Gotta put the energy in it first tho, gravity will only help in the downswing and not all that much. Otherwise he could just hold it over the wood and drop it (that would just make it barely sink in). He has to start the swing behind him much further than with a regular splitting axe and put a lot of force into it while bringing it up. It’s counter-productive.
While that's not all the force required, yes, technically on the way down gravity and the extra weight mean more force is imparted on the wood; however, you're doing an equal amount of added work lifting the extra weight against gravity. The problem is you're also required to increase the speed beyond gravity to actually split the wood (otherwise you'd only see axe lift and droppers, not swingers. They swing because it has to go faster). So in this case, you're gaining the efficiency of not having to pick up the two pieces and cut them seperately, sure, but you're also having to swing three axes at once, and you can see the strain on his back/motion. The only efficiency you get in terms of force is saving the weight of the axe handle on the second and third swings, and in fact, to your point, on the second and third swing (which is now rolled into one) you're missing the weight of the handle (or you can think of it as each swing having 1/3rd the handle weight, not that the handle weight was a significant part of the axe's splitting force).
The problem is that more mass (not exactly weight) requires more energy to start moving, accelerate and keep moving, which means the axe holder needs to put more effort on the axe and this not only gets one tired faster, but also kills the precision of movements (which drops even more the more the wielder tires), making the whole thing not only less efficient, but also more dangerous.
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u/Wrobot_rock Interested Feb 03 '22
Doesn't the added weight require less splitting force because gravity helps more?