BRG wrote:
Doki wrote:
BRG wrote:
chris French wrote:
In message , Davy
writes

"Guy Dawson" wrote in message
...
Davy wrote:
I've just bought a rather nice 2kg hand axe which is very
efficient for cutting small logs for kindling. But it is very
sharp and I would like to keep all my fingers. Anybody
recommend a way of holding the log steady whilst I take a swing
at it with the axe?

With a piece of kindling. You just have to cut the first piece
carefully...

thanks guys, your suggestion does have the advantage that if I
accidentally hit the piece of kindling that I am using to steady
the log then no harm is done to the axe. Not true of my first
attempt when I used bbq tongs! I have just had a log burning stove
installed so I'm suddenly
needing to learn new skills - including how to use a 6lb
log-splitting maul. That is some animal!

BRG's post does leaves a nasty taste in the mouth though. But I
suppose that if you ask questions on a newsgroup then you've got
to expect occasional replies/trolls like that.

shrug

It obviously makes some people feel better to make smart arse, or
just plain rude comments, rather than anything helpful, or just
keeping their mouth shut.

Forget them and move on, most people most of the time here are
helpful.

Not intended as "smart arse or rude" simply factual - if a question
like that has to be asked in a public group for a task that is so
simple that it was being done by ten year olds in my day, then the
competence of the OP must be doubted for his own safety - remember,
you can easily cut the fingers off your hand, but it's a damn site
harder to replace them.
So the moral here was simply to either get someone who knows how to
do the job, or get that person to show him how it is done - a
million words typed in this group does not count for the experience
of being shown.
Especially with -- "Easy peasy. Get a big wide bit of log to use as
a block, and swing it like a sledgehammer."

In this case, using that method can cause a large lump of the block
to fly and either hit the OP in the face or an innocent bystander
such as a child - doing rather a lot of damage to soft tissue.
Again. someone giving advice without really knowing what to do
himself.

I'd like you to explain how. Hit a log square on with a splitting
maul and you'd be doing very well to make anything fly upwards at
you. IMO there's no room for innocent bystanders when you're
splitting logs as stuff will fly out to the sides, but not up into
your face.

Doki,

Let's get the thing straight, you made the statement "Easy peasy. Get
a big wide bit of log to use as a block, and swing it like a
sledgehammer" - no mention of any splitting maul or other implement -
as I said "someone giving advice without really knowing what to do
himself".
Besides, as the OP was actually asking how to cut *kindling* then you
would hardly go to the trouble of using a 'maul' (as you put it) on a
block of wood around a foot long - you would simply use a sharp
hatchet.

The OP (as in original post) was about cutting kindling, the post I replied
to was about how to use a splitting maul. The point of quoting replies is
that you don't have to restate everything the last person said to make it
clear what you're on about.

What other name is there for a splitting maul by the way? And I for one
would like to see you split slices of branches or trunk with a hatchet for
more than 10 minutes at a time...