Axe Wood Cleaving Techniques, Hacks & How to Best Stack the Firewood

Today is a proper woodpecker day!
Come learn some good cleaving techniques, a hack or two and a talk about wood stacking. Let’s start chopping!

Cleaving log - Cleavers prefer different sizes, mine is about - 1 foot 7,5 also called 50 cm and cleaving logs up to 2,5 feet is normal. It is preferred to use leaf tree wood because of the sap in needletrees – in my opinion leaf tree logs lasts longer too. I could fasten a tire to the top so the firewood won’t bounce of the cleaving log or use some other contraption to hold the wood together.

This is Norwegian Spruce, a needle tree, and in my experience the worst wood to cleave. It’s a sappy, soft wood with lots of branches that you can see here. These branches makes the wood more resistant to cleaving and will give you a good workout

Try only using the force needed to cleave the wood. To little and nothing happens, to much and your axe probably will get stuck in the cleaving log. Force Is something learned with experience. If it’s a really tough mother then make 4 good chops in the top like a cake, then flip it around and do the same there. You want The point of impact to be on the edge of the cake, hit tough wood in the middle and your axe will most likely get stuck, bounce or the handle will get a beating. With the really hard ones I pretend it’s a battle of will, and I will prevail.
When you get a hold of things you can also try using the axe to pick up logs, use the edge of the axe to secure a good hold.
Now let’s talk about form. As I have been cleaving wood on and off for 25 years things flow quite naturally, but these are more or less the stances I use. For the extreme logs I spit in my hands for better grip, legs wide apart, I grip the handle at the very end to get the most power out of the axe, adjust distance, axe behind back and in a gentle way lead the axe up and above your head before you slam in down with all your might and watch your prey cave in to your onslaught. If you notice I also bend my knees right before I hit - gaining even more force and ensuring that the axe won’t pivot into your legs if you miss. Now repeat until all enemy wood pieces are slaughtered into chopsticks.
For other more casual wood logs I normally do a side swing switching between which leg is the lead leg and sides to even the strain on my body. This will normally cause a bigger misfire and chance of hurting yourself if you are not accustomed to cleaving.
Having a smaller axe nearby for easier logs is a good idea to switching it up and saving some strength.

I stack it to dry over the summer months. When stacking the wood there are several things you need to be considerate of. An old Norwegian saying is that a mouse should be able to run straight through the stack – meaning lots of holes and an airy stack is prefered.
- Don’t stack it directly on the ground or you risk that the bottom layer might rot
- I prefer using my woodshed with side support for easy fast stacking. The most important is that the stack don’t get wet or fall out during drying.

It’s said firewood warms you many times. When felling and moving the trees. When cutting them into the correct size and then the cleaving, stacking and finally when you lit the fire.
I enjoy cleaving wood. It’s a sign of Spring and it gets my back into shape really fast. The thought of a cold winter with my family in front of the fireplace always warms my heart.
Next Saturday I will do a review on my new Fiskars X25 axe

Cleave Wood Like a Viking | Learn Axe Techniques, Hacks & How to Best Stack the Firewood

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