Well, yesterday evening the UPS man brought the box to the house and when I got off of the bike trainer I opened it. Yes, it did take discipline to finish the exercise before ripping open the package, eventhough I was really like a kid on Christmas morning.
So, here's the scoop. I was swinging a 28" 2 1/4# Fiskars splitting axe as well as about an 8# maul. Now I've added the X27 and I was able to split a few pieces of wood with it last night. I've always felt that the 28" was really really short; I had gotten somewhat used to it, but I always had to make a conscience effort to be sure my swing area didn't include a round trip to my shins. I'm 6'1" tall, so the 28", although being a really nice axe, just takes me a lot of mental effort to be safe with it. I was concerned that the extra 8" wouldn't be enough to take me back to my regular swing pattern, but I was surprised to find out that the 8" actually made the handle about 1 1/2" longer than my maul handle. I was really shocked with this. Needless to say the length is much better than I had anticipated. The head design, as you know, is the same as the splitting axes of the past and one that I like. This head is 4 1/4# and you can really tell when you pick up both the 28" and then the X27. Being at the end of the long handle really makes it feel solid and heavy.
I then begin to split a few pieces. First swing and it almost bounced off of the wood. Typical, but with the new axe, I figured it would go through everything like hot butter. I got a bit concerned. Checked the edge, very sharp. I swing again with a little more force, thinking I may have been tired from all the exercise; this time the axe blasts apart the wood and sends both pieces in opposite directions. I split the remainder of the log about 5 times and each time it blasted through. As far as the feel of the axe, I give it a 10. As far as the length of the axe, again a 10. I haven't split with it enough to really rate anything else, but suffice it to say that so far I'm very very very happy with it. I honestly can't think of a time when I'll pick up my 28" (that I love very much) again.
Don't be deceived by this post, this axe, although very nice, still makes you chop the wood. It does not remove the work from it and I did have it bounce off of some really hard hard wood last night. I eventually got it split, but it was hard work. It took a wedge and a sledge - so, it won't blast through those pieces any more than the 28"...well, maybe a little more.
Either way, I love the axe, can't wait to swing it - weight is good and length is great; heck, I even like the new cover for the head - it doesn't snap in like the 28" cover, rather it fits in there and the orange tap holds it in place.
A definite purchase for anyone that likes the Fiskars axes and thinks the 28" is a bit short.