At what age should a child use an axe?

[nametapes]

My 11 yr old ds is allowed to use an axe at his dads. This last weekend he was chopping wood and knicked his knuckle with the axe.

I am not happy about it as i think its too young. Maybe 14 yrs should be more the age . I am so worried he will chop his fingers off.
My Ex tells me that as usual, I am fussing about nothing and making a mountain out of a mole hill. Its doesnt matter what I think , with my Ex , he just doesnt care and ignores my wishes regarding Ds' safety.

Any thoughts, advice are greatly appreciated.

well dd1 is 11 has started using the hand axe under close supervision

she is sensible enough and has been for a year or so but she is tiny and has zero strength

btw we chop logs for our open fire every day so she has watched for a long time

The 'should' made me giggle too, Ponders. At X years old, children MUST begin to weild an axe.

I would say early teens, but I'm latecoughtwentiescough and have never used one. I would imagine axes are more dangerous for those in the vicinity than for the person using it.

Surely when you wield an axe you have BOTH hands on it so how can hands and fingers be in danger? Are we talking some kind of mini axe?

there are little choppers for splitting logs, EFA - I think you do those one handed while other hand holds the log

Can he get him a froe or a billhook to use to split the wood instead if you are worried? Use them as in placing them then hitting with a block of wood to split, rather than swinging?

My uncle, a hardy Scottish hill farmer, cut off the top of his index finger chopping wood with an axe. He was in his thirties.

This will always be a risk associated with chopping with an axe.

The question is at what age would you be happy with him chopping knowing this is a possible outcome.

Given size of hands of a child I think I'd want them to be pretty big before they tried.

Thank you so much guys for your input. No matter what i say it will not make the slightest amount of difference. all i can do is speak to DS and remind him to be very very careful...

I'm surprised that people leave it so late, I agree it depends on the child however my son is 4 and has been using hand tools for a couple of years, at nursery they get taught to use knives, saws, axes and fire lighting from age 3. Depending on the task I give him gloves, goggles and ear defenders but try to minimise the use of safety equipment, if you just tell your children that something is dangerous they build up fear, if you let them get hurt they learn to respect. A few cuts, bruises or burns along the way is part of learning. I'll show him how to use the tools properly and safely and let him figure the rest out himself. I've not forced any of this on him, he sees me doing it and wants to copy. Trust your child, trust their instincts, they don't want to injure themselves as much as you don't want them to.