chopping wood for kindling

[brigit]

Hi everyone

I'm wondering if anyone else has tried this technique to chop kindling - and if so, how they find it works....

http://bit.ly/b0d4V8

I don't have a froe so would have to buy one. Guess it might be a useful tool to have anyway?

[Martin]

Interesting Brigit. I'd never heard of a 'froe' before but a quick Google has thrown up a few in the £30 to £50 range.

Martin

[JEEP]

I have actually been considering getting myself a froe for a while, this video just makes me want one even more.


Regards.

Jakob

[Ashley Cawley]

Froes are lovely tools for splitting wood - the right tool for the job.

And a handy tip I've not seen before with the elasticated material holding it together! Thanks for sharing Brigit, your teaching me already! ;)

[brigit]

Glad to have posted something useful!

[greenpete]

Nice idea, quite safe though a little slower than an axe in experienced hands

[Ashley Cawley]

Nice idea, quite safe though a little slower than an axe in experienced handsHow many fingers have you got Pete? Just checking! :p

[greenpete]

How many fingers have you got Pete? Just checking! :p

Four on each hand! :D

[Sonofhood]

The whole point of the froe is to exert leverage. There is no need for leverage when making kindling and what little you would need can be exerted with your axe.

The way to make kindling is simply to use a mallet or beetle to strike the back of your axe after you have accurately placed it on the piece of wood.

Just make sure that you are doing it on a substantial piece of wood so that your axe doesn't strike the ground and ruin the edge.

[bikebum1975]

I had actually thought of getting one myself to. Not so much for making kindling but more the cleaning up a log to square it up for carving. The original use of it was intended to make roofing shingles but I do like it for a carving tool. As said I would love to make one myself someday.

[gabrielo]

i didn´t use the technique myself, but i definately looks interesting...and seems to be also quite acurate!

[Howard]

Thanks for the vid, i'll try that.

[caulkhead-bill]

i use a full size meat cleaver excellent for producing a lot of kinderling in a short space of time due to its weight and balance ! the downside is it takes no prisoners !

[mahikan]

What an outstanding way to use the froe. I recently stayed at my friends mountain lodge where he has two open hearth fires to heat the place. He makes kindling once a week, I volunteered to help out with chores by chopping three buckets full of kindling with my axe.
How much quicker it would have been with a froe and bike inner tube.
Got to buy one!
Thank you for posting the video.

[Northwoods]

Hmm yes, always knew I needed a froe really !

Richard

[OKBushcraft]

Thanks for sharing. That is a great vid.

[dave budd]

I have a froe at the fireside thyat I use for courses, much safer for folk to use in the dark or after beer O'clock ;) The trick with the string and a log is a very old one used by woodland folk for cutting the blanks for making such things as pegs and rake tines. It is much faster and less wasteful (you don't get all those odd splinters) than using an axe in my experience, partly because each thwack makes half a dozen or more pieces and partly because you then don't spend time picking the bits up

I often get folk using a beetle and an axe to split kindling, especially kids, but the more direct equivalent to the froe is an old meat cleaver or billhook (or any long bladed knife) on account of having a long blade to get the full width of the log.

[MartiniDave]

One of my grandmothers always used a billhook for splitting kindling down, even in her later years and she lived to be 97! It was a double edged Elwell, I think a yorkshire pattern. Curved edge used mostly, with the straight back edge for knottier problems.

Dave