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I swear this forum needs to embrace their inner child more some days. My four year old loved this.

Well executed fun.

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Both can be true. It's cool and fun but simulation is a well defined term.
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Yes, but obviously this toy faces a challenge when folks who take this stuff seriously walk by. I immediately want a bungee to put around it so the wood doesn't go everywhere. I also want to split it finer than in quarters. Had to nope out.
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I think it might be more that folks who take this stuff seriously face a challenge when someone makes a toy about it.

I believe the toy is indifferent to your inability to enjoy it.

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Seems like you know what you want to go build. Can’t wait to see your version on HN soon :)
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I have too much actual wood to split but I like where you're head is at.
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The "beer drinking simulator" we all had on our phones in 2010 wasn't a very accurate representation of drinking beer either
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I am shocked that tapping a touchscreen is nothing like splitting wood with an axe.
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Man, don’t ever play Goat Simulator, then. You’ll be all day typing a wall of text about that.
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"So the simulation handles none of the challenges of splitting wood."

Ha ha, that's why we like it.

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Experienced wood splitter here. All your points are valid. I had to ruin one perfectly good axe handle before I learned how to swing. However, the sim is still a lot of fun.
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> I had to ruin one perfectly good axe handle before I learned how to swing.

Is it really that difficult? Maybe my memory is vague, but chopping wood in autumn/fall for the winter just took a bunch of time, and wasn't very fun, but wasn't that bad, especially compared to other things like harvesting veggies stuff where you have to be on the ground. I'm not sure how you'd manage to ruin a axe handle before understanding how to do it well-enough, takes a couple of swings at max.

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I spent a summer chopping a whole bunch of wood with a steel handled 10 lb maul. Many was the evening where my hand was numb until the morning, but by the end of the summer my shoulders were ripped.

You quickly learn the differences between locust, pine, maple, oak or, god forbid, cherry.

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Splitting Eucalyptus and big madrone by hand will test a man.
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Depends on the wood. Perfectly dry, seasoned hardwood is going to be easy. Wood with knots, soft wood etc. is going to take a while to figure out.
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Same. I've only done it a couple times but it takes minutes to learn and you just get into a rhythm and keep going. It's like peeling potatoes.

I wonder if there's a name for the psychological phenomenon of people doing some trivial blue-collar-ish task and then dramatizing it to make themselves sound like a grizzled old hand.

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Have heard this called blue-washing (eg Mike Rowe) when done publicly
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I once took a sledgehammer to work so everyone could take a turn taking a whack at some old prototypes outside. I came to the sad realization that even hitting a particular spot with a sledgehammer is not an inate skill. If you've never done it, you miss!
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Is it really that difficult?

It’s not, 12 year olds can do it. Ruining an axe handle is not a requirement. I’m not saying humans are born knowing how to swing an axe, but c’mon.

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A 12 year old can indeed acquire that skill, but that doesn't mean any adult can do it.
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Some adults indeed can't do it, but that doesn't mean it's difficult.

And it is certainly not "wear out a whole axe handle just to learn to swing" difficult.

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You don't wear it out. You land the head long of your aim point, and splinter the handle on whatever you were trying to hit. It's certainly not hard to ruin a handle if you're learning to swing a sledge by driving steel splitting wedges.
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>Is it really that difficult?

Fiberglass handles are now standard on splitting mauls (for this reason). Rotten hearts, or driving wedges. It is easy to miss a swing by an inch or two when fatigued.

Edit: I also broke my first axe handle. The sibling comments here are wild.

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Yeah, tell me about fiberglass. It slips out too. And that was Fiskars, not some noname crap.

When it does, you put it back and hammer some big screws and nails into it, this way it holds some more time.

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FYI Tree Simulator is coded by someone who has never been a tree too.
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Oh you guys are all gonna hate Sim Ant.
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I might print out this quote and put it on my wall! :-)

"Looks like its coded by someone who has never split firewood. "

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It's obviously not an accurate simulation. I'm sure the creator knows it isn't. Probably the best they could come up with in limited time.
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I don't know if you know this or not, but this is a game.
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It's perfect because the kind of people who will enjoy it shouldn't be allowed near an axe, anyway.

As someone with a wood stove, for my first few chops I rotated the log to orient the checking. Then it dawned on me that the simulation likely wasn't that sophisticated, and I came here to meet up with you guys.

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