You and white spidey would get along.
Bullets are not a good comparison. In the end your trying to separate 1 chunk of wood into two pieces. It will require X force to split the grain. Force is what matters here.
29 pound mega monster maul
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Bullets are not a good comparison. In the end your trying to separate 1 chunk of wood into two pieces. It will require X force to split the grain. Force is what matters here.
USMC615
Wood's Tougher Than Woodpecker Lips...
Couldn't have said the bow idea better, as it relates, when it comes to the raw equation. Absolutely spot on from a bigtime bowhunter myself.
The physics of splitting wood is stymied by the predictability of wood fiber characteristics.
USMC615
Wood's Tougher Than Woodpecker Lips...
Exactly...that's the 'stymie', 'Little Rascals from the old days gone', that makes different wood what different wood is. Your statement is spot on. Good post.
Fubar
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a well designed splitting maul is going to work better than a poor one , no matter what it weighs, there is a fine line between weight and speed for me , about 15 pounds is my puss out point , i use to have one of those heavy triangle shaped head with a steel handle go devil , till someone stole it , i used it like a big wedge with a handle , take one swing to bury it in the log and then just beat the hell out of it with the sledge , it would split logs that could not be split with a regular maul , i found one at the hardware store the other day , i think will buy it , the heaviest maul i have right now is a 10 pounder .
AIM
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My maul weighs about 300 .lbs. Probably 302 full of gas.
We gotta hook you up with either o8one-fiddy or beerbelly; in two weeks with them and their snackies you'd be a whale......
trukn2004
ArboristSite Operative
These are the two mauls I own. The red has to be either a six or 8lber. Put a edge on it and it does well. The orange bastard is about all I want to lift. No idea how heavy it is, but using it you can definitely see my speed clock way down. I picked up a fiskars about 6 months ago and I barely even grab the red one anymore. The orange beast just spends time in the bed of my truck.
Momentum is mass x velocity. Kinetic energy is mass x velocity squared.. Force is expressed in pounds, a wood splitter has tons of force but zero initial velocity and therefore zero momentum. I maintain that when we manually split wood that momentum is required and that kinetic energy is irrelevant. A bullet is not the best example because it is not an inclined plane but an arrow is
These are the two mauls I own. The red has to be either a six or 8lber. Put a edge on it and it does well. The orange bastard is about all I want to lift. No idea how heavy it is, but using it you can definitely see my speed clock way down. I picked up a fiskars about 6 months ago and I barely even grab the red one anymore. The orange beast just spends time in the bed of my truck.
Yep, Isa got one of those orange ones, bought it 23 years ago, .....................
..................................it hasn't been used in 22 years and 364 days.
You just made my whole argument when you mentioned te hydraulic splitter. No momentum, all force. Regardless of momentum or KE, the thing that does the splitting is force.
Chris-PA
Where the Wild Things Are
Energy is what drives all of it. As Marshy said force is what splits the fibers, and many things determine how effectively the energy is converted into force - face angle, etc. The inability to understand energy flows and basic physics comes up again and again.
A hydraulic wood splitter is not the same model - none of us is strong enough to push a maul through the wood by applying a continuous force. Instead we must store energy in the moving mass of the maul head and transfer it to the round where it can be converted into forces that separate the wood fibers. There are splitters that work off of impact like we swing a maul - what are those called again? Oh yeah: Kinetic Energy splitters. Splitting with an axe or maul is a discontinuous process where the energy is transferred in separate events, and at each event you only have the amount of energy you transferred to work with.
The amount of energy you transfer to the wood is determined by KE = m x v^2, which is a magnitude, not a vector - again, it's just how much energy you have to work with.
Force is a vector which can be calculated by F = m x a. Acceleration is the change in velocity over time, so if the maul slows down slowly then the acceleration was less, and less force was applied - but all the energy was still dissipated. Force is also Work/displacement (work is a measure of energy, and in this case is the KE you supplied). So if the splitting tool moves a long way when it hits (as a sharp axe will sometimes), then the force developed was less. Both of these are the same concept - of the tool stops fast a higher force was developed by the energy you transferred to the round.
But force is still a vector quantity and nothing says that the force was properly directed to split the round effectively.
The momentum transferred to an object by a force equals the force times the time the force is applied (Momentum = force x distance). Force comes from energy, so that can be converted into: Momentum = Energy/distance x time. It's still limited by how much energy you transferred to the round.
Energy is what you have to work with - it could all be turned into heat without accomplishing anything (like if you swung a sledge hammer instead of a maul), or it could be effectively converted to appropriate forces and split the round. Or maybe it's not enough energy and the round does not split. Or maybe the round is on soft ground and the force is converted into momentum and transferred into the ground. Lots of variables.
Still, if you transfer more energy you've got a better chance of success, and that means you want to increase the velocity, because in all these equations there is only one squared term.
Do you guys copy and paste the same mass/velocity posts every time this topic comes up? LOL.
All of that stuff is great in theory but actual results may vary. As we know head design has a lot of influence on actual results. Take a look at Gransfors Bruks, Fiskars, Helko Vario. I'd say they are all following a similar concept.
All of that stuff is great in theory but actual results may vary. As we know head design has a lot of influence on actual results. Take a look at Gransfors Bruks, Fiskars, Helko Vario. I'd say they are all following a similar concept.
How do you like it? I would love to own something just a little heavier than the Fiskars some times. What's te cost of that?Like the OP, I split wood for the exercise and like having an excuse to buy more tools. This is my new heavy hitter. Only 5.5 lbs
Only split a few rounds with it. but swings well and looks sexy. It doesn't feel much heavier than the X27 in the hand. All of the weight is in the head of the X27, which also has a longer handle.
The GB was $180 delivered.
The GB was $180 delivered.
Splitting wood is easy once you know the formula, 
=
I'd say you have the perfect "two axe" plan.Like the OP, I split wood for the exercise and like having an excuse to buy more tools. I am just not nearly as tough. This is my new heavy hitter. Only 5.5 lbs
Chris-PA
Where the Wild Things Are
I didn't type that, she did:
She really knows her physics.
I wish - it's pouring on top of all the snow that's still here. The snow packed up behind the barn has blocked the drainage and the stalls are flooding, plus the snow has finally come off the roof and the big berm it made is preventing it from draining out. I gotta go out and dig some trenches through the snow. Oh, and one of the downspouts came off so I'll need to get the ladder out. And it's still pouring.No, I'm done talking about it. Time to cut some wood. Got 2 maple waiting to be dropped with the 285 then limbing with the 2159.
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