Whats everyones favorite splitting device?

[sand sock]

i prefer my county line 30 ton log splitter with the kohler engine..
tehn use my fiskars splitting axe is my next favorite.
i like a 5 pound single bit axe
on splitting mauls 6 to8 pound head, but the important part is teh oval eye, so it doesnt roll in your hands and sprain your wrists.

before i bought my splitter, my chiropractor said no more hours of splitting, you have a disk wanting to rotate. so i bought fiskars axe and let my son, see how much it cost. it was like $50 to$60 , last splitting maul in the store. i was behind on changing out some handles. i named it lucille in front of him. maybe it wasnt as good of a idea, as i thought. thinking the kid would want to swing it and bust logs for me.

Yeah that was probably a parenting fail

 

[Sawdust Man]

In the 80s I used a Chopper One. Had fingers inside the business end of the splitting head which had little dogs a little farther back from the leading edge.
The edge would penetrate the round burying the fingers, the dogs would contact the top of the round throwing the fingers outward and splitting most anything with one solid strike.
Must have been some lawyers got involved, can't find one today.
Now an X27 is my main tool followed up with a sledge & wedges for the really ornery stuff.

We used to have one of those! we called it the "jingle axe" I always kinda thought it was a bit of a gimmick but.... it did work pretty well.

 

[Brufab]

Monster maul

 

[SweetMK]

Not that I use them, but, over the years, I accumulated several axe heads,,
Also, I bought one of the Chopper1 "finger" axe's ,,
The last time the Chopper 1 was used was to chop ice in the horses water trough.
Then, it was left out there, until the handle rotted.

I found a guy with a bunch of new handles at a flea market,, cheap,,
I bought about a half dozen,

I re-handled the Chopper1, it now can work like the day I got it.

Another one of the axe heads ended up being a Plumb Champion Quality Seal.
I did not know what that was worth, until I bumped into them on eBay one day.

I told my daughter, when I die, run over to the house, and collect that Plumb Axe,, so that it does not get tossed out.

I also rehandled two brush axes,, one is a Pexto, the other is a Collins.
After new handles, I used the Ken Onion knife belt sander to sharpen them.

I do not know what I am doing wrong, but, even when they are as sharp as a good kitchen knife,
I can not get enough swing to cut blackberry bramble,,
Is it possible that they are sharpened "WRONG"??

 

[The Shooters Apprentice]

Monster maul

That looks identical to the one by dad had. Or I should saw has, he’s almost 70 but I’d bet money he still uses that maul exclusively.

 

[SweetMK]

This is my "splitter" that is not primarily a splitter.

It will split wood,,

BUT, it was mainly built as a hydraulic press.

 

[Brufab]

That looks identical to the one by dad had. Or I should saw has, he’s almost 70 but I’d bet money he still uses that maul exclusively.

Yea my dads 70 too. I used that maul quite a bit when I was a kid.

 

[The Shooters Apprentice]

Yea my dads 70 too. I used that maul quite a bit when I was a kid.

I’ve probably split 100 cords of wood with that maul.

 

[Brufab]

How old do you think those moster mauls are? Is that a 70's or 80's thing? I was born in 79 and started trying to use it when I was 5 or 6 years old. There already was considerable paint wear on it. Some memories never fade and that is one of them.

 

[SweetMK]

How old do you think those monster mauls are? Is that a 70's or 80's thing?

I bought mine in 1980,, it was a mail order thing, send a check, some time later, the Monster Maul was at the house,,

 

[SweetMK]

Yea my dads 70 too. I used that maul quite a bit when I was a kid.

Also, I am 72,, this year, I sold the Monster Maul at a flea market in 1983,,
that thing HAD to GO!!

 

[calamari]

In the 80s I used a Chopper One. Had fingers inside the business end of the splitting head which had little dogs a little farther back from the leading edge.

A friend had one of those that he let me borrow. Saw Dust Man calling it a "Jingle Axe" is a very good description. For twisted oak like we have here it was too light and"gimmicky" to work so I went back to "Nosferatu" the Monster Maul.
I think I bought mine in the 80s from ahardware store here in town. I thought I saw one for sale at the local Tractor Supply Store. They make a cute one handed downsized model I've seen for making kindling. Makes me wonder what kind of wood they're using for kindling. Maybe it was for killing pigs?

 

[calamari]

This is my "splitter" that is not primarily a splitter.

It will split wood,,

BUT, it was mainly built as a hydraulic press.

How often do you need a towable hydraulic press in the woods? Heavy equipment repair?

 

[Drifter2406]

Gransfors Bruks splitting axe, joy to use.

 

[SweetMK]

How often do you need a towable hydraulic press in the woods? Heavy equipment repair?

The machine needs to be moved out from its storage space, for any use,,
I figured, make it very portable..

I dug around a 16" maple stump, 4 feet deep.
My 584 IH could not budge it even when it was dug that deep.
I chained the stump to one end of the machine, and chained a 24" poplar to the other end,,.
The hydraulic power was WAY beyond what my 10,000 pound tractor could produce.
The splitter pulled, and just sat there,, finally, after about 10 minutes the earth started to give.
Then, working the cylinder back and forth, the rocking finally loosened the stump, and it came out.

 

[Brufab]

The machine needs to be moved out from its storage space, for any use,,
I figured, make it very portable..

I dug around a 16" maple stump, 4 feet deep.
My 584 IH could not budge it even when it was dug that deep.
I chained the stump to one end of the machine, and chained a 24" poplar to the other end,,.
The hydraulic power was WAY beyond what my 10,000 pound tractor could produce.
The splitter pulled, and just sat there,, finally, after about 10 minutes the earth started to give.
Then, working the cylinder back and forth, the rocking finally loosened the stump, and it came out.

That's awesome looking, like something nasa made to go to another planet.

 

[SweetMK]

That's awesome looking, like something nasa made to go to another planet.

Thanks,,
all you gotta do is give a guy unlimited access to a CNC torch,, and retirement time,,
and something like this will just pop out!!

LOL!!

 

[Brushwacker]

The chopper 1 was probably by far my least favorite splitting tool I remember. Back in the mid 1980's i tried about every maul-axe I could get my hands on without going to extremes. I sold wood to a city firewood dealer, sold me his like new chopper 1 for 20-25 $ and after using it off an on for some time i sold it, if i remember right $5. Anything it would split through easy, most axes I had would go through with about the same effort much more safely. When the chopper 1 penetrated enough to activate the levers it usually flew apart at knee breaking speed, so if you had somebody working within 20 feet of you they were in grave danger.. Most often it would stick in difficult wood and it was a fight to get it unstuck. The Sotz monster maul become my go to for about 95% of my wood until my bones couldn't bear the shock of using it for much more then short intervals in my later years. I got the original Fiskars splitting axe and I was back in wood splitting, about a year later I got the isocore 8lb maul which is better for more difficult wood and I like better all round. Rarely use a wedge other then inside my porch when i am short on small splits. It's a fiskars also.
I had a friend breath in a piece of a mushroom that broke off a steel wedge once, I heard it end up in a lung.
If the wood is to difficult to easily split with the isocore alone a little noodling through the toughest knots and a hit with the isocore will finish it off if you don't care to noodle the whole split.

 

[InTheNorth]

Started with a splitting axe and maul for a couple years then moved on to a felling axe which works for about 98% of the rounds I split. The maul is a Gransfors which is real nice but a tank to swing all day and pretty unneeded. Used a couple cheap splitting axes that were okay but nothing special. Bought a cheap Garant felling axe that I loved using because of the 5 inch bit length. Recently bought a 4.5 pound Arvika 5star that is another level up and works like a dream and hardly ever gets stuck. Thinking about getting a 3.5 pound Council tool sport utility next. Doubt the maul will be used much anymore.

 

[calamari]

I envy your use of softwoods. Does the creosote build up quickly? Do you have a wire screen on your chimney top cap?