I am a whole lot younger that you in very good shape and i acctually love splitting by hand but there is no way in hell i would ever think about swinging that ridiculous thing. And yes i have a splitter and use it for most of my wood but i still do at least a cord by hand
29 pound mega monster maul
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Knots
Minister of Fire
Next step up from the 29 pounder is to call in an air strike.
ChadD
Burning Hunk
I am 29 and after a year of splitting by hand I bought a hydraulic splitter. I figured if this is a long term plan for winter heat I would spend the money early on and enjoy the ease of spiting wood with it for years to come.
It would help a lot if you were able to get those rounds off the ground and onto a chopping block.
Bigg_Redd
Minister of Fire
The fact that everyone doesn't employ the use of a chopping block is baffling to me.
I tried a chopping block for a while. Maybe I'm doing it wrong but it seemed to be more beneficial to have the log directly on the ground. With the chopping block I have to wrestle sometimes big logs up onto the block. Then being off the ground that extra distance decrease the amount of energy I could transfer into the log because my swing ark was much shorter. Then I would have to hit the log more times. If the ground is relatively hard I don't see the benefit with bigger logs. Splitting small stuff it probably wouldn't matter but still you have to bend over and pick up the log and extra time.usually when I split the smaller stuff and the bigger stuff I packed them all tightly next to each other so they can't go anywhere and it makes it easy to split as a group. Let me know if you have any suggestions because I may be missing something
Osagebndr
Minister of Fire
A block doesn't necessarily have to be 12-16" tall. I have a 40" block that's 8" thick so I don't have to lift the bigger rounds up far to place it on . Keeps mud and dirt off the bottom also.working a big round from outside in is a lot easier than trying to half it also.
Not that anyone doesn't know this already.....
When the splitting maul/axe hits the wood, you want the blade to be parallel to the face of the wood you are splitting. I try and keep a shorter round to use as a chopping block so when my blade hits the wood, it is about waist high.
If you are hitting the wood with just a corner of the blade, then it is not the proper height.
When the splitting maul/axe hits the wood, you want the blade to be parallel to the face of the wood you are splitting. I try and keep a shorter round to use as a chopping block so when my blade hits the wood, it is about waist high.
If you are hitting the wood with just a corner of the blade, then it is not the proper height.
Bigg_Redd
Minister of Fire
I feel that the added protection and added accuracy that a chopping block affords is worth the tradeoff of lifting the round. The way I figure it I have to manually get any round in position whether I leave it on the ground or not so an extra 16" lift onto my block isn't a ton of extra work. Obviously I'll halve or even quarter on the ground rounds that are too heavy to lift.
Also, I find the longer arc = stronger arc to be specious. If that where really true then you'd see more people standing on a block to raise themselves more over the splits.
That's funny. I'm 45 and I bought a log splitter but now I have so much fun splitting wood by hand I'm thinking about selling the log splitter because I don't use it. I just let my buddy use my log splitter because he's 35 and it's too hard on his body to split.
KenLockett
Minister of Fire
+1 on that one. The red maul looks unwieldy. Fiskars for straight grain rounds and 22 ton log splitter for everything else.
Osagebndr
Minister of Fire
I like to mount a spare tire to my block also to keep from having to pick the wood back up as I split
I was getting really curious reading this thread that nobody had mentioned the lack of chopping block. I was starting to think I was the odd guy out for using one.
With the big rounds, I will often leave it on the ground and do the first split with wedges, since the first always takes quite a bit of effort anyways. The wedge sits higher for most of the split anyways, and the way I swing when driving a wedge is much different than when splitting directly with the maul.
I just saw this idea for the first time recently. I also just recently found the previous property owner left a tire buried behind some brush I was cutting. I'll give it a try when I start splitting this spring.
nothing beats a sotz monster maul for splitting the knotty rounds without hauling out the hydro splitter. the fiskars and the 6 and 8 pounders just get stuck. of course these other mauls have their place. don't make me use the golf analogy.
drz1050
Minister of Fire
As far as mauls getting stuck.. some old ones have a concave profile after the edge, can't get stuck if there is no contact 
It's not 100%; They still get stuck a little bit, but are very easy to pull back out.
It's not 100%; They still get stuck a little bit, but are very easy to pull back out.
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