"all Boys Become Idiots If A Girl Is Around"

[chattius 2,520]

Our daughter had to finish an art project for school together with a classmate: making a sculpture from some old metal parts. Because of all the snow and ice I allowed them to use our machine hall. My daughter said the wood oven in it had to be heated so she graped a Rabenschnabel (translates as raven's beak, bec de corbin and looks a bit like the weapon and forest worker used it as this in old times) and walked to the log storage.

 

 

The boy said he will chop the firewood and got an axe. My daughter worked on the project meanwhile. After 30 minutes and no firewood arriving she looked what took so long. He was trying an axe on fresh chopped wood, instead using the wood which was stored for 2 years already to loose water. Also old wood is way easier to chop. And it seemed he put no thoughts why our daughter took a Raven's Beak. With a bit training you can hammer the beak into a log without bowing down and pull the log into a hydraulic log splitter attached to one of our Unimogs.

 

Video about people using a Log Splitter on a Unimog, Difference is that our tool is army coloured like the Unimog. Bought an old army Unimog including all tools years back: snow blow, grass and bush cutters, ...

 

We have one of these too, and I allow my daughters only to use it if standing behind the unicorn horn like thing. Thats when the Raven's beak comes into action.

 

Video of a very riscy (for men and car) variant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1HZztie5ac

[Furian67 14]

I love the unicorn style. Wow and to think of all the wood splitting I did as a kid with an axe.

[Barristan 14]

I love the unicorn style. Wow and to think of all the wood splitting I did as a kid with an axe.

 

Well.... I do not use an axe... I am not sure, if this is what you would call an axe, but this is what we use.

 

The wedge, and the weight behind it, makes a way better splitter than an axe would. The version I use, is a home made one, and is actuallu quite a bit heavier than the one on the pic.

 

 

This is called an axe here

Much lighter blade.... and for me, way unfit to chop wood.

 

Might be a case of 'lost in translation' but this is how we call these things

 

Greetz

Edited December 20, 2010 by Barristan

[essjayehm 58]

I like the unicorn thing as well. Probably about 100 times more safe than the splitters I used when I was young.

 

Barris, yeah... an axe is more for felling a tree (small ones) than chopping wood, but some people really do not know that and end up chopping with the wrong tool.

 

 

Heh... I know what I'd be thinking if the girl grabbed a bec de corbin; (uh oh!) Personally, I don't blame him for avoiding her after that

[locolagarto 15]

I love the unicorn style. Wow and to think of all the wood splitting I did as a kid with an axe.

 

Well.... I do not use an axe... I am not sure, if this is what you would call an axe, but this is what we use.

 

The wedge, and the weight behind it, makes a way better splitter than an axe would. The version I use, is a home made one, and is actuallu quite a bit heavier than the one on the pic.

 

 

This is called an axe here

Much lighter blade.... and for me, way unfit to chop wood.

 

Might be a case of 'lost in translation' but this is how we call these things

 

Greetz

 

My Father and brothers used the wedge as well. even had them without the handle that we hit with a sledge hammer for very large diameter logs. Luckily for me I was too little to get stuck with the really heavy lifting. That hard work was left for Furian67 and our oldest brother.

[Dragon Brother 619]

I love the unicorn style. Wow and to think of all the wood splitting I did as a kid with an axe.

 

Well.... I do not use an axe... I am not sure, if this is what you would call an axe, but this is what we use.

 

The wedge, and the weight behind it, makes a way better splitter than an axe would. The version I use, is a home made one, and is actuallu quite a bit heavier than the one on the pic.

 

 

This is called an axe here

Much lighter blade.... and for me, way unfit to chop wood.

 

Might be a case of 'lost in translation' but this is how we call these things

 

Greetz

 

I think you got the translation covered nicely there. The "Splitter" is used for "splitting" logs, not the axe, its what most people Ive seen use, like you said, the concentrated weight at the head maes it far superior to an axe for the purpose.

[Antitrust 32]

I've used what you call an axe for wood chopping

 

I'm not sure if it's the best tool for it, but we used a neat trick which involves driving the blade into a log, and then hit the stuck axe-head onto a wooden surface in an upside-down motion. The log basically chops itself, and it doesn't matter if the axe is too light

[chattius 2,520]

Yes translation of the finer variants of a tool is hard. We have several tools:

 

Beil = hand axe. Used when dry beech trunks are sawed to 1 foot high discs. Used single handed. If a hand axe is stuck you revert the striking, hand axe below wood.

 

Spalthammer = translated splitting hammer = splitting maul, The 'axe' with the red head from threads above. If a 1 metres long log is laying flat on ground you hammer it into the round part of the log and with a bit training the log is halved with one swing.

 

Axt = axe, to chop trees, removes branches, used two handed. There are several variants, My favourite one has a axe side and a Raven's beak side to pull logs.

 

Keil = wood splitting wedge, used when the splitting maul failed to split the log in one strike and is stuck.

 

 

Trummsäge = two man saw

 

 

In our area with old wood working traditions a fresh married couple has to saw a log with such a saw to leave the church after marriage, Nowadays there are little 'quests' which are around the profession or hobby of the couple which have to be done after marriage.

Edited December 21, 2010 by chattius

[Furian67 14]

Nice, Love the "small details".

[chattius 2,520]

Found a picture in internet:

 

 

The cap's of the people show that one of the couple is a member of a carneval's club.

 

At hour marriage we hadn't to use a saw. We married at the church in the birth village of my wife. The grandpa of my wife did sidecar motorbike races with my wife as a monkey in the sidecar. Monkey because the sidecar person has to do acrobatics do move the centre of gravity to adapt to different road parts at cross country races. So friends removed the wheel's of the carriage we used to drive to the church. We had to attach the wheels again before we could use the carriage to drive away from church. So our quest was wood work (wooden carriage) and hobby of my wife: car races combined.

 

I like these traditions, even they become rare.

Edited December 21, 2010 by chattius

[Furian67 14]

So back to the original story. What happened after your daughter found the boy playing with green wood? Did she roll her eyes and show the "city boy" how it's done?

[chattius 2,520]

Yes, kinda a lesson how to use the Unimog and he was allowed to test drive the Unimog later, controlled by my daughter. Farm roads to field barns had to be cleaned from snow anyway. Removing log splitter and attaching snow plow takes only 10 minutes. He thought my daughter was lying at school when she said she drove a Lamborghini with 5, a Porsche with 8 and a Mercedes (=Unimog) with 12. So she was showing our tractor collection,

 

Country live is a bit different. On normal streets you have to be 18 to drive a car here. But small tractors I teach to 5 year olds - I don't want them to climb ladders at fruit harvest, but they can drive the tractor to pull the wagon with the baskets with fruits. I taught cleaning the heat elements of the washing machine to our 12 year old, and she can do it, including all electric work. I just take a last look before closing the cover of the machine. Way cheaper to explain stuff carefully then paying a repair servive who takes 2 hours driving costs. When I am on sales travel I know that most repairs could be done by our oldest and the easier ones even by our second.

[czevak 57]

I've used what you call an axe for wood chopping

 

I'm not sure if it's the best tool for it, but we used a neat trick which involves driving the blade into a log, and then hit the stuck axe-head onto a wooden surface in an upside-down motion. The log basically chops itself, and it doesn't matter if the axe is too light

 

Just what I wanted to add. I prefer this method to hammer and splitter when the woodchops are max. 25cm in diameter. You get a nice workout swinging the log with the axe overhead onto the block.

 

You have to be sure it is really stuck for good, or you can get a headache... XD

[Knuckles 904]

I think the part about the newlyweds having to work together to leave is really cool. Though I do have to say having a girl around to act like an idiot is optional for me

[wolfie2kX 528]

Yes, kinda a lesson how to use the Unimog and he was allowed to test drive the Unimog later, controlled by my daughter. Farm roads to field barns had to be cleaned from snow anyway. Removing log splitter and attaching snow plow takes only 10 minutes. He thought my daughter was lying at school when she said she drove a Lamborghini with 5, a Porsche with 8 and a Mercedes (=Unimog) with 12. So she was showing our tractor collection,

 

Country live is a bit different. On normal streets you have to be 18 to drive a car here. But small tractors I teach to 5 year olds - I don't want them to climb ladders at fruit harvest, but they can drive the tractor to pull the wagon with the baskets with fruits. I taught cleaning the heat elements of the washing machine to our 12 year old, and she can do it, including all electric work. I just take a last look before closing the cover of the machine. Way cheaper to explain stuff carefully then paying a repair servive who takes 2 hours driving costs. When I am on sales travel I know that most repairs could be done by our oldest and the easier ones even by our second.

 

Oh yeah.. I completely forgot that Lamborghini got it's start making tractors. It's fairly easy to do given the sort of vehicles they produce these days. I wasn't aware that Porsche also did tractors, however. And to think I've heard the story of how Lamborghini went to Porsche to have a custom built car made to his specs and Porsche told him to go pound sand (like Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes) - so he decided to build his own. I never quite made the connection.

 

 

Yeah. In the "sticks" you have to be more self reliant than city folk. Definitely makes more sense to do it yourself - as long as you know what you're doing.

[chattius 2,520]

Was Ferrari, not Porsche

Mister Lamborghini bought a Ferrari (companies are just a few miles away from each other) and returned to have some changes, because he thought that his tractors would vibrate less than this sports car. Mister Fwerrai said to his 'neighbour' Lamborghini that he wouldn't listen to a tractor producer. Lamborghini then produced own sport cars. You could lay a coin on the engine and give full throttle and the coin was not moving.

[wolfie2kX 528]

Ack. You're right. Ferrari and Lambourgini are both Italian.. Porsche is German. What was I thinking? DOH!

 

I stand corrected...

[Chareos Rantras 0]

Real men split wood with their fists & heads!

 

Hehe

 

cheers!

[chattius 2,520]

Yes, I know that Obelix used just his hands to chop firewood in the Asterix comics. We germans had a way better variant:

 

A platoon of soldiers was ordered to chop a tree: 2 men with a saw the other 30 had to sit down in a row. When the tree was falling it hit all the heads and was splitted in half metre long fire wood. You never wondered why the old army helmets looked like:

 

[Chareos Rantras 0]

Yes, I know that Obelix used just his hands to chop firewood in the Asterix comics. We germans had a way better variant:

 

A platoon of soldiers was ordered to chop a tree: 2 men with a saw the other 30 had to sit down in a row. When the tree was falling it hit all the heads and was splitted in half metre long fire wood. You never wondered why the old army helmets looked like:

 

 

Hehehe reminds me of the punk joke:

 

"How many punks does it take to replace a light bulb? 21, One who stands on a chair holding the bulb while the others start drinking until the room begins to spin"

 

cheers!

Edited January 27, 2011 by Chareos Rantras

[emmabee11 2]

Awesome I have never chopped wood in my life or even gone camping, one day I will and do it the old fashioned way, learn to chop wood and make my own camp fire looks awesome to do.

Edited February 9, 2011 by emmabee11

[chattius 2,520]

This is what I got for birthday this year some weeks ago from wife and daughters:

 

A 'suit'-case with a gadget axe: I was always angry when I was walking to a tree in foerst just to notice that I had the wrong type of axe with me.

 

 

So this one has exchangable blade-heads and thorns/raven beaks. The thorn is quite useful to move trunks. So different axe-heads for chopping, log removing and splitting....

 

Better than a necktie or socks ....

 

Just remembered this old thread and I thought it would fit in.

[gogoblender 3,068]

Awesome! I've always loved seeing what everyone gets and really wants for their birthdays. Lately, it seems like gift certificates "en masse" are the same ole same ole kinda thing. I've always loved the rare good gift.

 

Happy you got yours, and haaaaaaaaaappee Birthdaaaaaaaaas Chatius!

 

 

gogo

[essjayehm 58]

Happy you got yours, and haaaaaaaaaappee Birthdaaaaaaaaas Chatius!

 

 

gogo

Happy Birthday, Chattius!

 

Now, get back to work... trees don't chop themselves!

 

[chattius 2,520]

 

Our second was walking with dogs saturday evening when she met a group of the disaster relief team doing an exercise. They were all wearing headlamps and she said the spots of lamps kept wandering up and down her body. She is only 13 and didn't really know how to react.

She said she started to sing loud an Abba song:

 

'Super Trouper beams are gonna blind me

But I won't feel blue

Like I always do

'Cause somewhere in the crowd there's you'

 

 

Good solution, but at x-mas she will get a t-shirt:

 

 

probably this one for me?

 

 

What have I done to have 4 daughters....