I should mention that the pieces fly off in a very predictable pattern and end up in a stack! The force is tightly constrained based on the direction and orientation of the axe when it strikes the wood.

My son joked that I could probably reproduce something we once saw in a cartoon, where the chopped pieces assembled themselves into a log cabin.

That's remarkable. I'd love to see a video of someone making a pile of wood from the chopping block. The rest of the internets probably wouldn't mind it either.

Some sushi/tepanyaki chefs on HN maybe?

This is one of those things that seems common once you see it. I spent a couple years living in Prescott National Forest in northern Arizona, and split wood to warm my house. It didn't take long for a neighbor to come over and suggest a tire after watching me chase down all the wood I flung in every direction.

It seems this leveraged action (which is absolutely awesome, by the by) would necessitate the use of a tire even more. Beware of windows, cars, etc. without one.

It's even more important given how this axe works -- using the remainder of the kinetic energy to essentially exert force outwards on the two parts of the wood.

I have also seen folks use bungee cords. You can get a lot more wood in a big circle, then stand on top of it and split it.

I’ve always used the bungee trick, too. Easier than getting split wood out of the tire.

I think the tire trick is fairly well known / common ... I've seen it as a setup in quite a few splitting tutorials on youtube, etc.

i agree, when i saw that in action, i was like, that is an amazing idea! i live in central AZ and don't really need to split wood very much though..