About this project
Hi I'm Ayla, my story began in 2012 when I was just 13 years old. I needed a science project for school. As I watched my mum turning firewood into kindling with a hatchet, the hatchet slipped and cut her finger, and so began my adventure of finding a better and safer way to cut kindling. The resulting school project was my invention, the Kindling Cracker! After a lot of hard work and determination the Kindling Cracker is now an award winning product that is available worldwide.
If you haven't heard of a Kindling Cracker, it is a safer and easier way of cutting kindling. Instead of swinging a sharp object, you swing a blunt one.
It is so simple to use! Just rest a piece of wood on top of the blade, gently tap to 'bed' the wood to the blade, take hands away and hit firmly until wood splits! EASY!
It is the perfect companion for your backyard stack of firewood, creating perfect kindling for your fireplace, fire pit, pizza oven, sauna, barbecue or smoker.
Some Key features are:
- Safe, easy and Fun to use
- Durable, Made in Australia of high-quality cast iron
- Virtually maintenance-free
- Bolt holes for permanent mounting
- Great for indoor or outdoor use
So why am I on Kickstarter?
People with longer and wider firewood need a larger Kindling Cracker. This has opened the market for me to create a bigger Kindling Cracker.
We have done all the designing. Now all I need is YOUR HELP in raising enough funding to build the tooling needed to produce the bigger Kindling Cracker. Together, I hope we can raise the $60,000 needed to turn this into a reality. Kick-starter is awesome! People can get amazing deals on new products and help the product or idea get off the ground. I’m offering the first 1000 units sold are going to be embossed with First Edition. The sales of these awesome units, and any other pledges made, will help me get it to market. SO, if you would like something really cool that works really well, sign up quickly to get one and help me get this Cracker Cracking!
I wanted our new design to be built for the same purpose but also have great feel and look, so who better to ask for some help with the design coverings than Weta Workshop, I bet many of you would have heard of them as they are well known around the world for all their amazing film designs, costumes, creatures, props and weapons, etc. Which have been used for the likes of the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit , Avatar, and many more. Richard Taylor and his amazing team jumped at the challenge and blew me away with their concepts. Their attention to detail is out of this world! After Weta workshop did their magic on the product we needed to send the design to our friends at Intercast and Forge (which is the Australian foundry we teamed up with to make my product) The team at Intercast spent weeks tweaking the design to make sure it would work perfectly with the equipment they use, the result was exactly what we were hoping for.... it’s a amazing thing when Art meets Engineering.
Feedback about the Original Kindling Cracker
I can't believe my kindling cracker is still in one piece! I've beaten the living daylights out of this thing since my wife got it for me a couple of Christmases ago. You guys must make these things out of old UFO parts. What is even more amazing is the blade is as sharp as it was the day I got it and I have put a tremendous amount of wood through it. Keep up the great work. These days, it's a privilege to come into contact with a truly superior product. Bill, Grapevine, Texas
I just received my Kindling Cracker! Love love love it! So much easier and faster than my hatchet. No strain, just easy breezy! . Lacey
Best thing I ever bought!!! . Doug
Since I lost my loved husband 6 mths ago the only thing that I was concerned with was losing my fingers or cutting my hand whilst cutting kindling on my lifestyle block. Not using the chainsaw or crutching ewes etc or any maintenance. So today after it arrived whilst raining I managed a barrow load of kindling in 20mins. Such a simple idea Ayla but what a life saver for me. Thank you so much. Joanne.
This amazing tool has take NZ by storm. Everyone with a wood fire should have one, so safe to do to most dangerous job. Even young children could do the task. The story behind it is a modern day fairy story, a fantasy come true. It took a young girl to come up with the idea, well done Ayla. Lesley
I gave my 83 year old mother one recently - wow, you should see her go!! She has so much kindling now that I may end up with next year's supply already done for me. She really loves it and I am happy that she is safer than with a little ax. Lindsey
Got mine for Christmas. I had given up splitting wood because of torn rotators in both shoulders. This tool makes me smile every time I use it. Easy on the shoulders and works like a charm. Thanks to my family for getting it and Ayla for inventing it. George
Thank you, love our Kindling Cracker! Does exactly what it is supposed to! So much safer than an axe! Clive
Risks and challenges
When it comes to risks and challenges we want to be completely honest with our prospective backers.
This is our first Kickstarter project; however, our family company has already designed, produced and launched the original Kindling Cracker so we have a fair idea of the risks and challenges involved. We have gone through several designs to get the perfect product and are now ready to manufacture tooling.
The only challenges we may encounter will be time restraints and delays with manufacturing of the tooling, product and shipping. From our past experience we know that unexpected things can come up such as power outages, extreme weather or transport issues. These things are all beyond our control, but they won't stop the project or delivery of the pledge items they just may just delay it.
Of course if anything like this did happen we would let everyone know asap.
FAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.