Correct me if i'm wrong, but wouldn't this allow for a smaller force lever, because the axe multiplies the forces and does not rely on the user to swing hard enough with the right technique?
I don't want to "correct you" but if I had to correct you about something
it would not be on swinging technique or the physics of a lever. I do not
think that it is a good idea to identify the best wood splitting tool in a
laboratory environment and hang a ribbon around it that says "best
survival/bushcraft tool." Obviously all survival situations are different
but there does seem to be a certain mobility component in all survival
situations. This thing is 3ft(90cm) long and 5.5lbs(2.5kg). Not my first
choice to carry that up or down a rocky incline or beat a path through
thick brush with it awkwardly strapped to my back. However you might be
able to talk me into the extra weight and bulk if it did more than one
thing. Unfortunately this thing does not do anything else, but don't take
my word for it "VIPUKIRVES™ is a special tool designed for chopping
firewood, not appropriate for carpentry [AKA felling and hewing trees] or
for use as a striking tool."[1] I love the UNIX philosophy of do one thing
and do it well, but you will notice that in resource constrained
environments the 100+ binaries from coreutils are provided by a single
small executable: busybox.
Tangent: When I was reading the description of the ax I thought it was
strange that the handle was birch instead of the hickory that I expected.
I was reminded of one of my favorite Ted Talks, "Have Broad Ax Will
Travel", by Roy Underhill. The handle is not hickory, because, according to
Roy, "they [Europeans] put their mountains on wrong, we thought ahead
because we are Americans."[2]
[2]: Skip to 10:00 if you just want to know which direction to orient your
mountains. But the entire video is definitely worth a full viewing.
http://youtu.be/Au1TbIyLcPU
Tangent: When I was reading the description of the ax I thought it was strange that the handle was birch instead of the hickory that I expected. I was reminded of one of my favorite Ted Talks, "Have Broad Ax Will Travel", by Roy Underhill. The handle is not hickory, because, according to Roy, "they [Europeans] put their mountains on wrong, we thought ahead because we are Americans."[2]
[1]: FAQ #3: http://www.vipukirves.fi/english/description.htm
[2]: Skip to 10:00 if you just want to know which direction to orient your mountains. But the entire video is definitely worth a full viewing. http://youtu.be/Au1TbIyLcPU