My first post, Why you should use a less heavy splitting tool...

[akkamaan]

How much firewood do you gather?

not much I am retired, but I just ordered a cord of logs...not split, just the rounds...I only burn 1 cord per year, in the winter time...
Hope I can make some "tutorials" when splitting them...

 

[jotul8e2]

One could split 30" oak with a six ounce "maul", if it was swung fast enough. But I doubt that even a professional baseball player could get that kind of speed. It is my belief that the combination of mass (weight, in this case) of the maul and the speed at which you can swing will vary fairly widely among us all. I have found the 3 kg. (6.6 lb.) Stihl maul to work very well for me - I simply cannot swing an eight pounder fast enough. On the other hand, my 18 year old football-playing nephew complains the Stihl is too light.

This may be why they make different sizes.

 

[pen]

Are you saying a bigger, heavier driver would be a better choice for a novice golfer? Because it seems that you are saying a less skilled splitter will be better off with a maul.

Not at all what I'm saying.

Rather, a good tool in the wrong hands, isn't worth poo. Gotta learn to use something well, and from there can find benefits when changing to various splitting tools (or various drivers if the golf reference were to keep up).

In all, I think it's easy to lay blame, or success for that matter, on a tool, when good form should be the focus. Once that's established, now it's time to judge one "tool" versus another.

 

[BrotherBart]

As a long ago banned member used to say "A fool with a tool is still a fool.".

Yeah, it was Pook.

 

[Fifelaker]

How much firewood do you gather?

I use about 12-15 cord a year. I also cut and split 10 cord for a friend that can't. This year I am also cutting for a lady who needs 8 cord. I have also been known to sell some.

 

[drz1050]

With all these calculations, you can't forget to factor in the shape of the maul/ axe head itself and how aggressive of an angle it has.

I have no idea how to calculate that.. but it's definitely an important factor.

I have a razor sharp 3.5 lb axe.. I can swing it really fast, bury it inside a round, and the round stays together. It's a pretty terrible splitter, unless the wood is relatively small and straight grained.

Splitting is not just about impact like swinging a golf club.. it's also about the forces/ the angle that drives the two pieces apart.

 

[drz1050]

I'm with Blacktail here.. I find splitting relaxing, and equations are the farthest thing from my mind when I'm doing it..

 

[Bigg_Redd]

I use about 12-15 cord a year. I also cut and split 10 cord for a friend that can't. This year I am also cutting for a lady who needs 8 cord. I have also been known to sell some.

31-34 cord this year? Not ricks, not face cords, but real life 4x4x8 cords?

 

[Fifelaker]

31-34 cord this year? Not ricks, not face cords, but real life 4x4x8 cords?

4x4x8 cords triple that number for ricks or face cords lol. I do not do it all myself, My friend help a little on his and my daughter helps a little on our wood. I do 95% of the cutting and all of the falling. Yesterday I cut and split a cord and hauled 1/3 of a cord home. I am cutting 1.5 miles from home so no travel time, which helps. I rarely cut more than 5 miles from home. I have maybe 2 cord cut and split at my daughters house 27 miles away that I need to get hauled home yet. I wish I had room in the yard for the 2 year plan but sadly I do not. I also just hear last night another friend is having back surgery next week o that number is going up, but he only heats his garage so maybe another full cord.

 

[Corey]

My math does not lie, ....

...but it may not be telling the whole truth, either. I estimate the tip of a bull whip at 1 gram...or 0.001 kg. The 'crack' means it's moving at the speed of sound... ~343 m/s. Punching that into your equation:

0.001kg x 343m/s^2 / 2 = ~ 59 Nm

...so we should really be using a bull whip to split wood? Clearly not, so there must be more to the story besides just kinetic energy.

My .02... if you're splitting pine, fir, etc, then a light weight axe might save some of the work wasted with a heavier axe. But if you can't split the wood easily, then multiple swings with the light tool quickly offset any 'savings' and you're likely better off going with something a bit heavier. This is usually the way it seems to break down in the real world, too ...pine/fir/spruce guys marveling at the light weight splitting axes for how well they work. Those of us splitting hard woods, anything which isn't perfectly straight, or may have a cross branch know you need the inertia of a heavy tool to drive through the wood.

 

[akkamaan]

...but it may not be telling the whole truth, either. I estimate the tip of a bull whip at 1 gram...or 0.001 kg. The 'crack' means it's moving at the speed of sound... ~343 m/s. Punching that into your equation:

0.001kg x 343m/s^2 / 2 = ~ 59 Nm

...so we should really be using a bull whip to split wood? Clearly not, so there must be more to the story besides just kinetic energy.

Absolutely, so I used this analogy with the bullet, because it might be easier for people to understand the impact of speed vs mass in the energy math.

My .02... if you're splitting pine, fir, etc, then a light weight axe might save some of the work wasted with a heavier axe.

That is one of the main reasons to use a lighter tool, it will increase endurance and productivity.
Each person has its own capability to generate speed and/or lift and handle different sized mass of the head. I do not say one person can generate more energy with a 8-10 lbs maul than an 4lbs axe.

But if you can't split the wood easily, then multiple swings with the light tool quickly offset any 'savings' and you're likely better off going with something a bit heavier.

Only if you can generate more impact energy with the heavier tool

[/quote]This is usually the way it seems to break down in the real world, too ...pine/fir/spruce guys marveling at the light weight splitting axes for how well they work. Those of us splitting hard woods, anything which isn't perfectly straight, or may have a cross branch know you need the inertia of a heavy tool to drive through the wood.[/quote]
I admit, that I only split Douglas Fir and occasionally Western Hemlock. And Fir is generally a pretty easy split.
But if you do better with a heavier maul on your hardwood, it is because you are able to generate the same speed with the maul as with the axe. Or I can say, you are not able to increase your speed with the lighter axe...
As I said earlier to Woody Stover, it is easier to within a limited time frame (1-2 seconds for a swing), to push an axe head up to 30 ft/sec than a maul head. Or I can say within a limited time, with teh limited force you can apply, you can acellerate the axe faster than the maul. That's just the law of nature.
But 92 year old Bernie at the golf course, might benefit from a heavier club head, because he just can not generate a high-speed swing, no matter how light his club is.