I wish my dad would have had a splitter. He felt about those the way he did about TV remotes, "Why, I can tell you to do it?" We had an axe, a maul, and three Wedges my grandfather bought when new. He was born in 1880, dad was born in 32, and me in 66, not sure when Grampa bought the wedges, but I have 1, one of my sisters has one, and her son the other. I still use it and the maul (it was grandpa's too, but I am on the 4th handle since 1982) every winter, but we don't heat the house with wood anymore, so I only use it for fun fires. When I was first married, my dad would have a cord or two of wood delivered (he quit cutting his own when I went to college). My wife always found the timing odd. I didn't, I knew there was nothing but careful planning on dad's part. Glad in those days, he was buying a lot of ash.