Maul vs Splitting Axe...

[VAfarmer38]

Hopefully this isn't an ignorant topic but I'm wondering what people's opinions are on these two head to head. I've always used a 12 lb. maul and have seen a lot of people on here using lighter weight splitting axes. Are there pros/cons to either? Should I own one of each? What length/type splitting axe would suit me best? Does it depend on what I'm cutting and splitting? I'm 6'5", 220 lbs and 35 years old. Thanks.

 

[dafattkidd]

Dude, at that size I figured you could just Karate chop the wood. That being said, everyone has their preferences. I prefer an 8 lb maul for splitting. A lot of forum members prefer the Fiskars splitting axes over mauls. Seemingly most have a few different tools in there shed and have preferences of usage based on the type of wood, the amount they have to split and their particular mood that day. I am in the minority in that I do not like the idea of swinging a very sharp axe repeatedly. Seems like a lot of injury risk, when I can get similar results with a blunt tool. As I said, a lot of guys prefer the Fiskars over all other splitting tools. http://www2.fiskars.com/Products/Ga.../Axes-and-Machetes/X27-Super-Splitting-Axe-36

 

[jatoxico]

I would liken it to club head speed or bat speed. The quicker the head is moving through the hitting zone the better. Splitting axes do most of the work any maul can do but with less effort on your part. I have a nice maul but most times it stays on the sidelines.

 

[VAfarmer38]

Dude, at that size I figured you could just Karate chop the wood. That being said, everyone has their preferences. I prefer an 8 lb maul for splitting. A lot of forum members prefer the Fiskars splitting axes over mauls. Seemingly most have a few different tools in there shed and have preferences of usage based on the type of wood, the amount they have to split and their particular mood that day. I am in the minority in that I do not like the idea of swinging a very sharp axe repeatedly. Seems like a lot of injury risk, when I can get similar results with a blunt tool. As I said, a lot of guys prefer the Fiskars over all other splitting tools. http://www2.fiskars.com/Products/Ga.../Axes-and-Machetes/X27-Super-Splitting-Axe-36

Haha, I hear ya. I like to let the maul do the work for me, but the steel shaft is hard on the wrists and arms. Not much give lol. I'll take a look at the Fiskars. I've seen some really nice stuff made by Wetterlings and Autine but can't ever see paying that much for a splitting axe.

 

[macattack_ga]

I started with one of this monster mauls... try an 8lb maul...I got a Collins Axe from ace hardware / yellow fiberglass handle. It'll be a world of a difference.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/38691349?...48018631&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=88027373351&veh=sem

 

[dafattkidd]

I started with one of this monster mauls... try an 8lb maul...I got a Collins Axe from ace hardware / yellow fiberglass handle. It'll be a world of a difference.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/38691349?...48018631&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=88027373351&veh=sem

This is what I use as well. I have two of them. I really like the way they feel and they are fairly inexpensive. That being said, jatoxico is right about the speed of the swing with a lighter axe.

 

[Fred Wright]

Mauls split, axes cut. Have one of each on hand, it's a good plan.

+1 on the 8-pound maul recommendation. Maul weight is a factor but swing speed makes the difference. The lighter the maul head, the faster it can be swung, thus more impact.

I've found that mauls really shine when busting straight-grained oak. You can work up a lot of oak with a maul in a little time. When you get to the tougher, knotty stuff your ax will make short work of it.

 

[CincyBurner]

Splittin' wood is the easy, fun part. It's the moving and stacking that's the onerous chore.
For tall people, stick with a longer handle (X-27 over X-25). It's safer - easier to keep your hands low at the bottom of the swing and thus less apt to come round on you.
IMO performance is a mix of head speed plus head design.
If you are strong you'll probably be more comfortable with a bit heavier head. Lot's of personal preferences here. If golfers can own several clubs, it's ok for wood burners to own a couple different mauls.
In 2014 I hand split about 7 cords of wood to get caught-up, plus work on 3-year supply. Woods included, Osage, ash, bur oak, black oak, white oak, mulberry, beech, hickory, plus lots of miscellaneous species.
I own Fiskars X-27; Stihl Pro splitting maul; and my old 8# hickory handled True Temper(?). Wood handled mauls seem to transmit less shock, but I'm very happy with characteristics of Fiskars handle.

• Fiskars X-27 is like a karate chop - fast and explosive. Seems to work very well on wood that isn't too knotty, and it doesn't leave you quite as tired. Tends to stick a bit on tough stuff.
• Stihl Pro maul is like a locomotive - plows through wood with enough umph to get through long (20"), tough, knotty, stringy stuff. This is a maul made by Ochsenkopf for Stihl. The head is smoothly polished, well designed and crafted. It has hickory handle with protective steel collar.

There is a marked difference in Fiskars and Stihl over the True Temper.
Splitting use/frequency - Fiskars 70 : Stihl 30
All mauls meet their limits . . . then it's time to pass, get out the wedges, or start noodlin'.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

but can't ever see paying that much for a splitting axe

$50? Really?

 

[missedbass]

$50? Really?

And a lifetime warranty-- seems like a good deal to me.

 

[jatoxico]

I think he was talking about price of the Wetterlings et al. Fiskars products are well worth the price and they honored their warranty for me on the X25, Satisfaction guaranteed!

 

[cannonballcobb]

In a perfect world, one would have three or four different size splitting tools in their arsenal.

Personal, I have an older 3 1/2 lb axe, 6 lb Husqvarna maul, and an 8 lb True Temper maul. I'll usually have all three out when splitting rounds, and try to use the lightest tool to accomplish a successful split with one swing. Most rounds for me get busted up using the 6 and 8 lb mauls.

 

[VAfarmer38]

I think he was talking about price of the Wetterlings et al. Fiskars products are well worth the price and they honored their warranty for me on the X25, Satisfaction guaranteed!

I was actually referring to the Autine splitting axe. $290

 

[VAfarmer38]

I love the monster maul that I use. It is heavy but I'm big enough and strong enough to handle it without it wearing me out. I plan to get the Gransfors Bruks splitting axe. Found a dealer within an hour drive. It's more than I want to spend but I'll give it a try.

 

[jatoxico]

I have the Granfors small splitting ax that I use for making kindling, it's a work of art. Try a Fiskars I doubt you'll be disappointed. Force=acceleration X mass or something like that. The head speed more than makes up for the lack of weight and it's cheap enough.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

I was actually referring to the Autine splitting axe. $290

If you found one for $290 you found a bargain. Their website lists the splitting ax for $490.

(broken link removed to http://www.autinetools.com/en/tools/axes)

 

[Corey]

I am around your dimensions and have tried several different types of splitters. IMHO, a lot of it comes down to the wood you're trying to split. You will usually see someone trying to split doug fir or straight grain oak with the fiskars...well, an 8 penny finish nail would likely split those, too. If you split those woods, then get something light weight. If you get into more gnarly wood, you need something heavier. I get into a moderate amount of twisty-grain hedge and some elm so generally tend toward the heavier end of the spectrum. When you top 200 lbs, even the 'heavy' mauls are still small toys...though I could see a 5'7 / 130lb guy is wrestling nearly 10% of his body weight.

I also think a lot of people get the cart before the horse when talking about the light weight mauls...they always say "you can swing it faster to make up the difference in splitting power." The way I look at it is, you HAVE to swing it faster to make up the difference. ...and given most 'energy' equations contain " 1/2mv^2 "...for every bit lighter, you have to swing exponential bits faster. The downside is - there is a limit to how fast your muscles can contract...otherwise we would all split wood with a piece of mono-filament fishing line at 167,000mph.

My general rule - use the lightest splitter you can which reliably splits the wood and keep it sharp. Some will also say 'splitting vs cutting' but there is no downside to keeping the tool sharp...in normal use, it splits just the same...or better, and if you do encounter a cross branch or knot, you have a better chance of cutting through it with a sharp maul.

One last consideration - with a heavier maul, you can always take 1/3 or 1/2 power swings in easy splitting wood. With a light maul you can technically take more swings, but digging the maul out of the wood every single time gets to be a real pain. Again, given the type of wood, I think I spend way more energy digging a light maul out of the wood then just splitting it with a heavier maul and taking lighter swings in the few bits of easy wood I get.

FWIW

 

[jatoxico]

You can work up a lot of oak with a maul in a little time. When you get to the tougher, knotty stuff your ax will make short work of it.

Knocked out about 2 cords of locust, hickory and oak today. Lotta knarly stuff. 90% done with splitting ax.

 

[turn_n_burn]

I prefer splitting axes myself. I used to cuss out swear at my Rockforge, but I ground the expanding flares on the sides down to a straight V, and polished the heck out of it. It's a 4.5 lb head (now probably closer to 4-4.25), and it busts the hell out of my Doug Fir and Cherry rounds. It isn't enough for my Black Locust, as they are really twisted and gnarly, so I use a light sledge and a wedge, and it saves me a lot of trouble. Most of my Locust is dry, so I try not to noodle, and can avoid sharpening my chain every 10 minutes. I used to use an 8 lb true temper, but It just didn't quite give me the speed and oomph I needed, and it always got stuck in the greener stuff. Sometimes I used a little Canola Oil (or Lemon Pledge) on the blade of the Rockforge and it works really well. In addition to straightening the angle on the flares, I took about 1/3" off the top and bottom of the blade edge, so it looks less like a headsman's axe. I found that works to concentrate the splitting force to the sides instead of trying to sink a long-edged blade into the round and having the cutting power spread out too much. Figures it takes less downforce to pound in something skinny like a nail as opposed to a knife blade, so I tried to apply the physics to my Rocky. I noticed the Gransfors and Wetterling splitters had shorter-edged blades and too some inspiration from those.

 

[jotul?]

I have the Gransfors large splitting axe. It works well, and it has that handmade look and feel. I have handled both Fiskars but never swung one to actually split anything. I doubt that the Gransfors or the Fiskars would show any serious advantage over each other, other than size. My thinking is that you may find the Gransfors to be a bit small for you. I'm 5'7" 190 lbs and while the Gransfors fits me well, I have always wondered how someone taller would use it safely. The handle is just long enough IMO.

 

[bad news]

I think there are advantages to a tool like the Gransfors or the Husqvarna wood handled maul I use. They have narrow, axe like profiles similar to the much-vaunted Fiskars, great quality Swedish steel, and user-replaceable handles. I know Fiskars is supposed to be great with warranty, but if times are tough or they stop giving those out for free for some reason you can make yourself a handle and keep wood in the stove. That makes it an heirloom tool.

 

[VAfarmer38]

If you found one for $290 you found a bargain. Their website lists the splitting ax for $490.

(broken link removed to http://www.autinetools.com/en/tools/axes)

Typo on my part

 

[CTYank]

Lots of variables: head weight/shape/metallurgy/surface finish; handle material/shape.
I've been swinging splitting tools since the late '70s and am 5'11" 195 for background. I split all my fuelwood by hand, with a wee bit of noodling for bad forks/knots.
Lessons I've learned:
head weight of 5-6.5 lb works best for me, for splitting wood; for kindling a 4 lb (real) $25 Council axe works well- don't need more tools, or any plastic handles.
hickory handles feel best, once lightly sanded of lacquer; plastic stuff feels wimpy
better mauls are made of better- tougher- steel, as in Wetterlings/Mueller/Council and others such; they survive serious pounding on/with their polls
head shape is, literally, the ball game here, as turn_n_burn also notes. Must be sharp.

I got a ($155) 3 kg, 6.6 lb, Mueller maul 3+ years ago. It worked at least an order of magnitude (10x) better than my previous box-store bludgeons, with its flat 30 deg cheeks.
I took my 7" disc grinder to those 5-8 lb bludgeons, to flatten their faces and give them an edge to mimic the Mueller. Huge improvement, just can't overcome mediocre metallurgy of some. Still the 8 lb maul is definitely inferior in performance to the 5-6 lb tools. Should it go rogue, like on an oops, it's much harder to stop it before crushing a shin. (Yes, I swing any maul aggressively.) Now, it's a sledge with one pointy face.

Then I found a deal on a Wetterlings 5.5 lb maul. Works very nicely for $110. Very sharp edge, like the Mueller. That's what chopping blocks are for. Very nice handle- could be a couple inches longer.

Then Bailey's had a deal on a 6 lb Council Tools (USA) maul, delivered, for $25. That's not a typo. Couple minutes with a dremel & sanding drum to blend the faces near the edge, and it's part of my A-team, with the Mueller. If I'd only known. My Council maul is a "sledge-handle" version. They also make "axe-handle" versions, both in 6 & 8 lb.
Of course, it got a couple minutes attention from a sanding block, for blister-prevention. $490 for a splitting-axe? Pssst, I've got a bridge available cheap.

When I get a maul "stuck" in a round, that's not a problem. First, on any serious billet, I make hits on my intended split-line, with the last one nearest to me. Depending, I either pound on it with the poll of another maul, or pivot it around so I have a clear shot on the opposite part of the split-line, with another maul.

IOW IMO a "stuck" maul is like a driven wedge on a stick. No harm from driving it through the billet. Just mind your toes.

For more difficult rounds, or when time is limited, noodling in a bar's width makes it lots easier to halve and quarter those rounds with wedges. Turns out, that made it simple for some interns to do some of my work. Load & go.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

much-vaunted Fiskars

I take it you don't own one and have very likely never tried one. . .

I know Fiskars is supposed to be great with warranty, but if times are tough or they stop giving those out for free

So you're saying that because you can't replace a virtually unbreakable handle yourself that you would pass on the best $50 tool in the wood cutting world, and recommend that others do too? How many ax heads have you re-hung? How many did your dad pass on to you? Fiskars isn't some Johnny-come-lately fly-by-night outfit. They are, literally, the oldest industrial company in the world.

 

[Omaha419]

For the bigger stuff, I use a maul. I also use the maul as a wedge. Take a swing, let it stick, and then drive it through with my 16lb. sledge.

I use my axe for the smaller stuff and kindling.