Patent Application
20110016726
Embodiments of the present invention relate to manual tools for splitting or chopping wood.
Hand tools used to cut wood through the ages often have taken the form of an axe, an adz, or a splitting wedge used with a blunt sledge hammer. Each type of tool has features that are useful for different purposes, but each tool also has certain limitations. For example, an axe or hatchet has a metal blade in line with the handle, a useful configuration for efficiently exerting a downward force to split relatively small logs with a single blow. However, if the single blow is not energetic enough to split the wood, the axe may become stuck in the wood. Dislodging an axe stuck in a piece of wood is an awkward, unpredictable, and risky activity. Larger logs benefit from the use of splitting wedges in which a wedge having a sharp blade is separate from a blunt sledge hammer used to safely drive the wedge into the wood with multiple blows. If the wedge gets stuck, a second or even a third wedge may be driven into the same piece of wood to multiply the splitting force. Drawbacks of such a “sledge and wedge” system include the weight of the sledge hammer and suitability for large pieces of wood as opposed to kindling. An adz is another conventional cutting tool that uses a chisel or gouge-shaped blade for hewing and shaping timber. The adz features an axe blade oriented perpendicular to the handle, similar to a garden hoe, instead of in line with the handle, like a standard axe. Most existing wood-splitting tools are variations of these three well known forms, featuring a variety of different cutting head shapes, handle forms, and methods of attaching the blade to the handle.
A novel splitting tool and a specialized chopping block described herein cooperate to enable kindling to be cut from ordinary firewood in an efficient and safe manner with a minimal application of force. The splitting tool applies leverage in addition to downward momentum of the cutting head to split wood. Extra leverage becomes possible with the use of a metal handle integrated with a metal cutting head, the cutting head and handle being formed or attached in a perpendicular configuration similar to an adze. However, the splitting tool differs from a conventional axe or adz in a number of respects. In addition to the all-metal construction, a widening profile of the handle near the cutting head has a unique triangular shape, thereby increasing the amount of leverage that may be applied to the wood. A secondary cutting blade is integrated into the end of the handle near the cutting head to split wood away from the face of the cutting head, thereby preventing the tool from getting stuck in the wood. In addition, the integrated flat top surfaces of the cutting head and the handle near the joint allow the user to drive the cutting head completely into the wood as though the cutting head were a splitting wedge.
The splitting tool is complemented by a specialized chopping block for holding wood in a steady, upright position. The chopping block features a V-shaped recess that is open on one end, allowing the user to slide a kindling log into the recessed platform until it is sufficiently braced, thereby accommodating kindling logs of various diameters. The chopping block also provides resistance to the downward force of the splitting tool during the splitting action.
It is to be understood that this summary is provided as a means for generally determining what follows in the drawings and detailed description, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Beyond mid-section 28, toward distal end 16, the cross section of handle shaft 14 widens near joint 19 to a shape that supports a broad, flat, upper handle shaft striking surface 30 and a tapered secondary cutting blade 32 on the underside of handle shaft 14 to assist the cutting head 18 in splitting wood. Secondary cutting blade 32 reduces strain on joint 19 to better withstand the forces generated when prying wood apart. The butt, or upper surface, of cutting head 18 is also formed into a flat plane, providing a clean cutting head striking surface 34 opposite a primary cutting blade 36. In a preferred embodiment, striking surfaces 30 and 34 form a single, integrated flat plane. If primary cutting blade 36 should become lodged in the wood (because of the presence of knots, for example), removing cutting head 18 is made easier by the availability of the striking surfaces 30 and 34. By striking these flat surfaces with a mallet or other weighty object, an additional downward force is supplied to either finish splitting the wood by prying it apart, or to free cutting head 18 for another attempt.
Although certain embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a wide variety of alternative or equivalent embodiments or implementations calculated to achieve the same purposes may be substituted for the embodiments illustrated and described without departing from the scope of the present invention. Those with skill in the art will readily appreciate that embodiments in accordance with the present invention may be implemented in a very wide variety of ways. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the embodiments discussed herein.
The terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, to exclude equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims that follow.
