ESTWING Special Edition Fireside Friend - Leather 14" Wood Splitting Maul with Forged Steel Construction & Genuine Leather Grip

Bought this as a Xmas gift last year for my father. It's great for splitting kindle wood and the quality is amazing. It has great weight to it and the size is just right. It chops great and easily and was a great gift

This is a great little splitter. Tou may see people down play this. But this is a tool for the job. It's not meant to split large logs. That's what the 8-10 malet is for. This is great to split smaller pieces into kindling. Really works well.

Splits wood with ease, as long as you’re able to swing it. Not for noodle arms 😄 Made extremely well, handle length just right, swings comfortably. Easy to transport as it takes little space. Thick where it needs to be and sharp as it needs to be. Came with a nice sheath too. It really is fun to use. Great price for a quality item

Quality and fits perfect in hand for splitting wood. Weight distribution excellent. One swing splits

I like the weight of this and the size. I use it for cutting kindling. Made well and good quality.

Heavy duty. Good product. Worth the buy.

I purchased the standard blue Fireside Friend model and glad I did for the additional grip and comfort of the shock-reduction hanlde over the leather ring alternative. The 4 lb. weight is perfect for camping and can be used with one or two hands. While it would be nice if the handle was about two inches longer, this tool works fine as is and fits nicely in my camping tool bag with my Husqvarna hatchet. My only nit and why I deducted one star was the poor edge on this tool as sold. The quality of the materials and fit was very good, but the sharpness of the bit was disappointing, event for a splitting maul. I noticed this when I was getting bounce-back or rebound when splitting greener wood. On closer examination I discovered that not only the cutting edge was dull, but it was poorly ground with one side not matching the angle of the other. After about an hour of finishing with a file and sharpening stone, I finally achieved the sharpness I expected and it performed much better. If you have dry, seasoned wood, I would expect about 4-6 inches to be about the maximum diameter for this tool to split safely. I split about a dozen 4 inch logs cut from trees downed this spring by storms which was still somewhat green, so this was a fairly critical test. After dressing the blade bit, however, it did an excellent job of splitting this wood. While I usually use a large log as a base for splitting with a standard long-handled maul, I found it safer to split logs and their sections directly on the ground with the Fireside Friend Axe. This avoids any bounce-back of this shorter-handled maul into one of your legs while standing, which nearly happened to me. I found this tool safest and most effective to use kneeling in front of the piece you’re splitting, leaving little to no chance that rebound of the shorter maul could present a danger. In closing, I’m excited to find this compact, yet effective splitting maul for my camping excursions. Yes, I was disappointed that the cutting edge was not properly finished, but having resolved that myself, I look forward to using this Estwing Fireside Friend for years to come.

I don't write reviews..I felt this was worthy..The best kindling maker hands down..even takes on 8in rounds..buy it you won't be dissapointed..I ordered the blue.

Excelente calidad

This axe is a little beast. It's nice and heavy and makes splitting wood a breeze. Construction of the axe is super solid.

Spitzenwerkzeug !!!

Ótimo

北欧製、日本製、アメリカ製、ヘッド部の重さ・形状、柄の材質・形状・長さ、使用例（動画）など、様々なメーカーの手斧を調べました。 それぞれに魅力的な部分はありますが、私はこの手斧を選択しました。決め手はヘッドの重さと厚みです。 私の親戚には山仕事をしている人が多く、ヨキ（手斧）の恐さをよく聞いていました。ですので極力振り回さずに薪割さえ楽にできれば他の機能はいらない（枝打ちなどの用途には軽い鉈、丸太を切るのはノコギリを使う）と考えました。 この製品は片手で振りまわすなんて無理なくらい重たいですが、薪の上に刃をチョコンとのせて反対側（ハンマー側）を棒でガツンと叩けば簡単に薪が割れてくれます。刃が食い込んで抜くのに格闘するなんて事もありません。アメリカのアマゾンでも評価が高いのもうなずけます。 ただシースがない事を不満にあげている人がいました。私は子供用の靴下を2枚重ねにしてシースの代わりに使っています。