How to Chop Wood With a Felling Ax
Many people around the world rely on wood burning as their main source of home fuel. But it's incredibly dangerous to burn wood that is too large for your fire pit or hearth. You need to be able to chop it up into pieces for safety, fuel efficiency and portability. A felling ax is also sometimes known as a wood ax or just an ax (or axe), but whatever you call it, it's a great tool for wood chopping.
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Things You'll Need
- Felling ax
- Machete or bow saw
- Good footwear
- Gloves (optional but recommended)
- Goggles (optional but recommended)
- Chopping block
- Wood
Instructions
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1
Find a chopping block. This can be a tree stump, a huge downed tree trunk or a sturdy chunk of metal. Rocks can be used in a pinch, but they often break apart quickly from the force of the blows.
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2
Put on your gloves and footwear and gather your wood.
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3
Saw your very long pieces of wood into sections that will fit in your fire pit or hearth. They will still be too wide to place in the fire. If you don't have a bow saw or other kind of handsaw, you'll have to chop and chop and chop with the machete.
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4
Stand up a section of wood as still as you can get it. Prop it up with stones or other chunks of wood if you have to. You want your ax blade to drop into a smooth, broad surface for easy chopping.
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5
Stand at a slight angle from the wood. Hold out the felling ax so the blade touches where you want it to hit. In this way, you find out where to stand. Do a slow-motion practice swing to be sure.
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6
Stand up straight as you can. Hold the felling ax in your dominant hand near the end of the handle where you feel comfortable. If the felling ax is too heavy, you'll need to use both hands.
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7
Swing the arm behind you and inhale. When the ax is at the height of the arch--over and a bit to the side of your head--bring your least dominant hand up to grasp the handle to give extra power to the falling blade. Let out your breath when the ax bites into the wood.
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Repeat until your wood is all ready for the woodbox.
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Tips & Warnings
This gets so much easier the more you practice.
Everyone discovers their own best way of doing the swing or chop. Yours may slightly differ from what's described here.
Never chop wood indoors because of flying chips.
Never chop with a dull blade.
Keep checking the ax handle for deep grooves or cracks. When they appear, you must get a new ax handle. Otherwise, you risk having the ax head fly off during a swing.
Resources
- Photo Credit Image from WikiMedia Commons
