Leveraxe Classic - The Smart Axe, 36-inch Splitting Axe

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 paceThe 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

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.

This makes splitting wood incredibly fast and physically easy.Tips: Find yourself a couple tires and a chopping block to use a base like in the videos. Use the technique of circling the wood, removing flakes from the outside. Allow your grip to loosen as the axe turns after contact, to lever your piece of wood off the stump.I have been to Finland and appreciate the fact that this is innovative Finnish design, and probably better steel than we see in most tool made in the US.I do hope the cost on these comes down over time, but I think it is worth it at the high price. The shoulder surgery I had was a lot more than this.I wish it had a wooden handle option. That would feel more Finnish to me. Less plastic in the work world is a good thing.

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.

I really waged cost to benefit on this... its expensive for an axe (even a well made one) for a little more I could have purchased a hydraulic splitter (which would split ANYTHING); but, that splitter wouldn’t work with a power outage and I am not doing this as a commercial endeavor; the directions say not to let a kid use it but my 9 year old son, 11 year old daughter and better half all split wood for the first time using it. I had more trouble using it as I was ‘used’ to using a wedge and maul... this is much easier.