Choppers #1 and #2

Greetings Permies!
I sometimes use a piece of gear from the '70's - the Chopper #2, for splitting wood when I only have a few pieces to deal with. It's great. It belonged to my wife's late father. Just this morning I saw listed on Craigslist a Chopper #1. I couldn't see any difference from the photos that accompanied the ad. So my question is this- does anyone know of the difference between the Chopper #1 and the Chopper #2? And please, I know that the mathematical difference is 1 so save that response for someone who will appreciate it.:-)

Hello Ban!

It is unclear exactly what you are asking about - "Chopper" can mean many things...

Can you provides some context, or perhaps a picture or description, so we can have a better idea how best to answer your question?

post a picture of your chopper so we can see what you're referring to

Are these what you're referring to? #1 - https://chopper1axe.com/chopper1-axe
I can't find a #2. Google takes me to food processors, on that one, and since you mentioned wood, I'm pretty sure that ain't it, lol.

Interesting question. the only Chopper 2 ax references I can find are some youtube videos of chopping demonstrations and a thread on Permies where someone says they really like theirs. https://permies.com/t/80/6466/Safer-ways-manually-chopping-wood

Oh, I built a homemade version of this axe. Mine was a slightly different design, but basically it used kinetic energy to help split wood.

There are different versions of them. One has it so as the axe comes down, it help drive out wedges that help split the wood farther apart. An off-set axe design is designed so that as it comes down, the axe twists in the cut wedging the wood apart further. My axe design was on a spring, a hinge and also off-set,  so that it flipped the split wood out to one side. All the spring did was return the axe head from the flipped out position, back to vertical for the next strike.

It worked pretty good, just kind of too good. it sent the split pieces flying across the lawn, making for a lot of walking to pick them up.

I purchased a Chopper 1 Axe decades ago.  It has spring loaded 'wings' that spread the 2 sides of the log as the blade comes down into it.  It works great.  Someone recently looked for it on the internet and found a chopper 2 which looks the same except with a wooden handle instead f fiberglass.

The chopper #2 I have had a fiberglass handle, all the chopper #1 i had ever seen had a wooded handle
Always wonder the deference myself

Hi Shane,

Welcome to Permies.  You have found the best placeon the net.

The difference between chopper 1 and 2 is the chopper 2 has a fiber glass/ plastic handle.

For those of us that know nothing about what they are talking about!
https://www.chopper1axe.com/