ESTWING Fireside Friend Axe - 14 Wood Splitting Maul with Forged Steel Construction & Shock Reduction Grip - E3-FF4 and E-5 5 Lb Sure Split Wedge , Blue

I have been a fan of Estwing tools for close to 50 years. I have worked in the geology field when I was in college. I have been a rockhound for many years. Im trained and have worked as a machinist for decades. My go to hammer in the machine shop is the 8oz ballpien. Im currently gearing up to do more processing of firewood at my country house in case the world is plunged into a depression because of the COVID 19 virus. I have enough timber on my property to be self sufficient for years. Fortunately, I have 3 fireplaces in my drafty old farmhouse. I have relied on Estwing tools for most of my life and own just about everything they make except the Fireside Friend. There are no better tools available at any price.

You need the weight, but yet you need the weight. The only reason I didnt give it a 5th star is because it wasnt as sharp as I wanted so I took it down to my local axe sharpener.

WOW! Love using this well balanced, well crafted, beautiful tool when prepping wood for my wood stove. I’ve used an axe before but knot with much success - fireside friend is not thrown off by knots in the wood. Great product - going to order one for my husband.

Yes, it is effective. It is extremely top heavy and not comfortable to use at all. I would not call this is a small axe you can easily carry around.

4 pound head and sharp does an amazing job on smaller pieces of wood when you don’t need a heavy maul.

This thing is a monster! Wood was a flyin while i used this. I recommend this to anyone who wants to make their already cut lumber, smaller. Its perfect!

I love everything about this tool. It perfectly fills the need for splitting smallish chunks of wood that a maul or axe is too big for. If you use it right it goes through fairly difficult chunks like butter (dont swing it like a hatchet...let the weight of the tool do the work). All you have to do is hold it high and let it fall straight down on the wood, bending your knees at the same time. Its a lot safer that way too since there is no arc to make it bounce back towards your legs. Its also great for driving splitting wedges into huge chunks of wood. Cant wait to use it camping for those nuisance chunks of wood someone always seems to leave lying around because theyre too big for a hatchet...and who wants to drag a splitting maul along on a camping trip?

Bought this for splitting wood at camp (popup camper style.) We used to use an Estwing Hatchet until we realized that we were working way too hard. A lot of times the hatchet would get stuck in the wood and it was a challenge to remove. Decided to bite the bullet of more weight. This Maul is heavy compared to a hatchet but it is built well and the splitting angle is perfect. We barely even break a sweat splitting wood for kindling or just a smaller quicker burning fire. It is still small which is important for storage in our camp box. Great solution!

Excellent quality and just the right size! Easily cuts through wood with its sharp edge and has the hammer side to drive in my firewood splitter wedge

My son loves it. Great quality. Would recommend.