Mauls: Not so Bad After All

[Ozzie]

My FIL and I split 10 cords each year between us. We use his Huskee 17.5 ton from TSC bought many years ago. Seamed like whenever I had rounds to split, the splitter was at his house. I asked Santa to bring me a maul and I now have a Razorback fiberglass handled 6.5 # maul. At first I was just dinking around but the more I used it, it became obvious to me what many have said for years. The maul, in the right hands, is faster that a hydraulic splitter! I don't see me giving up the Huskee but I now look at mauls differently. I've missed the round a few times and got stung up the handle, but the fiberglass held in there. Biggest gripe I have is that the splits aren't as uniform as a hydraulic splitter. I could see this being a decent workout, which I will need after this holiday season.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

My FIL and I split 10 cords each year between us. We use his Huskee 17.5 ton from TSC bought many years ago. Seamed like whenever I had rounds to split, the splitter was at his house. I asked Santa to bring me a maul and I now have a Razorback fiberglass handled 6.5 # maul. At first I was just dinking around but the more I used it, it became obvious to me what many have said for years. The maul, in the right hands, is faster that a hydraulic splitter! I don't see me giving up the Huskee but I now look at mauls differently. I've missed the round a few times and got stung up the handle, but the fiberglass held in there. Biggest gripe I have is that the splits aren't as uniform as a hydraulic splitter. I could see this being a decent workout, which I will need after this holiday season.

The uniformity will get better over time. Your aim will improve and you'll 'read the wood' better with practice.

It's kind of satisfying to be able to hit the crack on the money and have it pop apart in perfect halves. When you miss , it ticks you off enough that you put a bit more effort into it and THEN it will crack open just how you like. Besides , the more times you miss the better you are getting, supposedly.

 

[beerman6]

Screw all that,gas is cheap.

 

[Dalmatian90]

What KS said.

I find when I haven't split recently (year or two) it takes about a 1/4 cord for me to get my groove back.

When I'm splitting regulary with one, I can do everything but the gnarliest stuff...and that's so relatively little it's not worth me to buy or borrow a splitter, just give 'em to some who has one to get ride of them.

Going back to colonial / 19th / early 20th century New England, it was common to rotate pastures and woodlots. A brushy pasture would be left to grow into a woodlot. When it got to be dominated by trees about 4" in diameter they'd clear the woodlot and let the cows back in as pasture, till it started to brush in again. 4" being a good size for one man to handle 8' lengths by himself and easy to saw, and no splitting needed -- just saw into shorter pieces after they were sledded out of the woods. They weren't dummies

 

[stihl sawing]

Just don't miss and hit you foot. I can split more wood faster with my monster maul but dang i'm tired after a while of swinging that heavy thing. So the huskee gets used mostly. I did swing it for about an hour christmas morning though.

 

[Joshlaugh]

I use my maul much more than my old splitter. I like the workout and I can split it faster without having to have a 2nd person with me. Sometimes with elm I will run down to my in-laws farm and pick up my splitter but that might be 1-2 cords of the 6-10 I do a year.

 

[ericjeeper]

I am to fat, to lazy to swing a maul

Plus if I pick up a round and put it on the splitter. I have only had to bend over the one time.. Not several times to stand the round up.. hit it knock it over. Then stand it up again. Then pick up the splits..
I only want to pick up each round one time..

 

[iowawoodcutter]

I split strictly by hand and I have four that I bring with me to split. Use the lightest one you think you can get away with and it will save a lot of energy for longer days and more productivity. Also an old tire screwed to a stump will save your back..

 

[epicklein22]

I love swinging the Maul around. Therapeutic in a sense. I can split faster than a splitter in most situations, but that depends on the wood. The splitter will cream me in Elm and other stringy wood. Nothing better than walking out of the woods with a chainsaw in one hand and a mall in the other, leaving behind a pile of fresh split hardwood. When I start splitting after a long off period, I usually have a weak grip the next day. Goes with the territory. I gained 20 pounds of muscle one summer, just cause I was swinging that maul making 12-15 cords.

 

[tallfarmboy]

I could see this being a decent workout, which I will need after this holiday season.

Swinging a maul on the weekends is an awesome workout. After we got our wood burning furnace, I managed to lose 15 pounds over a winter, my blood pressure went from 140/80 to 130/72, AND my cholesterol dropped from 199 to 179 in the first winter. I'm 6'7" tall and now weigh about 255. I religiously swing a 6 pound maul for splitting. My father built a hydraulic splitter that is VERY nice, but I only use it when we cut together.
I split a lot of ash, hackberry, and oak.

But I will 2nd the motion that hand splitting "does a body good"

TFB

 

[turnkey4099]

I have my doubts about manual being faster. For one thing, the guy on the splitter will be still working while the manual guy is taking a breather. The splitter guy is also handling the wood significantly fewer times. I have split both ways (prefer manual) and know I couldn't keep up with my old, slow splitter splitting manually.

Harry K

 

[Techstuf]

I use the Fiskars super splitting axe, with only a 4.5lb head. I've split all but the toughest elm with it. I can't figure out why they make the handle so short on the thing. 3 more inches and it would be just right. If I'm splitting by hand, I usually cut my hardwood rounds shorter, say 15" or so. I'm sold on lighter heads that are well designed. I've used a Sotz monster maul years back, and one, I forget who made it, that had two cantilevered inserts that caught the edges on the way through and popped out the sides, lever action, to increase wedge force, that crazy contraption actually worked well, but I never used it long enough to ascertain longevity. The fact that it never stayed on the market says alot.

Wish I could find another one:

TS

 

[injun joe]

i love the mauls BUT i love my axe a little more just cause i can swing it faster although it is only a 2 1/2 pounder it makes me work that much harder to split a piece of wood. well i have a mini maul that is inly about 20'' that i use for hard woods the other day i was splitting a piece of mulberry and i swung the maul to hard and it split the mulberry effortlessly but continued going straight into my shin while some people were watching me split i felt a little embarrased but mainly pain.

 

[pecor]

Techstuf You can still buy that Axe here http://www.chopperaxe.com/whatis.htm

 

[chainsawaddict]

I fell in love with my maul all over again the last couple of days.

Last summer I cut a bunch of elm and big pine(20"+) I had a hell of a time splitting that stuff with my maul, so i borrowed my grandpas splitter. I thought I needed a hydraulic splitter.

Well xmas eve, my brother, brother in law, and myself went out and cut a half cord of good ash. I got out the maul after the morning festivities were finished on xmas and went to work. My brother and I split that stuff in about an hour. With the right wood a maul is a lot of fun. Splitting a round on the first swing is like knocking one out of the park. It is a lot of fun.

Oh yeah, we split wood while the BIL laid on the couch in front of the stove.

 

[ngzcaz]

Well.................... you must be under 60 and have no rotator cuff problems..
I split w/ my home made 10 lb steel handled maul for 20 plus years, well into three digit cords of wood. This year I started falling apart, knee replacement in the near future and a couple of weeks ago I torn my rotator cuff..so the 27 ton Huskee log splitter my son bought me for Christmas was well received : - )


And yes, it is fresh air, good exercise and I enjoyed it for many years and if they can patch me up, I still take a couple of whacks at it........

:greenchainsaw:

 

[A. Stanton]

Put a boot on and it might help cushion the miss. I've had the same wooden handle for over 25 years!

 

[petersenj20]

My neighbor and I took our kids to deer camp a couple weeks ago and introduced them to the maul. It was fun watching the 10-11 year old boys and girls split big(12") wood for the first time. They made a game out of it and had a wonderful time. It was contagious. Before we knew it both us adults were taking turns and enjoyed it. My Dad would be proud. Taking turns like that allowing no work stops made light work of a tall pine.

Am I the only one that calls a maul a go-devil?

 

[stihl sawing]

Here's two old mauls i use. A monster maul and the other one i made. The small one is for knocking small limbs of a round.

These two i use for kindlin, The big red one i got at wal mart years ago and it don't work to good. It's too wide for splitting small stuff. The other is ancient, My father had this hatchet long before i was born. It says plumb victory on the head. Figure it had something to do with ww2.. It's a good kindlin maker though.

When the mauls fail these go to work. As you can see since i bought the splitter these don't get used much.LOL

 

[LTREES]

Hoping for a fiskars today when the inlaws come for dinner. My BIL laughed at me for wanting it. He's a computer geek. Need them too in this world I guess.

LT...