Splitting/Chopping Tool Review Thread

[LondonNeil]

woo who! I've been lusting after a 'big boys maul' to compliment my x27 for 6 months....lusting after the isocore or the stihl pro maul. They are both £80+ over here and since I don't get many big rounds of hardwood that was too much. However a brand new stihl pro came up on the 'bay...I bid and no one else did! got it for £35 I do have to drive 40 miles to collect it, and 40 back but I'm excited to try it Better hope my aim is improved enough to not destroy the hickory! review will come.

 

[woodchip rookie]

How come stihl doesnt offer that orange handled maul anymore? I looked on the site but didnt see it

 

[waldtricki]

View attachment 511772

The "Nupla" head (on the left) type is a very common pattern used in Australia generally and for many years the only pattern you could buy in Australia, manufactured by local and imported manufacturers. As a kid I can remember Dad bringing the first one Id ever seen home, it sure was better than axe splitting.

Ghosta I love that Nupla head geometry. The more and more experimenting I do the more I am finding there is a sweet spot on how long the wedge is and the relation to cheek width and angle of the wedge itself and finally weight. I am finding most mauls you can buy (or you find in garages across the USA) the wedge is too long and not wide enough at the widest point and not convex or at least flat ground along the cheeks.

Would you mind posting some dimensions of the head?
1.Edge to widest part of the cheek
2. widest width (across cheeks)
3. Length from: edge to Poll

Thanks a bunch if you can do this.

Ive been thinking about adding an Isocore maul and a Stihl splitting Axe. They would be completely frivolous purchases. With my X27 I can easily split 85-90% of what I cut and the rest gets noodled by an 80cc saw that doesn't care how irregular the grain is. I can't see myself being more productive. But hey, i don't smoke, play the lottery, or buy women so if I want to splurge on a splitting tool I feel I've earned it.

DSW - If you do it a comparison would be very useful. I am also looking seriously at Stihl Pro Maul. I don't think there is a single shape out there that is mimicks this head geometry so it would be interesting to try. Actually i want to try all of them because they are made by Oxhead. =)

 

[LondonNeil]

OK so I've had a little chance to ply with the Stihl pro maul and I an offer some views. I will try to come back with photos in a few days, and a few more comments in due course.

Firstly what I have needs some explaining as its not clear on the Stihl sites what the pro maul/pro cleaving hammer actually is.
here on the US site https://m.stihlusa.com/products/hand-tools/axes/woodsplitmaul/ is the wood cutters maul, 6.6lbs and 33.5" of Ash. Also listed is the pro splitting maul https://m.stihlusa.com/products/hand-tools/axes/prosplitmaul/ which it says is also 6.6 lbs but has a large steel overstrike protetion on a 35" hickory stick. hmmm
Now the confusion starts, as the co.uk site has 3 versions http://www.stihl.co.uk/STIHL-Produc...s-and-hammers/2996-20866/Cleaving-hammer.aspx
first is clearly the same as the US woodcutters maul, 3Kg (thats 6.6lbs) and 85cm (34") Ash stick. For a few pounds (sterling) more you get the same but with a Hickory stick, then third version is the pro 90cm (36") hickory sticked, steel overstrike protected and...3.8Kg head. that works out at 8.3lbs ..hmm is it the same as the US pro maul and if so which site is right, which wrong?
Well...I suspect it is the same but both are wrong/misleading. I may try and weight the head to prove this but I know the head is heavier than 6.6lbs. I have another 6lb hardware store maul and this stihl thing is far, far heavier. It may not be 3.8kg though...as the head is clearly marked '3.5' which i take to be Kg, or 7.7lb maybe the difference, the 300grams or 0.6ish lbs is the handle? maybe the others are actually 6lb head, 0.6lb handle? That's not what either site says but, perhaps. Anyway, mine is definitely the overstrike protected, 3 foot long handled heavy weight.

first impressions...its well made, and heavy. after the x27 its very heavy! handle is identical length BUT the stihl handle is MUCH MUCH fatter. I wandered if it would be hard to hold/too fat for my hands? I'm 5'11" with average size hands. A fat handle, heavy head, smooth varnished and painted hickory and very little flare at the butt...hmm. I need not have worried, its fine to hold. I should say i do my splitting wearing a pair of bicycling gloves, thin cordora (fake suede) and little grip markings on the finger tips...robust, thin, comfy, stops blisters and stops splinters. wearing these the stihl maul is comfy to swing. It is however heavy and not like the x27. its a very different effort to swing and personally I get tired out by it quickly, but then I'm new to this wood game, a year in I'm better but still no pro and not 'splitting fit'.... or is that I'm Stihl no pro? hehe! I do find it a satisfying swing though, which bring me to performance.

I don't get much hardwood, and so it was my first play was with some soft, some leyland cyprus which is generally easy to split, although this was some large diameter and tougher stuff, a round or 2 of some other pine or fir that is a bit tougher, and a round of horsechesnut (we call it conker) which althoug normally super easy, this particlar round had been hard enough to defeat my x27 and sat around for months and months. Using the stihl wasn't a hallelujah moment. there were still swings that didn't split first time. there were still swings that left the head stuck in the wood occasionally. however it was the big gun compared to the x27. I found it worked well to use the stihl for the first swing at a round, to pop it in one. where upon i'd swap to the x27 to work the halves down to small splits for my little stove. working that way i had the energy to go for a good session, yet seemed to get the benefit of the big stihl maul for that initial pop. It definitely has more power for the harder rounds.
So initial view, good tool for bigger rounds but its still a maul, it still sticks occasionally, it takes work to swing and occasionally it bounces.
I'll be back tomorrow with a review of my session with some monster gnarly Ash that i just got delivered.

 

[LondonNeil]

So a few words about me and the stihl pro maul vs some gnarly Ash. Remember I'm new to this wood game and get very little hard wood. I have split a couple of Oak trees worth though, both were approaching 2' dbh trees from my garden, one English oak, one European/turkey. So I have a little experience with a larger, harder round. Last week I contacted a local tree guy and got promised some arb waste, delivered. Tuesday night I got a call, he had some, and soon after I got maybe half a cord of freshly felled ash rounds tipped on the lawn costing me £50, about right for hard wood arb waste. I was excited by the prospect of some hard wood for my pile..... Until I saw it in the day light next morning. B****r, he'd clearly sorted all the straight grain stuff for himself and dumped me the b4st4rd bits. EVERYTHING is a crotch. Half of it is about 30" diameter and where the main trunk split into 2 by the look, and to top it off so far I've noticed barbed wire through 4-5 pieces. Hmm. Still I read ash splits well, and best green, so since much of this needs halving just so I can shift it to the back of the house last night i grabbed the stihl. I went about trying to split each heart of the big crotches, swinging the maul and striking in a line across the round. 10 all out round house swings per heart and...... Nothing. Bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce. I tried putting a round up onto another. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce. This stuff is iron (and my technique needs refining I think). To prove it is Ash I swung at a couple of smaller straight looking rounds, about 16" diameter.... The only straight looking ones delivered. POP! THANK THE LORD! A tiny fraction of manly self esteem restored I retired for the night..... Melting in our current mini heat wave ( 27 Celsius and 60%humidity at 9 pm).

I'm going to try some more yet, but I'm going to need my 4 wedges. Poo. I hate using them. This maul is still just a maul..... And limited by me I think!

 

[Ronaldo]

Time to use the saw and noodle some of the rounds down to a more manageable and splittable size! Watching for the wire, of course.

 

[LondonNeil]

oh poo. I just managed to bury 2 5lb twist wedges into a round as far as they would go, and pound on them some more, to no effect and to add insult to injury, looking at more rounds closely i see more barbed wire. I got had, well and truly sh4fted! I think I'm going to be resharpening chain a fair bit as I noodle...slowly with a small saw.

On the plus side, trying the stihl maul with a different technique did deliver some success, yay! working to split chunks off the edge of the rounds I got somewhere and now have a couple down to moveable size and a way to deal with many others. I can also testify to the quality of the steel in the maul, having seen sparks fly from its edge once (dunno what was in the wood, looked at the split but saw nothing) and having split through a piece of buried barbed wire too, the edge is still perfect.

 

[ghosta]

Ghosta I love that Nupla head geometry. The more and more experimenting I do the more I am finding there is a sweet spot on how long the wedge is and the relation to cheek width and angle of the wedge itself and finally weight. I am finding most mauls you can buy (or you find in garages across the USA) the wedge is too long and not wide enough at the widest point and not convex or at least flat ground along the cheeks.

Would you mind posting some dimensions of the head?
1.Edge to widest part of the cheek
2. widest width (across cheeks)
3. Length from: edge to Poll

Thanks a bunch if you can do this.

We are metric in Australia so you will have to convert-
1. 95mm.
2. 60mm
3.160mm
The nupla sit near my wood pile and is used to split fire starting wood, not kindling, but the first couple of smaller pieces on top of the kindling if small pieces are not handy in the woodpile when loading the wheelbarrow to fill the woodbox. Its nowhere as good as the Oregon for general splitting, that may be due to weight and the narrow edge, and the fact that the oregon has the v shaped lump on the side which is the biggest improvement to a normal blockbuster that ive seen, im surprised that i havent seen it on any other blockbusters on this forum. Beats the fancy fiskars girls splitter every time in our type of wood.
Back home on the farm splitting 1ft wood for mums wood stove the nupla head design was the bees knees, but for 16" wood it runs out of puff. I have a similar shaped blockbuster in my camper van for the odd bit of tough camping wood which 1 rehandled with a sheoak handle I made, a slightly longer handle.
Looking on the net I note Nupla are a US brand although this pattern does not still seem to be available. I bought mine for $10 at a garage sale.

 

[Marine5068]

We are metric in Australia so you will have to convert-
1. 95mm.
2. 60mm
3.160mm
The nupla sit near my wood pile and is used to split fire starting wood, not kindling, but the first couple of smaller pieces on top of the kindling if small pieces are not handy in the woodpile when loading the wheelbarrow to fill the woodbox. Its nowhere as good as the Oregon for general splitting, that may be due to weight and the narrow edge, and the fact that the oregon has the v shaped lump on the side which is the biggest improvement to a normal blockbuster that ive seen, im surprised that i havent seen it on any other blockbusters on this forum. Beats the fancy fiskars girls splitter every time in our type of wood.
Back home on the farm splitting 1ft wood for mums wood stove the nupla head design was the bees knees, but for 16" wood it runs out of puff. I have a similar shaped blockbuster in my camper van for the odd bit of tough camping wood which 1 rehandled with a sheoak handle I made, a slightly longer handle.
Looking on the net I note Nupla are a US brand although this pattern does not still seem to be available. I bought mine for $10 at a garage sale.

We're all Metric here in Canada too(since 1970's), but we still use nominal numbers on most building materials and tools.
Gov't projects are all Metric however.

 

[dancan]

Done busted my favourite wedge

 

[woodchip rookie]

Is that stone?

 

[dancan]

LOL , nope , chinee version of a Wood Grenade .

 

[Philbert]

Done busted my favourite wedge

. . . chinee version of a Wood Grenade .

JB Weld?

Picked up a splitting wedge at a garage sale recently, that had mushroomed edges 1/2 to 3/4" all around the top. 'No problem', I thought, 'I'll just trim those off with my cut-off saw." Wrong. It was some of the hardest steel I have ever tried to cut. Eventually got the edges cut off, beveled, and ground smooth. Also made in China.

Ground so much off that I thought I would weigh it just for fun. Was marked '4 Pounds' - thought I might have made it into a 3-pounder. Checked it on my postal scale (pretty sensitive) and it came out a hair over 4 pounds. So it was a solid wedge, and weighed more than promised. Checked another '4-pound' wedge, in almost new condition, and it came in at 3#12oz. A similar looking '3-pound' wedge came in at 3#4oz. Lots of variation.

Philbert

 

[Ranchers-son]

X27 and isocore 8lb good combination. Pop em with 8lb clean up with x27. I really really like the way the isocore feels and swings!

 

[woodchip rookie]

I cant find either of those at any store in central Ohio. I have been looking for months. Where do you guys get these?

 

[svk]

I cant find either of those at any store in central Ohio. I have been looking for months. Where do you guys get these?

X27 or the identical all black "super splitting axe" at Walmart or online from Baileys or Amazon. I believe most guys get the isocore online.

 

[Ranchers-son]

I cant find either of those at any store in central Ohio. I have been looking for months. Where do you guys get these?

I live too far from city to shop stores, do most of my shopping online. Bought both my fiskars from Amazon, I'm a prime member so free shipping.

 

[benp]

Guys with the Isocores.......

Any updates after using for a while?

I was thinking I would like something a little heavier to swing.

 

[benp]

There are some days that no matter what splitter you have , you get some of these .

Twice I've had silver maple that was twisted at almost a 45 degree angle with additional lighting bolt pattern in it. We split a bunch with a maul and sledge. Now it meets the hydro.

Any thoughts on what causes the twisting? Is it from wind?

I have had quite a few red and white oaks that were twisted. All were under 10" though.

 

[Ronaldo]

Any thoughts on what causes the twisting? Is it from wind?

I have had quite a few red and white oaks that were twisted. All were under 10" though.

I have heard that wind can cause the twisting, but I really dont know for sure.