good form splitting with a maul?

[MS260 Fan]

Proper form will help a lot. It'll definitely keep you from hurting yourself and will reduce wear and tear on your body. Even split more wood in less time. All good stuff. Everyone finds their own way.

Good form or no form, the biggest thing I see is guys thinking you have to split the block in half every time. I see people trying to split 30" oak rounds across the center. It can be done but when they expect to make 16 pieces out of that one block you gotta ask yourself why not just take small slabs off the outside and work your way to the middle. No single split has to be longer than 10" for example. It's all about surface area. Being able to find the cracks and work around a big piece is a beautiful thing. Then again if you're splitting 10" rounds it doesn't really matter.

I used a 6 lb maul for 20 yrs until I had a Fiskars 2.5lb splitting axe given to me. It works great for the wood around here (Ash, black cherry, oak, maple) and I can swing it for a lot longer.

 

[Iron Head]

And it also depends on the wood too.
Hardwood is difficult to split.
But I tell you what, green cotton wood is the wettest wood there is and probably as difficult to split as oak.
It's a ying yang thing.
You swing at it and get water squirt in your face.
And they'll swallow everything from fiskars to oxhead to wedges.
Just like trying to split water.
I just leave the rounds cure in the summer sun a bit before I attempt to split them.
I really hate this stuff; a ##### to split, takes forever to cure, and burns too fast. But hey, it's wood and they all burn in the stove.

 

[openloop]

If the head of the maul is ever behind you during your swing you are wasting energy. I throw the maul straight up vertically directly over my head with my right hand just below the head. as the maul fully extends vertically I assume the normal splitting grip and drive the maul forward and down while remaining square to my body. That is the best way to get powerful accurate swings with a maul

 

[Iron Head]

Give your maul a sharp edge and you'll be amazed.
I was told to give axes sharp and mauls dual.
But it just makes more sense to also have my mauls sharp.

 

[zogger]

this

Give your maul a sharp edge and you'll be amazed.
I was told to give axes sharp and mauls dual.
But it just makes more sense to also have my mauls sharp.

What you said. Helps immensely. They are both edged tools, and need that penetration to work. The thickness is what causes the split, but that sharp edge is what gets the whole ball rolling in the first place.

Of course it helps a lot as well to be able to really hit the natural cracks dead on.

I've been working on my "bummer pile" all the leftovers from last winter that didn't make the first split. All that stuff that sneered at the fiskars or the maul and sledge.... Now that they have seasoned more and have a lot more cracks showing I can make some progress, I am pulling a lot more good pieces out. Eventually I'll be down to just a few ultra gnarly chunkers which will get the chainsaw treatment again. Oh ya, and started chunking up my last year's chopping/splitting blocks. I cut new ones every year and bust up the old ones about now. I usually have two blocks, a shorter and a taller, because I cut my rounds different, if they are really wide, like them 30 inch plus green hardwood monsters that go around 250-300 lbs. I cut them shorter when they are real big just to keep the weight down, so I use the slightly taller splitting block for those. I either roll them up with a ramp or just tip them up and on.

 

[thefeckerwest]

I respectfully disagree with a couple points, but also agree with alot you say here.

Why not use a roundhouse type swing? I've been doing it for 30 years. Same technique wether I'm using a Fiskars X27, 6lb generic yellow handles maul or the 12lb sledge. I grip it at the head with my left, end of the handle with my right, swing it behind my back and as it goes around past my shoulders my left hand moves down till it meets the right, right when the head is just moving past vertical. Then I pull it down...its already moveing this way and you cna deliver a good, solid swing with alot of power in one smooth motion. Lifting it straight vertical and then swinging takes totally separate motions...I'm going to give it a shot though the next time I'm out and see how it feels after a half hour.

I've also got to disagree with the whole notion of just letting gravity do the job. Wether we all know it or not, we're adding alot of force to the splitting tool with uor muscles. You cannot split wood by just letting a 6lb maul drop...there isn't enough force to do much to sepaare the wood grains...if there was enough force to be ahd by dropping a 6lb maul about 4 feet, we'd all be using half ton log splitters.

Yes, Sir, that is the way that you do it. The only thing that I would add, is that you drop the hips and bend at the knees as the maul is coming down. This adds to the force that is applied.