Fiskars Splitting Ax vs Mini Maul

[jadm]

I have read rave reviews here on the Fiskars splitting ax.

My 12 year old splits pine for kindling for me and currently uses a mini-maul. I did look at axes when I got him the maul but chose the maul because it wasn't as sharp.
I figured he would be safer with using it but after reading a thread here about injuries with mauls - severed arteries and punctured penises- I have begun to wonder.

Any thoughts on what is better for a 12 year old in terms of safety?

Thanks

 

[smokinj]

steele toe boots chaps helmet

 

[LLigetfa]

...after reading a thread here about injuries with mauls - severed arteries and punctured penises...

Those were the result of using wedges... steel on steel, not a maul to wood.

 

[jadm]

...after reading a thread here about injuries with mauls - severed arteries and punctured penises...

Those were the result of using wedges... steel on steel, not a maul to wood.

Thanks for pointing that out. My brain missed that...amazing how it does that. This aging thing gets more noticeable by the hour. :ahhh:

Do you happen to know which would be safer for a 12 year old? (My husband frowns on him using anything sharper than a butter knife but I disagree and he loves chopping so I have told him what I have learned here and let him at it. I am one of those moms who prefers her boys doing something physical and practical instead of sitting in front of an electronic screen zapping whoever the supposed enemy might be....Old fashioned fits me to a 'T'. ;-) )

 

[smokinj]

...after reading a thread here about injuries with mauls - severed arteries and punctured penises...

Those were the result of using wedges... steel on steel, not a maul to wood.

Thanks for pointing that out. My brain missed that...amazing how it does that. This aging thing gets more noticeable by the hour. :ahhh:

Do you happen to know which would be safer for a 12 year old? (My husband frowns on him using anything sharper than a butter knife but I disagree and he loves chopping so I have told him what I have learned here and let him at it. I am one of those moms who prefers her boys doing something physical and practical instead of sitting in front of an electronic screen zapping whoever the supposed enemy might be....Old fashioned fits me to a 'T'. ;-) )

ppe is the only way to protect yourself wood can go flying all directions and the foot if you miss the log

 

[LLigetfa]

As for safety, a lot of variables are at play:
The height of the chopping block.
The height of the round on the block.
The length of the maul's handle.
The ability to control the weight of the maul.

If the combination of the above doesn't put the travel of a misplaced swing at the feet or legs, the only risk is of a split of wood hitting a body part. Using a tire to hold the round would mitigate that. A tire can also absorb some of the energy of a missed swing.

Mauls are generally difficult to control because they have straight handles and their center of gravity is all wrong. Most modern splitting axes also have handles straighter than I would like. A curved handle puts the center of gravity closer to the cutting edge so the weight of the head will track straighter and not have the same tendency to "lay over" on its side like a straight handle would. Shorter curved handles however, place the cutting edge closer to the body and as a result the arc of the swing could reach a body part. Again, it's variables mentioned above.

Watch how the youth does the work and make your own determination after assessing the risks.

I have a general dislike for mauls but I also recognize that an shorter handle has its risks as well.

 

[smokinj]

All great advise but pepare for the worst PPE

 

[jadm]

All great advise but pepare for the worst PPE

Okay - I am stumped. I am guessing Proper Protection but can't come up with what the E stands for. Please spell it out for me. THanks.

 

[jadm]

As for safety, a lot of variables are at play:
The height of the chopping block.
The height of the round on the block.
The length of the maul's handle.
The ability to control the weight of the maul.

Height of chopping block: Approx. 24"
Height of rounds: 16"-18"

For safety I have him wear goggles. Does well with the mini-maul and does exhibit caution as he is very attached to his body parts and prefers to avoid pain so he doesn't get wild when working.

Are there any good videos here that I have missed that show technique that he can watch? Seeing it done makes quite a difference as does seeing it done properly.

Thanks

 

[fossil]

PPE = Personal Protective Equipment

This can include eye protection, ear protection, respiratory protection, and body protection...all depending on what the hazards are in the task to be performed. When a hockey goalie suits up, he/she's donning PPE. Same with a MLB catcher. If you're gonna paint a car, you at least put on a mask (perhaps an air-fed respirator). If you're gonna go into a burning building, you cover your entire body with fire-resistant insulative materials and wear your own source of breathing air. PPE. You get the idea. Rick

 

[stockdoct]

Here's how I split wood. I've only split about 3-4 cords which makes me a newbie on these boards, but it works for me:

Cut your rounds a little short. A 14" round is FAR easier to split than a 18" round. Think about splitting as you buck the log into rounds. Tough -looking area of log? Cut it shorter. Some of my rounds are 8 - 10" deep.

Stand the round on the ground. 10,000 hits into the dirt hasn't noticeably dulled my maul, and I can always use a file if it does. Hitting rounds on the ground seems much safer and less chance of injury than aiming for something up in the air. If you want to use a 2" stump of a downed-tree to split on, fine. If the round is up in the air, it just seems to take all the force out of the blow and aiming is more difficult.

Use a maul you can handle easily. An 8 lb maul does no good if you can't control it. Plan on swinging it 100+ times. Having trouble on the first swing? It's too heavy. My maul is 6 lbs and I'm 45 years old with a bad shoulder.

Look at the round, examine it. You WILL NOT be able to get through burls, Y's, or knots. Don't even try. Aim at clearly straight wood. Even a round with a knot or a Y will have some section thats a straight shot. Aim for it.

Hold the maul with two hands. (I'm right handed) cutting surface facing backwards, right hand down but both hands touching.

Let the maul swing passively FORWARD halfway to your waist (blunt end going forward)..... it helps the momentum when it changes direction and goes behind you. Much easier on the shoulder than pulling it up without momentum.

Get the maul high in the sky above your right shoulder (not above your head), but keep your eyes on the target. Aim NOT at the surface of the wood, but at the BOTTOM of the round. Imagine striking at the ground and the wood is only an invisible speed bump to get the ground.

Plan on having your maul edge strike the ground in parallel lines. The from the of the maul doesn't get there first, no the back edge of the maul. The entire maul hits the wood evenly. No injuries, no cutting off toes.

Put your full force into every swing. It's fatiguing to hit a split with 1/2 force and have it not split.

For bigger rounds, aim at the outsides, cutting off 20% of the round with each blow. Much easier than aiming at the middle and failing. Each chunk of wood you split off makes the resulting round easier and easier.

Don't split the small stuff with a maul. Use a hatchet. You look silly and waste energy. Nothing under 4" should be split with a maul.


If you can't split it in 2-3 hits ..... give it up. It ain't gonna happen. Have a pileof wood that you cn't split to age for 2-3 years and burn them as rounds .... or split them with a chainsaw. Don't sweat and sweat at an un-do-able round. Its not worth it.

Stop early. Save some for later. Its hard work and easier to do 1/2 hour 4 times than 2 hours continuous and seeing your chiropractor. Use Motrin like a Chicago voter, votes ...... early and often.

 

[jadm]

PPE = Personal Protective Equipment

This can include eye protection, ear protection, respiratory protection, and body protection...all depending on what the hazards are in the task to be performed. When a hockey goalie suits up, he/she's donning PPE. Same with a MLB catcher. If you're gonna paint a car, you at least put on a mask (perhaps an air-fed respirator). If you're gonna go into a burning building, you cover your entire body with fire-resistant insulative materials and wear your own source of breathing air. PPE. You get the idea. Rick

Got It.

When I wash dishes I don rubber gloves. :lol:

Thank-you :coolsmile:

 

[LLigetfa]

Height of chopping block: Approx. 24"
Height of rounds: 16"-18"

I don't advocate splitting rounds on the ground because the ground often does not provide the support and resistance to the inertia of the axe/maul. Also, contact point is well past the perpendicular axis (no longer parallel to the ground). People tend to let up on the pressure of the swing by that point.

I also don't like seeing a two foot high chopping block. That places the top of the round 3 1/2 feet up in the air. If the axe/maul glances, it has a very long way to go before it reaches the ground and increases the chance a body part could be on the path. Get that chopping block at least a foot lower. Some people will actually bury half of the block or more in the ground.

The surface of the block should have a very slight slope to it so that an angle cut round can be turned so that one angle cancels the other. The round is less precarious. For a chopping block I like to use a large flared butt piece of the log that has a bit of an angled cut from taking out the wedge during felling. That gives me a second facet that I can balance really crooked cuts on.

 

[stockdoct]

Hold the maul with two hands. (I’m right handed) cutting surface facing backwards, right hand down but both hands touching.

Let the maul swing passively FORWARD halfway to your waist (blunt end going forward)..... it helps the momentum when it changes direction and goes behind you. Much easier on the shoulder than pulling it up without momentum.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

oops, my mistake.

When I begin the "windup". the maul's sharp end is facing forward. It moves like a pendulum forward, then backward (sharp end still facing forward), then over my right shoulder.

Bending my knees as the maul is about to hit the wood gives the maul more speed, and keeps the maul surface parallel and even to the round. It also helps to be 5'9" --- I don't have to worry about the maul "overcurving forward" like the tall guys might.


My daughter watched me as I destroyed a maple tree with my 6 lb maul (not quite a cord in 2 days) and as the rounds burst apart, said "jeez dad, you could KILL someone with that thing."

Yeah :coolsmirk: I know.....

 

[newstove]

Maybe it's just me, but I tried bringing it down over my shoulder, and could never hit square (this was long, long ago when I first started splitting) - it always glanced off from right to left (I'm a righty, so it would come down over my right shoulder.)

Instead, what I found works for me is that I bring it up and back over the right shoulder with hands apart (right above left, left at bottom of handle), slide my right hand down to the left, and bring the maul up and over and down flat on the wood. Blows apart rounds in a single whack just about ever time, and I haven't lost a maul yet (many, many years splitting.)

I was out splitting up what I had left of recently cut red oak yesterday - did about 1/3 cord in a little less than an hour (rounds were 14-16" in length, and ranged from 8-14" in diameter.) The larger rounds got split 3 times, the smaller ones once. I think I only had to hit two rounds more than once to get it to split.

*shrug* Maybe my style is not the greatest, but it works for me, and I can split pretty fast. ;-)

 

[Gooserider]

Swing style varies a lot - I would sort of hold the maul vertically, head up, in front of me, and essentially "throw" it up, then swing it back down to hit - hard to describe, but... Bottom line is that the axe / maul hits the round hard, square, and moving at a good clip, how it got to that point isn't as critical.

IMHO the best block height is a function of the log length and the height of the person splitting - I think it is best to have the top of the target round be about mid-thigh down to a little above knee height.

As to PPE, I would second the suggestion of steel toes, preferably in a heavy / insulated leather. The ideal would be something with metatarsal coverage (top of the foot) but those are harder to find, and can be much more expensive - an issue with a 12 yr old that probably will be doing a LOT of growing in the next few years... A higher boot is better for obvious reasons, but again it's a case of finding something that will fit properly (I often wonder how many accidents are contributed to by ill-fitting, uncomfortable safety gear...)

Chaps (and possibly a "cup") aren't a bad idea, but tend to fall a bit on the overkill side - my experience is that flying splits tend to have low trajectories, your odds of getting hit in a given spot go down as you move up the body, so there is a balance between full plate armour and being able to move. That said, reasonably stout clothing is a good idea (Though he may want to wear a T-shirt to show off his bulging muscles for the ladies... %-P )

Eye protection is a definite must - not just when splitting, but when using ANY sort of tool that can produce flying bits...

I highly reccomend gloves. Preferably ones that are "fitted" as opposed to the generic "one size (doesn't) fit all" style, they are more expensive, but much easier to wear. My usual go-to gloves for most stuff is the partly rubber coated stretch material sort, but I find they are a bit to "grabby" when trying to swing an axe or maul where you need to slide your hand down the handle while swinging. For axe work leather will slide better, but it will wear out faster when handling wood. The rubber coated jobs are MUCH more durable.

Gooserider

 

[jadm]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Will have to get a new chopping block that is lower when neighbor brings by some whole pieces.

I liked the idea of using a bungie cord to hold wood tog. We did use a tire but it was a bit cumbersome.

Will have to see if he fits into his older brother's old steel toed boots. I hadn't considered them until it was suggested here. He has just been using goggles and gloves....learn something new every day. ;-)

 

[flyingcow]

Read the wood. Learn to look where the cracks are and work the splits that way. If wood has a crouch, turn and split from the bottom up, try to split so the crouch will fly apart.This is where reading the wood is important. This works very well if done after frost has set into wood.Did most of my splitting in the winter. And eventually learn to give the maul a slight twist upon impact. A good crack does wonders, but this is a trick learned after a bit of experience.

Started splitting wood about 11 yrs old. Used to burn about 12 to 15 cords a year. All hardwood. Spent a lot of time in the wood shed, especially when I got a little freedom(drivers license) and stayed out past curfew. I litterally got sent to the wood shed often. Tell him if he starts breaking handles, which will happen early on, but if he does it to get out of the job, weld a metal pipe in place of the handle. He'll learn not to over reach real quick. Do not stand directly across from him when splitting, unless you are really quick, and lucky. :coolsmile: