Home made kindling splitter

[peds]

 

I wanted to make or buy something like that above there for the kids to use when they are hanging out in the woodshed with me. It seems like there's less of a risk of chopping off fingers or toes or broken shins than using my smallest axe.

 

The cheapest ones on amazon or eBay or whatever are 30 euro or so, marked as "ornamental use only", and don't inspire confidence.  Obviously you get what you pay for. I'm not really willing to spend three figures on one though (or even the 50, 60 quid that some seem to be).

 

Has anyone built something like this themselves or seen a similar solution? Or got any other ideas to get young kids happy swinging tools around?

[Paul in the woods]

This idea any use? https://bushcraftuk.com/community/threads/kindling-splitter.152983/

[Steven P]

how old are the kids? Got to learn sometime and if you can supervise while they learn and teach them how to hold a log safely and to use an axe safely then that will pay off in the long term. Might be that they get used to splitting kindling using one of these, then at what 12 or so have a go with a proper axe "We've split loads of kindling".... so don't want the supervision and that's when they pick up bad habits. My boys have been having on and off goes with the hatchet since they were about 3 or 4 just to get used to it and the safety.

[peds]

They are 3 and 4, up to now I've been seating a hatchet in a bit of wood so they can bang it down a few times on a block to split it, but I think they are picking up on the fact that they aren't really doing it themselves. I think with one of these yokes they'd appreciate the swing of a tool a bit more, and the force required to get a reaction from the wood. Then they'd have a bit more control and strength to use a wee axe when the time comes. 

[peds]

4 hours ago, Paul in the woods said:

This idea any use? https://bushcraftuk.com/community/threads/kindling-splitter.152983/

A bit of a heavy blade like that attached to a block, sure, but it definitely needs a raised ring around it to hold the wood to split. I'm not sure what it could be made/repurposed/upcycled from. 

[muttley9050]

A bit of a heavy blade like that attached to a block, sure, but it definitely needs a raised ring around it to hold the wood to split. I'm not sure what it could be made/repurposed/upcycled from. 

Pretty easy to make from scrap if you can weld. Where are you based?

[sime42]

This idea any use? https://bushcraftuk.com/community/threads/kindling-splitter.152983/

That looks good.
I met a guy who had an even simpler version; just clamp a brick bolster upsidedown in a vice, and hammer the wood against that. Pretty safe and effective for tiddlers.
I think that in a year or so when my 2 1/2 year old gets big enough I'll be going down the route that@Stephen P has chosen. I let him use a proper edge tool under close supervision..He's already quite good with a hammer, junior hacksaw, file etc.

[peds]

9 hours ago, muttley9050 said:

19 hours ago, peds said:

A bit of a heavy blade like that attached to a block, sure, but it definitely needs a raised ring around it to hold the wood to split. I'm not sure what it could be made/repurposed/upcycled from. 

Pretty easy to make from scrap if you can weld. Where are you based?

I cannot, it's something I'd love to learn, seems like a useful skill. I'm on the west coast of Ireland. 

[peds]

9 hours ago, sime42 said:

 brick bolster 

Great start. I can drill a hole in a decent stump for the handle to slot into, just need to think about a sturdy frame around it now. 

[eggsarascal]

Years back I bought kindling off a member here, he had what was basically a flywheel that was powered by an electric motor, it was lethal, but he cut a fair amount of kindling with it, how he kept his fingers is a miracle.