The farm boy is back and it is time to review my very next farm tool: the axe. For those who were either not here last semester or did not come to read my farm tool reviews let me re-introduce myself. I have spent most of the summers of my life working on a family farm in Canada where we grow wild blueberries. They were incredibly unique summers compared to my peers who were doing normal things such as going to summer camp and traveling with their parents. But now the joke is on them because I can write articles on obscure and random farm tools and they’re out in the real world making friends and enjoying themselves.

But today’s topic finds itself on the cutting edge of making farm work fun! The axe—or perhaps more specifically, the wood-splitting sword. For the most part, we understand the concept of the axe. It is a blade with a wooden hilt pushed into the blade. This design makes axes an easily replaceable and workable tool. When the hilt breaks you can still reuse the blade by simply putting in a new hilt and the small blade makes it easy to sharpen. But using an axe can occasionally be a dangerous, and in some cases fatal, thing to do. To understand why it can be dangerous, let me quickly describe how you split wood.

To begin, you use a stump as your base so that the blade does not bounce off of anything once it cuts the wood but rather lands in the stump. Then on top of the stump you place the piece of wood you desire to cut in half. But to use the axe specifically, you begin by placing your left hand on the bottom of the hilt and your right on the top of the hilt. The right hand acts as a lever to help bring the axe above your head and then serves as a guide when bringing the blade down. As you drive the blade of the axe into the wood your right hand moves down the hilt to meet your left.

While this is the most effective for bodily function and strength, the axe can be a dangerous X factor in the chore of wood splitting. If you miss the wood beneath, you can accidentally swing your body down and potentially hit your head on whatever may be below you. But more dangerous is the chance of the hilt breaking on the downswing. While the chances are low, once the hilt snaps it is anyone’s guess as to where the blade will end up. This is where most axe accidents occur, and many blades end up in people’s shins.

But what if I told you there was a more fun and safer way to split wood? Let me introduce you all to the best thing money can buy at the moment: the wood-splitting sword, a single piece of metal which gives you all the feel and power of an axe while also providing the user with the coolness of holding and swinging around a sword. Perhaps to some this seems like a frivolous purchase and something which is meaningless, when a cheap axe can be purchased at Ace Hardware and Lowe’s.

But first, let me explain why it is so much safer. When wielding one piece of metal the chances of it breaking are reduced to virtually zero, thus providing a level of safety to the user that is incredibly high. And with the hilt being a leather wrap, you can better customize it according to your preference and there is no need to learn how to move your hands in order to master the swinging of an axe. With less moving parts and a single sheet of metal, you can be guaranteed a safer cut and wood-splitting experience.

Now, sure it is a longer blade which will require better sharpening techniques and more time spent sharpening the whole blade. But the coolness of using a sword certainly outweighs the cons of needing to sharpen the whole blade. So why be dangerous and possibly in the way of injury when instead you can be cool and use a safe sword? Every fantasy you have ever had about using a sword to cut something can become true with the simple purchase of this wood-splitting sword!