HOW TO SPLIT WOOD by the Art of Mannliness

Well, I do not think that guy is a pro lol... 1st of all, a pro would have never let his axe, splitting axe, or wedge look that beat up and that dull. Up until recently I had owned all of those, and despite them being 20 years old, they all looked brand new, due to how i took care of them.

I was taught how to cut down trees and split logs from my Canadian Grandfather, who use to live on a farm. The 1st thing I was taught was to put a good size think and long log down in front of my feet incase the axe misses its mark and heads down into my leg. With the log there the axe will hit the log and not your leg, like it just so happened to happen to my grandfather when he was younger. I also suggest wearing steel tipped (toe) boots.

Also one could argue that a slightly heavier axe requires less effort to split logs, and can allow you to use less effort in your swing and use the weight of the axe and the momentum to split the logs. The trick is the balance between the weight of the axe and the velocity of your swing ( and the angle that the axe blade hits at as if not 90 degree straight down, you are losing the ability to split it right down the middle)

But since this is a survival website and not a prepper website, most of us will not be having an axe to split wood but rather a 1/4 thick Bushcraft knife that we would baton (using a branch/small log) against the back of the knife to split a log or to cut down a dead branch or tree. I should also mention hand chain saws or Commando wire saws are also common amongst survivalists.