Student Invents "Kindling Cracker"

Student Invents Kindling Cracker MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous We spotted this idea in a report from the National Agricultural Field Days in New Zealand The “Kindling Cracker” was invented by 13-year-old Ayla Hutchinson It consists of a rerod metal ring on 1-ft legs welded to a base plate fitted with an upturned axe head You place a wood piece on the axe edge and strike it with a mallet to split it into kindling The metal ring holds the pieces in place Hutchinson designed the tool after she saw her mother accidentally cut herself when chopping kindling with an axe Her original design had the axe head welded to the base plate but no metal ring She says it worked “really well” but after consulting with her dad she decided to add the cage both for safety and to keep split pieces corralled Hutchinson priced the cutter at $80 and needed a minimum of 50 orders to put the unit into production By the end of the first day she had more than 150 names in her book A production model is now on the market at: www kindlingcracker com

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