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Leveraxe Classic MX review

By Ben Everard. Posted

The axe is possibly the world’s first power tool – depending of course on how you choose to define ‘power’ and ‘tool’. It builds up kinetic energy as it travels downwards and imparts this in a small strip of wood that’s unfortunate enough to be in line with the blade. As the arc continues into the wood, the wedge shape of the axe uses the mechanical advantage of the crack to lever the two sides apart. It’s a brilliant design that’s survived almost 50 000 years of technological advancement more or less intact. However, can this basic design be improved?

The Leveraxe works in a fundamentally different way to previous generations of axes for splitting wood (known as mauls). It still has a sharp edge that comes swinging down and embeds itself into the wood. However, unlike previous axe designs, the head isn’t symmetrical. The blade travels down a few centimetres into the wood, then stops and starts to rotate. The user has to let the handle twist in his or her hand to allow this to happen. The crack is levered apart, and this splits the wood more efficiently than a traditional axe – at least, this is the theory.

Handling the Leveraxe is a bit of a struggle at first because it feels so unnatural to let the handle twist in your hands. Years of axe handling have led us to instinctively grip the handle tight, which doesn’t allow the Leveraxe to do its trick, but after a little practise, we’re able to get into the routine of relaxing the grip on impact.

The twisting of the axe-head can knock the wood over, so it’s necessary to hold it in place as you split it. The recommended technique is to fill a car tyre with wood you want to split and use this to hold it all in place as you work. Without this, you’ll be constantly putting the wood back upright.

We tested the wood with some straight wood (which should have been easy to split), and some twisted and knotted wood for an extra challenge, from a range of different tree species. We found it split the straight wood without too much difficulty, but struggled at the tougher jobs. When something really needs a big wallop, the Leveraxe just didn’t seem to be able to do the job.

At 6 lb (2.7 kg), the Leveraxe Classic MX is on the light side of splitting axes (and there are lighter versions of this axe), and performs reasonably without too much force. However, for anyone comfortable using a heavier maul, we remain unconvinced that this design is a significant improvement over the old tried-and-tested models.

€89 leveraxe.com

Verdict

Easier to swing than a traditional maul, but struggles on twisted or tough wood

6/10

Ben Everard

Ben is the editor of HackSpace magazine. He plays with electronics and grows mushrooms, but hasn't yet combined the two.

https://hsmag.cc

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