OK so I've had a little chance to ply with the Stihl pro maul and I an offer some views. I will try to come back with photos in a few days, and a few more comments in due course.
Firstly what I have needs some explaining as its not clear on the Stihl sites what the pro maul/pro cleaving hammer actually is.
here on the US site
https://m.stihlusa.com/products/hand-tools/axes/woodsplitmaul/ is the wood cutters maul, 6.6lbs and 33.5" of Ash. Also listed is the pro splitting maul
https://m.stihlusa.com/products/hand-tools/axes/prosplitmaul/ which it says is also 6.6 lbs but has a large steel overstrike protetion on a 35" hickory stick. hmmm
Now the confusion starts, as the co.uk site has 3 versions
http://www.stihl.co.uk/STIHL-Produc...s-and-hammers/2996-20866/Cleaving-hammer.aspx
first is clearly the same as the US woodcutters maul, 3Kg (thats 6.6lbs) and 85cm (34") Ash stick. For a few pounds (sterling) more you get the same but with a Hickory stick, then third version is the pro 90cm (36") hickory sticked, steel overstrike protected and...3.8Kg head. that works out at 8.3lbs ..hmm is it the same as the US pro maul and if so which site is right, which wrong?
Well...I suspect it is the same but both are wrong/misleading. I may try and weight the head to prove this but I know the head is heavier than 6.6lbs. I have another 6lb hardware store maul and this stihl thing is far, far heavier. It may not be 3.8kg though...as the head is clearly marked '3.5' which i take to be Kg, or 7.7lb maybe the difference, the 300grams or 0.6ish lbs is the handle? maybe the others are actually 6lb head, 0.6lb handle? That's not what either site says but, perhaps. Anyway, mine is definitely the overstrike protected, 3 foot long handled heavy weight.
first impressions...its well made, and heavy. after the x27 its very heavy! handle is identical length BUT the stihl handle is MUCH MUCH fatter. I wandered if it would be hard to hold/too fat for my hands? I'm 5'11" with average size hands. A fat handle, heavy head, smooth varnished and painted hickory and very little flare at the butt...hmm. I need not have worried, its fine to hold. I should say i do my splitting wearing a pair of bicycling gloves, thin cordora (fake suede) and little grip markings on the finger tips...robust, thin, comfy, stops blisters and stops splinters. wearing these the stihl maul is comfy to swing. It is however heavy and not like the x27. its a very different effort to swing and personally I get tired out by it quickly, but then I'm new to this wood game, a year in I'm better but still no pro and not 'splitting fit'.... or is that I'm Stihl no pro? hehe! I do find it a satisfying swing though, which bring me to performance.
I don't get much hardwood, and so it was my first play was with some soft, some leyland cyprus which is generally easy to split, although this was some large diameter and tougher stuff, a round or 2 of some other pine or fir that is a bit tougher, and a round of horsechesnut (we call it conker) which althoug normally super easy, this particlar round had been hard enough to defeat my x27 and sat around for months and months. Using the stihl wasn't a hallelujah moment. there were still swings that didn't split first time. there were still swings that left the head stuck in the wood occasionally. however it was the big gun compared to the x27. I found it worked well to use the stihl for the first swing at a round, to pop it in one. where upon i'd swap to the x27 to work the halves down to small splits for my little stove. working that way i had the energy to go for a good session, yet seemed to get the benefit of the big stihl maul for that initial pop. It definitely has more power for the harder rounds.
So initial view, good tool for bigger rounds but its still a maul, it still sticks occasionally, it takes work to swing and occasionally it bounces.
I'll be back tomorrow with a review of my session with some monster gnarly Ash that i just got delivered.
Better hope my aim is improved enough to not destroy the hickory! review will come.
and to add insult to injury, looking at more rounds closely i see more barbed wire. I got had, well and truly sh4fted! I think I'm going to be resharpening chain a fair bit as I noodle...slowly with a small saw.
