Home Depot Maul

[PaulD]

I was looking at a maul at Home Depot and was was wondering if any of you are using it and what your thoughts on it are.
Of course it's not pictured on their web site so I will try to describe it from memory. 8-/
The splitting face had two different angles on it so that a narrow, raised section of steel came out wider. This didn't make sense to me so I didn't buy it. Of course, maybe I just don't get it so that's why I'm asking here. To me it seems like it would split better if the whole maul face was at the wider angle. The small raised areas look like they don't have enough surface area to split effectively.
Any comments on this thing would be appreciated. :cheese:

 

[njtomatoguy]

I have something similar, bought it at lowes, 6 lbs, works great-all things considered-but then I got a RYOBI splitter at HD- haven't swung a maul since...

Bob

 

[philaphire]

does it look like this? I know this isn't the one sold at Home Depot, this one is sold at Lowes. The HD has a yellow handle that isn't as nice IMHO but i believe the heads are the same. All that to say, I have one of these, only maul I have ever used and have no complaints. I do have a wedge and sledge for tough to split rounds, but usually once I have bigger ones in half, this maul does the rest.

 

[njtomatoguy]

Phila-

That's the one

It's in the car in case any scrounged rounds need to be split "on site"

 

[ourhouse]

I use one and they work good on red oak and ash with no knots. It works good for driving felling wedges. not metal ones

 

[DiscoInferno]

I have the home despot one, a "Super Splitter" or somesuch. I think the head claims to be 4#, but with handle the whole thing weighs more like 7#. It's a nice, light splitter for most wood, I've split maybe 6 (full) cords a year with it for the last several years. Every now and again I find some logs that it doesn't handle too well, mostly because it's too light, the wood "gives" enough without splitting to swallow up the relatively sharp leading edge, and it gets stuck like an axe would. On these logs I waste a lot of time/effort yanking it back out of the log, and I already had to re-epoxy the handle once as this motion eventually cracked the original epoxy. The worst species in this respect were white oak, cherry, and red maple, although even then it's very tree dependent. It did seem to handle my small sample set of elm well.

Also, I'm never sure if the "wings" really work or not; sometimes splits will fly quite a ways, but the split might have happended before the axe/maul got that deep into the wood. All in all I prefer a real maul just because it's very hard to bury the head. Much more likely to get a bounce on a tough log, which the HD only does if you hit it cross-grain.

 

[PaulD]

I stopped there today to refresh my memory and yes, it looks like the one pictured above except with a yellow handle. They call it a splitter. I think it was made by Ludell or a similar name. This time they also had a standard maul. The splitter is listed at 4lbs and the maul is 8lbs. I think I will get the maul for now and then next year add the splitter to my collection. For now I'll use the maul on everything and eventually be able to use the splitter on smaller stuff. I wish I could just afford a hydraulic log splitter now and then I wouldn't need anything else!
Thanks for the input. :cheese:

 

[njtomatoguy]

THE RYOBI IS ONLY $299- OPEN A CREDIT CARD-10% OFF

AFTER TAX -- $287.94

JERSEY HAS 7% SALES TAX

 

[DiscoInferno]

Hand splitting does wonders for the arms. Probably shoulders, chest, and back too. I thought I wanted a power splitter once, but now I wouldn't use one except for those big twisted suckers that I currently use the chainsaw on. Since I spend all day in front of a computer, it's nice to get outside and hit something.

 

[philaphire]

agreed disco, don't have the discipline to go to the gym, but seeing unsplit rounds gets me out working - that and it's quite the stress reliever to wail on a piece of wood!

 

[Gark]

There isn't much better a stress reliever than splitting wood with a maul. Anything with a fiberglass handle will far outlast a wooden handle maul. 'Til I learned this, I'd broken so many hickory handles that the wife said "Why don't you just buy a truckload of handles and burn those for firewood?"
Heheh. Hmmmm......

 

[CK-1]

does it look like this? I know this isn't the one sold at Home Depot, this one is sold at Lowes. The HD has a yellow handle that isn't as nice IMHO but i believe the heads are the same. All that to say, I have one of these, only maul I have ever used and have no complaints. I do have a wedge and sledge for tough to split rounds, but usually once I have bigger ones in half, this maul does the rest.

I have the same splitter. Works good at wood splitting parties as well, all you need to provide is the beer..

 

[Eric Johnson]

I prefer wooden handes on my mauls for some reason. Adirondack white ash, specifically. Hickory is too brittle.

Taking a tip from the fiberglass handles, I now glue my wooden handles into place with slow-curing epoxy. That keeps the head firmly in place and the handles last longer. If you do break a handle, you can clean the maul head by sticking it in the woodstove for a couple of minutes. Pull it out with a poker, quench it in a bucket of water, and you're ready for a new handle.

My son is the king of breaking wooden handles. He learned early in life that if you destroy the means of production, production ceases.

 

[carpniels]

HI Eric,

That is a funny one. Destroy the handle, no more work. Don't you have a backup maul for that purpose?

I have 1 maul, but 5 or so axes. Small ones too. So that is what my kids will get to use when we split wood. Especially if they break the maul. That will teach them not to break my maul handle; splitting 30 inch rounds with a 2 Lb. campfire wood axe.

carpniels

PS. the oldest one is just 3.5 years so it will be a while before he can handle an 8 lb. maul. But I am prepared

 

[Eric Johnson]

Don't you have a backup maul for that purpose?

What--and let him destroy that one too?

Maybe your sons are different than mine, Niels (I hope so, anyway), but in my experience, boys lose interest in splitting wood at roughly the same time that they are able to do it.

 

[carpniels]

I guess the future will tell. Right now he loves stacking the splits. When he gets older, I will make him help. Otherwise no: dessert, thomas the tank engine, bools before bed, you fill in the blank.

For now, he just likes to be out in the woods with me so that helps.

take care

Niels

PS. good luck shoveling this wednesday. We expect about 1.5 ft.

 

[Eric Johnson]

For me, there's nothing better than working in the woods with my mom or dad. I got sawdust in my veins at a very early age and have never been able to get it out.

It's snowing like crazy.

 

[welldriller]

When I was a kid my dad would split 4 foot lenght with blackpowder, had a 2 inch piece of round stock with turned cheveron's on one end, had about a 3/4 inch bore and a fuse hole for old tar and powder fuse about an inch from base , he would drive it in a lenght about 1/2 an inch pull it out fill it with blackpowder and then tap it back in .. light fuse and run like hell to get behind something soild , wood would fly ,,, it would drive the pice of wood that was in the bore right though the lenght spitting it nicely. Guess that would be against the law now adays. And I don't suspect you can find one at the local Home Depot

 

[BurningIsLove]

FYI, the yellow-handled maul at the Home Depot is a Ludell Premium Log Splitter. I own two of them and they are great, the 'wings' definitely work better than the maul I inherited from my father. The promise on the handle says "Virtually Indestructible", although both of mine have cracked fiberglass handles. To their credit, neither has broken and continue to be active tools in my arsenal.

Both handles were cracked I believe when friends use them as splitting wedges and hit the handle vs. the maul head. So if you dont ever try that they'll probably be virtually indestructible.

 

[sgcsalsero]

Consider getting a 6lb maul w/ fiberglass handle from Sears , 24.99 I think, have the same maul but went thru 2 single bit axes . . but I jus took the axe if for new as Sears gives lifetime guarantee

 

[FINLAND]

Look at the latest innovation among the traditional axes. VIPUKIRVES/LEVERAXE
www.vipukirves.fi
Best regards from FINLAND.

 

[DavidV]

I have the red handled one and it works like a charm. that high tek one looks interesting but wouldnt do well on elm I bet.

 

[FINLAND]

I have the red handled one and it works like a charm. that high tek one looks interesting but wouldnt do well on elm I bet.

Hello DavidV
Thank you for your interest towards VIPUKIRVES/LEVERAXE. To make the story short and easy, go to www.arboristsite.com/index.php . There you can find a lot of wrirings about this new innovation. Search by words: VIPUKIRVES, LEVERAXE, AXE, MAUL. I hope you to find satisfactory information .
All the best from FINLAND
www.vipukirves.fi

 

[babalu87]

Telling us all about the new axe is fine but until its available most of us now have our brains on pause.

 

[sgcsalsero]

I have the red handled one and it works like a charm. that high tek one looks interesting but wouldnt do well on elm I bet.

Hello DavidV
Thank you for your interest towards VIPUKIRVES/LEVERAXE. To make the story short and easy, go to www.arboristsite.com/index.php . There you can find a lot of wrirings about this new innovation. Search by words: VIPUKIRVES, LEVERAXE, AXE, MAUL. I hope you to find satisfactory information .
All the best from FINLAND
www.vipukirves.fi

This is not a forum for hocking one's product, and the moderators here won't stand for it. It's great to have members from across the pond, what can you tell us about the Finland stove market, what stove do you run personally (masonry stove?), what are the energy costs in the country.