Looking for a new splitting maul

[bendjoseph]

I am in the market for a new splitting maul, any suggestions?

[gspren]

  I like the new Fiskars X27 for easy to split wood, if it's knarly hard to split stuff I use a hydraulic splitter. I also have an 8 lb maul and a monster maul but now that I'm in my 60s they don't get use much. On the easy stuff with the Fiskars I think its faster and less work than the hydraulic.

[giant splinter]

I got the Home Depot cheapie and it works fine and the price did not scare me. our sponsor Baileys has better ones also.

[beenthere]

Sponsor Bailey's has a sale on now for their Fiskars splitting hatchets and axe.

$10 off on the X27........

[North River Energy]

Stihl PA 80 is an effective maul; or if the wallet is feeling sporty, the Iltis-Oxhead variant.

[Bill]

  I like the new Fiskars X27 for easy to split wood, if it's knarly hard to split stuff I use a hydraulic splitter. I also have an 8 lb maul and a monster maul but now that I'm in my 60s they don't get use much. On the easy stuff with the Fiskars I think its faster and less work than the hydraulic.

Ditto 's  especially the part about the hydraulic splitter.

Now - in the day - I too used a " Monster Maul " - and they'll have to wait till I'm on the other side of the grass to get it - even tho I haven't used it in - well - along time .

Iffen you could find one - highly recommended - otherwise going thru our sponsors is a good thing .

[CTYank]

Been using various splitting tools for 35+ years, always looking for better way.

Major variables in mauls:
Head weight: IMHO 5-6 lb is optimum for delivering energy
Handle material: quality hickory best for comfort, productivity
Head shape: relatively flat faces most productive, chubby cheeks way less
Head material: quality alloy, properly heat-treated way better than cheapies, fiskars

Seems stihl sells Ochsenkopf- good stuff. Also well worth considering are Wetterlings, Ochsenkopf, Gransfors, Mueller, in no special order. Way different from hardware store cheapies, possible heirlooms.

When I got a Mueller, I modified shape of some chubby-cheeked cheapies to mimic it. Much better performance- so they get used often for splits after the first split of a round.

[JuniperBoss]

I got the walmart cheapie. Just bought it a month ago and have gone through about one and a half cord with it. The maul looks like it will be hard to sharpen in the future, because is really bulky and tapers a lot at the end. We will see how it goes later, but I do like it.

One thing, I believe, is the real deal breaker with splitting mauls, and that is the weight. You've got to get a
good heavy maul, but at the same time, those big huge monster mauls will wear you out darn quick, so you've got to kinda go by feel and find what fits you best. I suppose if you are hulk then maybe the 15 lb. monster maul is just what you need ;D.

[Laird]

  I like the new Fiskars X27 for easy to split wood, if it's knarly hard to split stuff I use a hydraulic splitter. I also have an 8 lb maul and a monster maul but now that I'm in my 60s they don't get use much. On the easy stuff with the Fiskars I think its faster and less work than the hydraulic.

Ditto 's  especially the part about the hydraulic splitter.

Now - in the day - I too used a " Monster Maul " - and they'll have to wait till I'm on the other side of the grass to get it - even tho I haven't used it in - well - along time .

Iffen you could find one - highly recommended - otherwise going thru our sponsors is a good thing .

I had to give up the monster maul a couple years ago as well. It had started to make my shoulder "pop" with every swing so I moved to the Fiskers 27 maul also. It's hard to beat and I can still outsplit most anyone with a hydraulic splitter if I stay away from crotches.

[CTYank]

I got the walmart cheapie. Just bought it a month ago and have gone through about one and a half cord with it. The maul looks like it will be hard to sharpen in the future, because is really bulky and tapers a lot at the end. We will see how it goes later, but I do like it.

I found that the sudden taper near the edge is waaaay sub-optimum, after I'd been using such mauls for many years. I clamped mauls with Work-Mate and went at 'em for a while with a rigid, then flexible, disc in a 6" grinder. Made the faces essentially flat, and sharpened the edge. Night and day difference- huge improvement.

I always, if possible, split on a big block, so subsequent sharpening just doesn't happen.

Just can't make cheap mild steel into serious tool steel. Still doesn't flake off like fiskars'.

[Al_Smith]

 I have better luck with a 5 pound splitting axe. Now I'm not talking a standard single bit axe. This one is over 100 years old and made to split wood.

[SwampDonkey]

I had to bust up some 200lb rounds of hard maple last spring from a yard tree. No way to lift them on no splitter. Even if I could lift 200 lbs, how do you get your arms around a 36" wide round? :D I don't have a splitter that you can tip vertical. Anyway, the neighbor lent some tools, mostly home made. I broke them all to pieces, literally. The maul he had broke at two places at once. So I went to town and got a Garant splitting maul, since it's a local manufacturer, everything else there was from China. Anyway, I got it quartered up so I could put it on the splitter. I got two cords of firewood and there was probably 1 cord in fine top wood that we chipped. Wasn't real tall, but it was 80 feet. Fun.  ;D

[Offthebeatenpath]

I'm partial towards my old 10 pounder that has "CCC" stamped all over it.  Something about swinging a maul that guys used in the late 30's/early 40's gives me a feelling that we're not moving as fast as I sometimes grumble about.  Having a hard time keeping a handle on it though.  Store bought hickory keeps breaking.  Guess I need to make my own like the guys who first used it...

[drobertson]

If I had an extra 90 bucks I would love to buy the stihl maul, it just looks like a wood splitting tool.  I have three others, all 8lbs, different shapes on the head, all work, one fiberglass, two hickory handles, the best I ever had,(had) was the original monster mall,16lb, bored out, filled with 7 1/2 bird shot, capped with 1/2" plate, final weight 17.4lbs, straight up, straight down, no mercy, someone liked it better, or, someone did'nt want to use it anymore,?  :-\  in any case, not an issue now it is gone.

[beenthere]

I had to bust up some 200lb rounds of hard maple last spring from a yard tree. No way to lift them on no splitter.

Easiest way I've found to break them down is with the chainsaw. Less work, and I think just as fast, and a tool that I have on hand anyway. No worry about any snarly grain inside those chunks either. When small enough to lift, they go on the splitter to finish them off.

[SwampDonkey]

Beenthere, yes. I chainsawed the top in an inch so I could get the head into the block. And even then it was bouncy bouncy for a coupe whacks. Once I scored them they split and faster than trying to chainsaw then lengthwise from top to bottom. They were 30-36" from taper on a 10 foot log, not like a 16'" block. ;D Done it many times, lots of practice. ;) The splitter was definitely used when they could be handled and even then it was a little challenging. ;D Only time I experienced much twist was with knots in the upper trunk. Some of those I chainsawed down into the twist at least and then used the splitter. Anyway, I wasn't long splitting and piling my 2 cords and cleaning up the yard, 3 days and not all day.

[Al_Smith]

I could do two cords in a day with an axe ,back in the day .That day however was 30 years ago when my hair was all one color and my teeth were connected to my mouth .

It's good exercise and I still attack a few rounds with good old "Excaliber " but about a dozen is all I want any more .

[SwampDonkey]

I take a leisurely pace when it's not for profit.  ;D

[Al_Smith]

Come on now you said you buy the stuff ready made .You just pay the guy and pack it off to the basement .

[Al_Smith]

 :D To tell the truth Swampish I really don't get in any rush about it myself .Even with the splitter I might do two in a day,one,a face cord or just sit on the patio in nice weather and watch the birds .

[thecfarm]

Wisdom comes with age.  :D  He was splitting some hard maple somewheres on here. Could of been Rock Maple maybe?

[SwampDonkey]

Come on now you said you buy the stuff ready made .You just pay the guy and pack it off to the basement .

Best way. But he even offered to pile it up one day. I told him I have to work for my pay.  8) :D

[SwampDonkey]

Rock maple

[Al_Smith]

The only thing hard about so called rock maple which we call sugar maple is if you get into crotch wood ,big limb knot etc .

Now if that thing was a gnarly old fossel the wind had blowed 40 ways from Sunday that might put things in a different light .

Speaking of which ,sugar ,it's about the time they start hanging the sap buckets around here .

[SwampDonkey]

I think you could start sugaring here to, it's been mild enough for 2 weeks. I know it takes quite a few days of the mild weather to begin the process, not just 3 or 4. Then once she begins, well .. better have the pale ready. ;D

When I was a kid we tapped the middle of March, seems they are slow around here these last few years and starting near April. Heck the snows about gone around here by mid April or before. That's no good, too late.  :

You just don't understand Al.  It's rock maple for firewood, sugar maple for tapping. : ;)  I'll let you come up and split some air dried maple firewood with your axe and see how easy it is. None of that easy green stuff for you. ;D