Really?

I've never written an Amazon review even though I've purchased some remarkable products (shame on me). However, after purchasing this product and literally tearing through nearly 2 cord of mixed wood (maple, birch, oak) over the weekend I am compelled to sing it's praises. This axe is the safest, most efficient, most effective splitting tool I've used in 35 years of processing wood. It took a bit to figure out the technique, but once I sorted that out the wood was just exploding on impact. Thankfully I also adopted the tire surround approach shown in the youtube videos so I didn't have to chase the pieces all over the place. While I've heard from others that they can achieve similar results with an axe, I am convinced that this tool is dramatically safer than either an axe or maul. The Leveraxe does not go through the material and is light enough that I was able to split for several hours at a time without significant exhaustion. The only remorseful moment I had was when I realized that I only have 3 more cord to split and given how much fun it is to split with the Leveraxe that is just not enough wood. I think I'm going to need to fire up the chainsaw...

Before purchasing, I read a lot of conflicting reviews on this axe. A lot of reviewers hadn't actually purchased or used one, but found the cost so excessive that it couldn't be worth it. The value for the price is hard to assess for others, but I will say that the axe is unique and works as advertised. I spent a few hours splitting yesterday and while I wouldn't give up my other splitting tools, there's a place for the Leveraxe. On dry, clear rounds, it works quite well, and on some of the twisted, evil knotty logs I'm trying to split, it works as well as could be hoped. What I like about this axe is that it's relatively light and has a longer handle than my other splitting maul. Also, the design prevents the head from driving too deep into the wood and sticking. These characteristics mean I can make several strikes on the same stubborn round where my other maul would drive deep and wedge into the wood. As I mentioned, a lot of my rounds are very tough to split, and I found that while the Leveraxe would start to split the wood, sometimes it wouldn't completely separate the pieces the way my traditional maul would. I ended up switching back and forth depending on the round (with this kind of wood, I often have to resort to wedges and a sledge too). Switching between axes is kind of nice too; I think it helped prevent fatigue. One other thing to mention, the Leveraxe is asymmetrical, and you have to use it on the left side of the rounds. This was sometimes limiting for me and I ended up circling around or rotating the heavy rounds more than I would have with my splitting maul.