Note that this product is advertised as a kindling splitter, and XL wood splitter, and a log splitter. So breaking this down:
- Kindling: excellent. Very easy to use, great results. I can’t compare it to the “other” style with the upward curved blade since I have never used them. What I have used is a hatchet with a steel hammer, and the Vevor splitter is much better.
- Logs, XL wood: On this I’d say it depends what kind of wood you are trying to split. What I had was very dry, well-seasoned hardwoods. Elm, cherry, and madrone. Usually I would have maple, too, but for now there didn’t seem to be any in that section of the woodshed. Normally I would split green wood but right now didn’t have any. If you aren’t familiar with madrone, let me just say it is heavier, burns hotter, and is harder to split than maple. And I had to pre-split anything larger than 6-8 inches (for obvious reasons).
What I found with this second class of wood is that this splitter is a very marginal replacement for a splitting maul combined with a diamond-shaped (torpedo) wedge. The elm was the easiest. But then it is also very easy to split with a maul. The madrone and cherry were a very different story. In any case I would split the large blocks first with a diamond wedge and sledge hammer. Then go to the maul. However, if I tried to use the Vevor in place of the maul it just would not split. Not with a steel hammer and not with the force I would use on the diamond wedge with a sledge hammer. I would have to use a much heavier swing with the sledge in order to get any progress with the Vevor. The obvious conclusion is why would I want to do this when I could use the diamond wedge with much less effort.
My last test was with small tree trunks, 5-8 inches across. Here I found that it could be done as long as I was careful to not have any knots in line with the cutting blade. For this size wood the alternative of a splitting maul is much less favorable as that small of a log is difficult to keep upright if there is any angle to the chain saw cut.
So my conclusion is:
Kindling: excellent
Small tree trunks: very good if aligned right.
Larger, heavy woods: forget it!