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

This thing splits firewood like no other tool I have. Very satisfied. its saving me a lot of time.

This thing is great for general camping. Its a heavy Maul with a hatchet on the back side. The weight of the thing really helps the aids the effectiveness of the hatchet. Now if youre a super ninja camper, youll probably have a lot of other options available to you. That being said, those options are going to cost you. This is relatively inexpensive and works great as a hatchet and a camp hammer, Also this would make a fairly effective zombie defense weapon, although the length of the handle isnt ideal. All in all, of you can get this at a decent price (all hail the Tri-Camel), Id grab it up.

This axe was super sharp; designed to split wood and well balanced and the perfect supplement to a larger axe when splitting a cord. Especially when the large axe and a maul got stuck, I used this to make another fault in the wood and help split some tough hard woods [oak; sourwood]. Very happy with this purchase.

I have been using this maul every weekend this winter to create kindling for starting the fire in my fireplace. I use this with a 3-pound hammer and take chunks off of wood. I used to use a poor quality hatchet to do this and not only did it take multiple time longer, it was a little tricky to do so since I needed to swing the hatchet and move my hand away from the wood. The hatchet was not really designed to be struck with the hammer, which is why I was using an iffy method. However, with this gem, I use the maul to hold the wood and the 3-pound hammer provides the force. Much safer and more efficient. Takes about a third of the time to get more kindling. I am sure this product will last my life time and the price is very reasonable for the quality. Being made in the U.S.A is another bonus for me too.

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?

I’ve owned the regular Fireside Friend for years and find it wonderful for splitting wood up to about 4”. I use it mostly for burning smaller brush from around our property. I wanted a second one for camping, so decided to splurge and pick this Special Edition up. There is no functional difference between the regular axe and this one, other than the fact that this one is beautiful. In fact, the grip of the regular one works just fine and won’t require any upkeep, so I suppose that it’s marginally better. Both are 5 Star functional splitters for smaller wood. There is no reason to spend extra money on the special edition other than it looks great. Your decision.

To heavy to control with one hand for a 82 year old man. Otherwise it a great tool. It will do the job that its made for. Its a lot easier to use and control if you have the wood at waist level. It is well made. I think the 2 pounder would be better. You could swing it faster thus you would have more foot pounds of energy splitting the log because Foot # of energy = weight X velocity squared.

I bought a bundle of firewood and used this maul to hack into skinnier pieces (do it bundled up; way easier). This maul works well for me, a not strong senior female; easier than using an axe. However I can’t hold a piece and swing this maul using the other hand. This thing needs velocity to work. My arm is too weak to lift it high and swing it down fast one handed. I probably need a hatchet to cut skinny wood into kindling size (the pile next to this maul is the wood chips from hacking firewood bundle).

Rating this tool is difficult for me because I have found it to be very good in some ways and not very good in others. First, it is a very well made tool, though perhaps not a very well designed tool. I think it would easily last for a lifetime of use, although it has qualities that I personally feel might shorten the lifetime in question. I have been heating with wood for at least forty years and I have split a lot of kindling. I hoped that this tool would do a better job than the hatchets or axes that I have used previously. For me the head is too heavy and the balance bad. I dont have a problem with the weight from a strength standpoint, but the weight causes the tool to carry through much more than a hatchet or axe does. So if I happen to miss a piece, glance off it or if the wood splits very easily and the tool goes right through the tool swings on back. Also, the head is too heavy to aim the edge of the tool; it overpowers your wrist. In other words I find it hard to control when used conventionally and personally I am very uncomfortable using it the same way I have used other tools much more comfortably for decades. However, this year I also bought a Kindling Cracker, and used as a mallet in conjunction with the Kindling Cracker this little maul works wonderfully. Pieces fed into the kindling Cracker or similar device need to be relatively small, so this maul is handy to prepare the pieces for the Kindling Cracker and as a mallet it is an excellent, high quality tool and a perfect mate for the Kindling Cracker. So on its own Id give it one star because I consider it too dangerous for splitting small pieces that you are holding by hand, but paired with the Kindling Cracker or similar tool Id give it five stars for its quality of materials and manufacture and appropriate size for the job.

Hell, you can even split larger logs with this axe. The build quality and ergonomics of this axe will make you wanna split everything with it.