The ax has become a constant companion of man since the Stone Age. His "little brother" - the cleaver - is about the same age as our era. But since he appeared, not a single
logging firewood can do without it. Now manual labor is no longer the only one, because various electromechanical and hydraulic devices were invented, including in order to quickly and safely chop wood. But when the current is cut off and the hydraulics fail, nothing will help - unless the manual cleaver for firewood will help out. And in order to deal with it expertly and without risk to health, you should know the rules for handling this tool.
An ax will never replace a cleaver for firewood, and vice versa. These two tools complement each other, as they are designed for different jobs. The ax cuts tree trunks, which will subsequently be sawn into logs. A cleaver splits them into firewood.
That is why they are so different even in their appearance. Axes, the blade of which is designed to cut wood, are shorter, lighter and with quite curly ax. The splitters for splitting firewood are significantly more weighty (3-4 kg), with a straight and long ax (on average 70-80 cm) and without any hint of figure. This is a crude and effective tool.
The increased mass and long ax provide greater momentum and impact force. In addition, the narrow blade of the cleaver (70-80 mm) is also sharpened at an angle in the range from 40 to 60 degrees. A significant part of the impact force of this tool is aimed at tearing the wood fibers apart.
They diverge perpendicular to the direction in which the wood
chopper enters the
block. This explains the "lethal" effectiveness of this tool.
The cleaver blade is not only straight, but also semicircular. With this form, raw wood and tarry logs are easier to chop. There is also a two-sided cleaver for firewood: on one side, a blade is sharpened, on the other, a sledgehammer is formed. This is done to drive wooden or steel wedges into a particularly "stubborn" block for widening the crack.
For chopping thin and dry firewood, there will be work for a short cleaver with an ax of 40-60 cm in length. If thick logs and logs are to be put into firewood, a hero cleaver with a 915 mm ax is used.
The best wood for an ax is ash. Less durable are birch, maple and beech. Also, an ax can be made from oak and acacia, but they still try not to use this wood. Its specificity is that with an ax of this length it does not dampen after an impact its oscillations in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the palms. As the people say, "dry hands."
It often happens that a blow follows a blow, and a wood cleaver hits the block of wood with an ax. This contributes to its rapid wear precisely in the place of attachment. To protect it, it is advised to nail a piece of iron in this place or to wind several turns of aluminum wire.
A chopping block or a deck (a wooden stump, obviously larger in diameter than any block) is intended for splitting firewood, the base for which should be firm and not resilient so as not to dampen upon impact and not "eat" a significant part of the impulse.
Each hit with a cleaver should be applied, confidently standing on fairly wide apart legs, and it is better to put a block of wood in the part of the deck that is farthest in relation to the stabbing person. This is done for safety reasons: in case of a miss, the blade of a heavy tool will stick into the middle of the deck or into the ground between the legs.
A cleaver is a necessary thing in the economy of a working independent man. With proper care, this tool will serve him for many years.