Splitting maul for the Lil woman...

[Warm_in_NH]

The fact that my girlfriend/fiance asked for a new splitting maul for her birthday is just awesome and why she has a ring on too.

Right now she's using a standard 8# red handled basic maul. She's 5'7" slender build (not going to guess at weight, no winning there).

97% of the use is to re-split cord wood that is delivered already split, just too large. Most requires a full swing but the 8 pounder is overkill for most of it.

I'm leaning towards a Fiskars. Either the x17 or x25? ?? Anyone have any familiarity with either of these and or know how they compare to an old school 8 pounder?

Thanks!

 

[jatoxico]

I have both. I keep the x17 in the house and use it as a hatchet for kindling and re-splitting but you could use it two handed and take apart a fair bit of wood with one. I would guess 6' dia would be no problem, up to 8" or more if it was clean.

I use the x25 for everything. I rarely take the maul out anymore. On the rare occasion that I need to pound through something I use a wedge. The only limits on the x25 is with the person swinging IMO. Great versatile tools.

 

[bassJAM]

Get her the x25. It's far and above better than an 8lb maul. She might not have the strength to swing it fast enough for large rounds, but it should still do the job. Make sure she wears boots if she's new to splitting, sheet toes preferred.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Thanks. Was thinking X25, but without putting my hands on one, it's a tough call.
Appreciate the input.

 

[jatoxico]

Thanks. Was thinking X25, but without putting my hands on one, it's a tough call.
Appreciate the input.

Get the 17 for her and the 25 for yourself, problem solved.

 

[Firewood Bandit]

The X27 will do anything the X25 will and not worry about chopping her feet off.

 

[jatoxico]

I see a lot of folks feel that the x25 puts them at risk for hitting their feet. There are many shorter handled bladed hand tools so I think it comes down to technique.

At about 9 min this video from the Dept of Ag explains;

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Can raise your chopping block or lower your body to maintain a parallel position with the handle. Dropping the body has the added benefit of increasing ax head speed.

 

[ironpony]

Get the 17 for her and the 25 for yourself, problem solved.

seems like the solution tome, personally I like the X27.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Using an 8# maul for re splitting splits is like target shooting with a 44mag, overkill...
She's gonna love the right size fiskars....

 

[bassJAM]

I'm 5' 8", and there's times when I think I'd rather have the x25 myself. The x27 is great for larger logs, but if I'm making kindling I find myself choking up quite a bit and I find that I'm much more accurate and I end up hitting the log more square than if I use the full length. Part of me wonders if I'd be better off with everything using the x25.

 

[brian89gp]

My 5'6 girlfriend uses an x27 without issue.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

The X25 showed up today. It's going to be perfect for what she needs (re splitting delivered splits). A lot of her splitting is done in a garage so there's limited head room, enough, but no enough to keep you from always thinking about where your back swing is. The shorter handle on this is perfect, any bigger it'd be too similar to what she has now and any smaller might be a struggle on the larger splits.

Now I just need to keep myself from taking it out back and test driving it for the next couple weeks.

Thanks again for the feedback, kept me from buying a size too small.

Edit/update...so, uh, um...well turns out I can't look at this thing and not try it out. WOW, I've been working way too hard splitting wood. This thing is great! I definitely see where the suggestion of steel toes boots comes into play as it's so sharp and efficient it blasts right through logs that you expect to wrestle with.

 

[BEConklin]

I bought both the 25 and the 27 - and as others have noted, the 25 is a little scary. I bought that one first and found it splits rounds very nicely but the shorter length was not very comfortable for me - and it really made me wish I had steel toes when working with full swings on larger rounds. So I bought the 27 and found it's perfect for me. I'll use the 25 for our camper where all I do is re-split splits when I need smaller pieces.

Based on your reaction to the 25 - I'd definitely say you need to get the 27 as well

 

[captjack]

seal the deal man and get her a timber wolf ! live happily ever after hahahahaha