Fiskars X11 vs Spear and Jackson Neverbend for Splitting a Cubic Metre of Ash

The two hundredth swing changes the comparison

Ash at 20 percent moisture splits cleaner than oak and binds harder than birch. A full cubic metre usually means 180 to 320 individual splits, depending on the diameter of the rounds and the number of secondary splits needed for each log. That is enough repetition for a small difference in head weight to become visible in the forearm.

The Fiskars X11 weighs 1.28 kilograms and measures 44.5 centimetres overall. The Spear and Jackson Neverbend Professional splitting axe is heavier, roughly 1.8 kilograms, with a longer hickory shaft. The extra mass is useful at the start of the stack. A heavier head carries more momentum into a stubborn ash round and can take the edge through to the ground on the first strike.

Halfway through the pile, the same mass begins to shape the swing. The Neverbend rewards a slower, committed stroke, then punishes sloppy recovery as the arc drifts. The X11 asks for more driving force from the user, yet its lighter head is easier to lift, reset, and repeat over a long session. Wide rounds demand cleaner aim with the Fiskars because there is less head mass available to rescue a shallow hit.

Round size belongs in the first decision

Both tools are splitting axes for kindling-to-medium rounds. For gnarled butt sections, the sensible ceiling is below 40 centimetres, where a maul or wedges would take over the heavy work.

Handle material sets the repair path

The X11 uses Fiskars’ proprietary FiberComp shaft, a glass-fibre reinforced composite moulded directly around the head. The construction removes the separate eye, wedge, and loosening joint found on a traditional axe. Fiskars describes the head as inseparable by design.

That design helps during overstrikes. When the shaft lands flat against a round just below the head, FiberComp tends to bruise and scar while the structural core keeps working. Repeated overstrikes on hickory can fray the grain near the head and eventually split the handle.

The trade is repairability. A cracked composite shaft means the tool is replaced as a whole unit. The head and handle are treated as one assembly, which suits users who want a maintenance-free axe until something serious fails.

The Neverbend follows the older pattern: a hickory handle secured in a drop-forged eye with wooden and metal wedges. Hickory absorbs shock well and sends less vibration into the wrist during a long session. That is one reason the wooden handle still has a place beside modern composites.

Hickory also becomes the wear part. A season of heavy splitting can loosen the wedges enough for the head to develop a faint rattle. A marginally loose head can be tightened by re-wedging, and resin can help fill small gaps during that job. Once the shaft is genuinely split, a replacement handle is the durable fix.

Those repair choices matter more under a 550 kilogram splitting session than they do during occasional kindling work. The axe sees high shock loads every time the head stops abruptly in ash, so a small looseness at the eye grows quickly once it begins.

Blade shape and the stuck-head problem

Ash binds as it opens. A narrow wedge angle can bite deep, jam in the kerf, and turn one clean-looking hit into a minute of levering the head free. Hammering on the poll or twisting the handle costs energy, and after many rounds that recovery work becomes part of the total load.

The X11 uses a convex bevel and a low-friction blade coating. Fiskars grinds the edge to a wider included angle than the slim head profile first suggests. The coating has a real effect in green-ish ash, where the coated face releases from the kerf more readily while an uncoated face tends to drag.

The Neverbend has a heavier, more traditional splitting profile. Its greater head mass drives through wide rounds in one hit more often, which reduces the number of stuck strikes by finishing the split before the fibres close around the blade. When it lodges, the extra 500 grams of head weight makes the stuck axe harder to work loose.

Sharpening a splitter calls for restraint. A splitting axe wants a blunter edge, roughly 30 to 35 degrees, usually dressed with a mill file. A fine razor edge chips against knots and adds little to a head whose work is forcing wood fibres apart. On the X11, aggressive filing also removes the low-friction coating at the very edge, so a few strokes to clear burrs is normally enough.

One cubic metre as a worked comparison

Take a stack of ash cut to 25 centimetre rounds, with an average diameter of 22 centimetres. Reducing that pile to stove-sized pieces comes to roughly 240 splits. Assume a fit user swinging steadily and taking a 90 second rest every fifteen minutes.

With the X11, most 22 centimetre ash rounds split in one or two strikes. Fatigue builds slowly because the light head lets the arms reset between strokes. Across 240 splits, grip endurance becomes the main limit. The stack clears in about two and a half hours, with the coating keeping stuck strikes to a handful.

With the Neverbend, single-strike splits are more common on the wider rounds. That lowers the swing count during the first part of the work. Each stroke costs more energy, though, and past the 150 mark the swing arc often starts to deteriorate. Mis-hits and glancing blows rise as the head becomes harder to control.

Total time stays comparable. The Neverbend gives more satisfying one-hit splits early in the stack and rougher swings late in the session. The hickory shaft leaves the wrists less jarred by the end, a difference many users feel more clearly the following morning than during the work itself.

Cold weather changes the feel

Composite handles transmit more high-frequency vibration than hickory. In sub-zero conditions, the FiberComp shaft feels harder in the hand, and the shock from a mis-hit is sharper. Hickory dampens that impact and makes a long winter splitting session feel less harsh through the joints.

For one cubic metre in mild weather, the difference is small. For several cubic metres across a cold winter, the wooden Neverbend is kinder to wrists and elbows despite the upkeep that comes with its wedged handle.

One point sits outside this cubic-metre trial: how many hard overstrikes a wedged hickory eye tolerates before the first rattle becomes permanent.