Mauls

I have two splitting tools. One is a fiskar's Splitting ax at about 2.5 pounds I think, and the other is an 8 pound standard hardware store maul. Both work pretty well. The heavier maul has more power for big or tough to split rounds, but the Fiskar's splits most wood too. One nice thing about the Fiskar's is that it is both almost unbreakable and guaranteed for life. The maul has a wooden handle which could break. I have a lot of smaller stuff to split so i use the fiskar's a lot, but when I get larger rounds I often take out the maul. Either one is a nice tool.

To begin with you can't beat an 8 pound maul with a wood handle. I am 5' 10"/ 160 and have had the same maul head since I was about 12 or 13. I have put 3-4 handles in it. It is ready for another after letting a good friend play with it.

I used an 8lb maul for most splitting for a number of years. This year I bought a Fiskars x27 splitting ax. I didn't touch the maul at all. If the Fiskars couldn't do the job, a sledge and wedge were needed. The Fiskars does require more maintenance than the maul (which required none), but in my opinion is much more fun to use. The Fiskars is about 1/2 the weight of the maul, so I can split longer and get more done.

For the few times I don't use my hydraulic splitter, I usually pick up the Fiskars X27. When I used a maul most of the time, it was the 8 lb. hardware store model. The last one I purchased and used is a Lowes model with a fiberglass handle. No complaints.

neumsky said:

I tried to find out some info about mauls and someone did'nt agree with my methods. So just curious... what are some good mauls out there now? Thanx Jeff

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A maul's a maul's a maul. They come in 2 basic varieties: 6lb and 8lb. For the hyper-macho there are heavier models available but over 8 lbs is superfluous IMO.

FWIW - Since I got a Fiskars Pro Splitting Ax 4 years ago my maul has been gathering dust it the garage.

Quads knows mauls.
His new one he had to form it to the shape of his old one, the cutting side angles are important.
The monster maul all steel, including the handle is a triangle, a tool made for a good work out. (gotta be 15 lbs total)
Stance, aim, accuracy & knowing where to strike the round is the most important part of splitting with a maul.
I hit the round on my side of middle, just an inch into the round from my side, not the middle (saves on handles
Some straight grained wood, an axe will work.
I like the ones that have a smooth, thin axe like taper, the get thick about 1/2 way.
That said; Mauls come down to the operator more than the design, fairly sharp but not axe sharp,
The forged/cast ones with a rough looking steel head, I don't like, a polished machined smooth head, slides better through the wood.
All this is just IMO. I now have a hyd splitter

From an earlier thread:

I can't say anything about Fiskars, I have never had the opportunity to swing one, but I can give you a couple words of wisdom about mauls.

For one thing, an 8# maul is just too heavy for me, and by many of the comments from people hating their 8# maul and replacing it with the lighter Fiskars, I'm assuming that I am not the only one that thinks so. 6# maul is just the right weight for me.

The second thing is that all the modern mauls I have seen have a shape that is too 'blunt'. In the 'old days' the mauls were shaped properly. I'm not talking about the cutting edge itself, I have found that it doesn't matter if it's dull and I actually prefer it dull because it never gets stuck in the rounds that way. When sharpened, it sticks a lot. I am talking about the shape of the nose itself. Most of them, and the 8# are even worse about this than a 6#, have a sort of 'flare' right after the cutting edge and often a couple 'ribs' running up the sides. A lot of the time, on the first swing the maul goes THUD and does not split anything. It might crack it on the first swing, but it always takes more swings to actually split it. My old antique maul almost always splits on the first swing. So I did an experiment with a modern maul. I found a 6# Truper maul at Tractor Supply that had close to the same shape as the antique maul, but yet it had that blunt flare. Eventually I took the grinder to it and a file and I shaped it like the old maul. Now it works so well as to almost rival the splitting ability of the antique!

Here are a few pics showing what I am talking about:

This one is of my antique maul. Note the smooth and sloping shape of it. Splits first swing nearly every time:


This is of the Truper maul, before I modified it. Note that it has a very blunt flare just behind the cutting edge, it is a steep increase in thickness, followed by a couple ridges or ribs up the sides. It worked, but could not compete with the old maul:


And this is the Truper after I used the grinder and then finished it with the file, but I did not sharpen the cutting edge at all. Note how I took the steep, blunt flare off, and filed the ribs down. Now it looks even more like the antique and works very well! And I think I only paid $10-12 or so for it at Tractor Supply (the crack in the outer covering mysteriously appeared within a couple weeks after I bought it, but does not seem to be growing after 30+ cord):

http://www.stihlusa.com/handtools/PA80-Splitting-Maul.html

I can't swing an eight pound maul (effectively) either. The roughly six and a half pound Stihl is one of the best products I have ever purchased. As noted above, most mauls are poorly shaped, but the Stihl is extremely well designed. And I say this having used at least half a dozen different ones over the years.

These people seem to know what they are doing and their prices seem reasonable for what they offer - http://www.counciltool.com/

Quads, good post about the shape of the mauls, I have one I dont use much any more but might change the shape like you did and see how it works.

MAULS
can you use it in a sentence, please
Last night my dog mauled the wifes cat.
not pretty

Thanks Quads
Very good explanation & illustration . I like my old one better than the new one, I may grind on it some now .
The handle is easier to replace in the new one. Hard to find the right shaped handle for the old one.
Of course I don't have one that is as balanced as yours. I have to work on it so it will stand up on the end of the handle, head held high
Maybe it just needs more experience. LOL

quads said:

From an earlier thread:

I can't say anything about Fiskars, I have never had the opportunity to swing one, but I can give you a couple words of wisdom about mauls.

For one thing, an 8# maul is just too heavy for me, and by many of the comments from people hating their 8# maul and replacing it with the lighter Fiskars, I'm assuming that I am not the only one that thinks so. 6# maul is just the right weight for me.

The second thing is that all the modern mauls I have seen have a shape that is too 'blunt'. In the 'old days' the mauls were shaped properly. I'm not talking about the cutting edge itself, I have found that it doesn't matter if it's dull and I actually prefer it dull because it never gets stuck in the rounds that way. When sharpened, it sticks a lot. I am talking about the shape of the nose itself. Most of them, and the 8# are even worse about this than a 6#, have a sort of 'flare' right after the cutting edge and often a couple 'ribs' running up the sides. A lot of the time, on the first swing the maul goes THUD and does not split anything. It might crack it on the first swing, but it always takes more swings to actually split it. My old antique maul almost always splits on the first swing. So I did an experiment with a modern maul. I found a 6# Truper maul at Tractor Supply that had close to the same shape as the antique maul, but yet it had that blunt flare. Eventually I took the grinder to it and a file and I shaped it like the old maul. Now it works so well as to almost rival the splitting ability of the antique!

Click to expand...

That's basically what I've found out. I can get lots more speed on the 6# than the 8#, and since kinetic energy goes as the square of that ...

Same with the importance of the shape of the head near the edge. My favorite is 30+ years old, NoNameO brand sold by Bradlees back when. It also has much better metallurgy than some later ones. The steel is much tougher- pretty difficult to reshape by hammering on things, like wedges.

Based on that, an order is in for a Mueller 3 kg. A little splurge for a tool that I use a lot is no biggie. Many, many cords awaiting it.

I split for many years with a monster maul and still would likely be using it but some back problems finally was the motivation to stop being so tight and buy hydraulic. The monster mauls are heavy but you have to learn to swing them different from the lighter mauls (I have one of those too). I call it the "round house swing". There wasn't many rounds I could not split.