Sharp Maul Help w/ Splitting Elm??

[Rob From Wisconsin]

I've split lots of elm, but for some reason, this bunch is really bad.
It's been the better part of a year since I've had to deal with elm,
and I'm wondering if a "dull" mual might be making it more difficult this time around.
Any opinions?

 

[Jack Straw]

I have only been able to split a few rounds of elm with a maul. I set elm aside and split it with my fathers splitter once a year.

 

[begreen]

I wouldn't touch elm with a maul. Bring on the splitter and even then it's a stringy struggle.

 

[willworkforwood]

Don't try sharpening your maul - it's a blunt-trauma instrument, and works better after striking the ground a few thousand times. But Elm is a special kind of animal - probably the offspring of some wretched Hornbeam. I'm strictly a maul guy, but if I had lots of Elm, that would mean putting the maul down and moving over to the dark side. I had some rounds from a 14" Elm last year, and used them for "recreational" splitting. If I got my regular daily quota done, my reward would be working on the Elm for "a while". Some things that helped a bit: slabbing small shots off the sides first; splitting sideways, after getting it partially opened up; and splitting on both ends of the round (kinda like how they built the Transcontinental railway). A few pieces just didn't happen, and I ended up using the chainsaw on those. This wood is basically a RPITA. The bottom line is if you split lots of Elm with a maul, you will gradually lose your mind (I'm making sense here, right?).

 

[Backwoods Savage]

If the elm was cut when green and I split by hand, the only way I ever did it was with a sledge and 3 or 4 wedges. Nasty stuff it is.

 

[savageactor7]

Back in the day once I got a bite with the maul I'd bash it with the sledge. But you can't do that with Chinese steel as it'll mushroom and eventually spit shrapnel. You can also try shaving it off the sides instead of down the middle. Elm is our hardest wood here so I make the best of it but it can be a real pita.

 

[LLigetfa]

If those friskers fan boys are to be believed, it's time to get a Super Split. Their claim to fame is that they are sharp. Having never owned a SS, I split Elm with 20 tons of force and then have at it with a hatchet to separate the stringy bits.

I've heard that leaving Elm to dry in the round makes them easier to split with a maul or axe.

I've never bought into the "maul must be dull" myth. It's not so much about dull or sharp, but rather the angle of the taper. The theory behind it is that a thinner taper may travel far enough into the wood to get firmly stuck while a thicker taper will stop sooner if the wood doesn't split.

 

[webie]

Hey Rob . Where abouts are you in East Central WI ?

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

Hey Rob . Where abouts are you in East Central WI ?

About 15 miles west of Manitowoc.

I guess its been a while since I've worked with this volume of elm.
I've always started w/ imbedding the maul & driving it through with the sledge hammer.
But, I'm finding that starting with a splitting wedge & the occasional finishing help of the maul gets the job done.
Slow tedious work, but a good workout.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I 100% disagree with using a dull maul as opposed to a sharp one. It does not bludgeon things apart- the sharp edge goes between fibers and the angle of the blade pushes it apart.

I don't have a ton of elm experience, but I can for sure say that a sharp maul works way better than a dull one on all the woods I've ever split. I would imagine that all that nasty cross linking grain etc would be more likely to be cut by a sharp blade coming at it sideways than a dull one.

More than once has my splitting gotten a LOT easier when I took time to sharpen the maul... not often that task gets easier during the day

 

[firefighterjake]

I can't even imagine going at fresh cut elm with a maul or ax . . . nothing short of a hydraulic splitter. Sometimes it can be a challenge splitting this stuff up on a hydraulic splitter.

I suppose maybe if the elm was standing dead for several years splitting by hand might not be so bad. . . .

 

[golfandwoodnut]

I have both a Fiskars SS and my long lived Monster Maul. Two totally different animals. The Fiskars is a splitting axe and works better sharpened. The monster maul is basically a 16 lb wedge of pure steel with a steel handle. There is no way to even put an edge on it, it cannot be sharpened, and I like that. One less thing to worry about. That being said, I recently cut some elm down and I have to agree that it is a RPITA. I was able to split some, and like Lligetfa said, even after splitting you have to chop the strings apart. The Fiskars works for that. It is the only wood I have seen that gets softer the more you swing, turning to mush, and making it impossible to split unless you turn it over. I have enough other wood that the only way I am keeping any more is if it is small enough that I don't have to split it.

 

[mayhem]

Typically you use a dull maul and a sharp axe. The dull maul edge keeps it from getting stuck in the round like the axe does...but we're talking dull within reason here...its still a sharp-ish edge otherwise its not going to go into the round...its just not as sharp as an axe or a knife.

 

[quads]

Typically you use a dull maul and a sharp axe. The dull maul edge keeps it from getting stuck in the round like the axe does...but we're talking dull within reason here...its still a sharp-ish edge otherwise its not going to go into the round...its just not as sharp as an axe or a knife.

+1

 

[Beowulf]

Well, I tend towards the "sharp" maul theory. I have a 8 lb. maul that occasionally gets drug out for things that perplex the mighty Fiskars.

I keep a sharp edge on it with about a 90 degree angle coming off the edge (45 off the centerline each side). I also polished the sides of the maul with a sander to an almost mirror finish and keep a coating of silicone spray on it. I have found the reduced friction as the maul enters the wood grain allows it to drive deeper and blast rounds apart a little easier.

However, I grew up splitting elm. It is a pain. If you wait until it freezes hard, it is a lot better; something like 20 degrees F. Otherwise, no fun, as you are aware.