Splitting Maul or New Axe

I have some cherry wood that I am thinking about splitting for the fireplace this season. I have decided to split it by hand to get some exercise and keep active as fall sets in. I have an old axe that I use sometimes but the handle is cracked and I have been wondering if a splitting maul is a good way to go or should I just get a new axe. They are both on sale this week at the local Menard's and I wanted to get some opinions from those more experienced than I before I run to the store.

The wood is about 10" diameter max and it's good and dry. I have about a full pickup load to split.

Thanks in advance.

Give me a good-ole hickory handle splitting maul any day.

I cut and sold part time for years as a young man (college years) and split hundreds of cords by hand. (Until I got a real job so I could afford a hydraulic splitter :)

Definitely a maul, not an axe.

I recommend looking for a 7 lb maul - hard to find but I have found they are just the right weight. I've used 6 pounders (too light for power) and 8 pounders (just a bit to heavy causing undue fatique).

Also, make sure it is a simple maul shape - like a slege that is a bit longer and comes to a point on one end of the head. AVOID mauls that have a narrow blade-like shape on the wedge side of the head - they do nothing but get stuck in the wood.

In my opinion a wood handle is the only way to go - just need to practice your aim (Bob, let the force be with you :)

AVOID the 12 lb plus "Splitting bomb", "Super Maul" type. You'll need a nap after splitting a few pieces.

Two or three wedges are a good idea, but have a sledge to drive them. I broke a maul head driving wedges.

Split with the logs standing on the ground, NOT on a raised spliting block. That is an extra 18-inches of nearly free momentum you are giving up by having the log raised off the ground. Plus, it is a lot more work to pick up each log to put it on the block (often a two-hand operation) than it is to just stand it on the ground (usually a one-hand operation).

Unless the wood is very stubborn, most of the work splitting by hand is standing up the logs and pieces of logs after each time you swing the maul.

Now when I split by hand I stand up on the order of 6 to 10 logs side-by-side and bind them together fairly tightly by one wrap of rope and using a cinch knot. As you split, the pieces just stay stood up, and away you go. I use this technique now-a-days to split my kindling, take no time at all. The only issue here is it does increase the chance of breaking the maul handle when you are swinging at "inside" pieces. To avoid breakage I lift the maul handle up toward verticle just as the mauls is hitting the piece.

Good luck.

Really - try this, with cooperative wood, this is much faster and easier than a hydraulic splitter. More fun too.

Bob

I favor a maul, and that would particularly be my choice if I was limited to just one or the other. In practice I agree with wolfman---it's best to have one of each plus several wedges and a sledgehammer.

Years ago I bought a hard rubber collar that slips over the handle of an ax or maul and stays in place just under the head. So far it has provided the protection it was designed for to that vulnerable part of the handle.

Last week I was pounding some steel stakes with a 12# sledgehammer which is now, apparently, a little too much weight for me. In any case, I didn't have the control of it that I used to and put a nasty gouge in the handle right under the head. It occurred to me that I could weld a four or five inch length of pipe to the head so that it would protect the handle right at that point. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

All the best, Stan

I wouldn't put a piece of pipe around the handle below the head - it will be in the way. When lifting to make a swing my hand slides up the handle to all the way to the head, then slides down again to my other hand on the swing stroke. The pipe would get in the way, especially on the up stroke.

It might work OK for a sledge because you are often swinging a smaller targets and don't use an "all out" swing like you usually do with a maul. But you usually do swing hard at splitting wedges when using a sledge.

I'd leave it off.

I like the fiberglass/plastic splitting mauls, since I seemed to be able to break several wood handles every year. It is possible to break the plastic around the fiberglass if it is cold and you hit a round wrong, but I have not actually broken the head off either of my fiberglass handled splitting mauls. I prefer to use a maul rather than an axe for splitting, since the much heavier weight works with less effort. The axe is good for kindling splitting. I have taken a couple of trees down with an axe, but a chainsaw is a whole lot faster and easier.

Once I was given a black locust tree that had been cut in rounds. I found that my usual splitting tools would hardly dent those large rounds, much less split them. I ended up splitting the large rounds by ripping them with my chainsaw. I don't think I would ever haul any more black locust home!

Hopefully your cherrywood will split easier than that. Applewood isn't too bad and neither is wood from plum trees.

If you have a bunch to do, and don't plan to continue to split wood for years, you might consider renting a hydraulic splitter for a day. Believe me, one of those will split much more in a day with only the work of moving around the rounds and the split wood than you could do in a week splitting by hand.

But if you want to do it by hand, having the right tools makes all the difference in the world. Good luck and have fun!

KEH

KEH