Kindling Cracker King Firewood Kindling Splitter, XL Size, Safe Manual Splitting Design

I use a 3lb without issue, but considering buying a 4lb for the more stubborn pieces.

I use a 4 pound. Use whatever you are comfortable with. It will work. Cut the logs at smaller lengths and it will also be easier.

I like using a 4 pound hammer.

At northern, pick up a 3lb and then a 4lb hammer, get the one that you feel like you can control, 4lb for me. The heavier the hammer the less effort it takes to split the kindling.

A 4 lb. hammer seems to work very well with King Cracker.

I use a 4 lbs. hammer. Works great.

Drill hammer? I use a 3 pound sledge hammer and it works well.

I use a 4 lb small sledgehammer, or a bigger 8 lb and hold the handle close to the sledge for better control. Sort of like choking up on a bat in baseball.

There is not a recommendation for the size of hammer. The size of the hammer is up to the preference and ability of the user. Shown below is item number 2570508 that Northern Tool offers as an accessory for this kindling splitter.

I store mine the garage when not in use.

Yes on a log. Makes it easy to move around, with a 2 wheeler

I leave mine in my shed, I don't think I'd leave it out in the elements unless it was covered.

It is made of cast iron so would weather good. But I move mine under cover

I just keep mine in the garage under the stairs.

This may be left outside, but will rust over time.

We use it without having it mounted, however, it should be on a solid, flat surface.

It helps if you mount it on something solid like a stump but you can set it on top of a heavy concrete block and use it but it does move around some.

You will enjoy it's use much more if you have it mounted to something sturdy. You can use it effectively "unbolted", on a hard flat surface like a step, sidewalk or driveway. Mounting it to a 24" tall, 16" or greater diameter "round", will really speed up the job and minimize the bending during use. This might not make sense until you own and use one of these (either size, original (small) or King (large)), but these are actually FUN to use. What a great way to make LOTS of kindling, FAST. I still use fatwood as a fire starter, but, with this tool, you could easily make kindling that will start with paper or cardboard. I love not worrying about cutting myself with the hand axe (my past method). I own lots of specialty tools and I must say this is one of my favorites.

Works best if attached to something stable.

This should be mounted to a stump for safety purposes. It does feature pre-drilled bolt holes for permanent mount.

I have split 16 in std length logs with 2-3 blows of a 4 lb short sledge hammer and it works great

I've split logs that are 16" in length.

I would say 12 to 18 inches fairly easy

The recommended length would be 400 mm (15.75") for the XL Kindling Cracker. You could use longer wood, but it has to be smaller in diameter.

Probably with a file, however, I've put my unit through heavy use and it doesn't appear that sharpening is necessary.

Yes... I keep both of mine sharpened. Fairly easy thing to do.

Just use a file, fine or med.

A medium grit file is recommended for sharpening the kindling crackers. Both sides are to be sharpened evenly to prevent damage to the blade.

I have the XL size and it sits on my concrete floor in the garage and it is not bolted down. Works fine and very VERY stable this way.

I don't bolt it down. I have it on my garage floor, I sit on a bucket and hold the wood with my gloved hand. I don't whack the daylights out of it but hit it 2-3 times in a controlled manner and it works perfectly.

I don't know about the smaller one, as I bought the king size. I split some wood before I bolted it down and after and have found it's much better to secure it. And it's much safer too. You could try an option of placing in a tire, but I would think the best bet (and saftest) would be to bolt it down so it won't "jump" or walk away from you.

The original Kindling Cracker and the Kindling Cracker King are both designed to be bolted down for safe wood splitting. Neither are recommended for use without being bolted down.

I had no trouble splitting green wood, but all of the pieces I had were about 7 inches across or less. It probably depends a lot on the species. If it's a nice straight grain, you should be able to do it. I would not try green wood that is knotty or twisted.

I used mine to split green ash logs. Worked just the same as it did on dry wood.

I have successfully split pieces of maple and oak witch was fresh cut green wood very easy to split. I used the 4 pound small sledge

Splitting green wood may cause the wedge to dull prematurely depending on the kind of wood. However it is possible to do so.

I would use 3/8 or 5/16 lag bolts

Lag bolts will do the job nicely. You could get by with 1/4" lags with large flat washers, but a little bigger would work fine too. I'm using 2 1/2" lags and 1" flat washers and it's rock solid.

I did try this without lags when I first received it and it didn't move much, but the lag bolts definitely make it safer.

The openings are 1/2 inch. I have mine sitting on the concrete floor of my garage and not bolted in and it is very stable to make kindling.

To permanently mount, use 3/4 inch or 25/32 inch bolts. You could also use 19 mm bolts.

Yes, I have used it to make kindling as think as 1/4" in straight grain wood.
I usually do 1/2 by 1/2" kindling for personal use.
Based on its ability to split small kindling easily, I would recommend this XL over the smaller size...its more versatile and well worth added cost of 20-40 bucks.
See review I posted.

You are able to split small and larger log sizes with the XL size.