Whats the best hand spliting maul?

[Guido Salvage]

Monster Maul

To me, the Sotz is the true "Monster Maul".

The Sotz is the orange one on the left and has served me well since back in the '80's. I picked up the red one at an auction, same general principle, but not the same. The red one is about a pound heavier and seems to want to pull to one side when I swing it and doesn't seem to split the wood with the same force. While I have not measured the heads, it appears the Monster Maul is wider.

By the way, the original Monster Maul weighed 23 pounds, what we call a Monster Maul today is actually the light weight version.

 

[mayhem100]

I'm still struggling to find a way to integrate my X27 into my splitting...not really having much love for it yet, but its only been a few months and a couple cords. The Fiskars needs to be razor sharp to be effective and unfortunately the edge dulls to nothing really quickly, I find I have to sharpen mine daily in order to keep up with the productivity of my old fashioned $25 yellow fiberglass handled maul.

Just last night I decided to attack a piece of maple, about 20" or so in diameter, maybe 18" long, no visible knots. Started whiddling the thing from the edges since thats what everyone says to do with the Fiskars. Sucker just kept bouncing off the wood, barely leaving a mark in the wood and thats with a full strength roundhouse swing. Took a half dozen hits to get one hunk about 2"x8" off the left edge. Another dozen hits did not yield up any more splits...but the X27, which was sharp enough to shave with when I started now is more like a butter knife. I did not try the old maul, but in the past years I would take about 3-6 swings straight up the middle of a pices of wood this size and it would just blow in two.

Dunno what I'm doing wrong. I've been splitting by hand for around 30 years now, so its not like I'm new at this. Maybe I've got a bum X27...the steel just shouldn't be this soft.

 

[fields_mj]

I'm still struggling to find a way to integrate my X27 into my splitting...not really having much love for it yet, but its only been a few months and a couple cords. The Fiskars needs to be razor sharp to be effective and unfortunately the edge dulls to nothing really quickly, I find I have to sharpen mine daily in order to keep up with the productivity of my old fashioned $25 yellow fiberglass handled maul.

Just last night I decided to attack a piece of maple, about 20" or so in diameter, maybe 18" long, no visible knots. Started whiddling the thing from the edges since thats what everyone says to do with the Fiskars. Sucker just kept bouncing off the wood, barely leaving a mark in the wood and thats with a full strength roundhouse swing. Took a half dozen hits to get one hunk about 2"x8" off the left edge. Another dozen hits did not yield up any more splits...but the X27, which was sharp enough to shave with when I started now is more like a butter knife. I did not try the old maul, but in the past years I would take about 3-6 swings straight up the middle of a pices of wood this size and it would just blow in two.

Dunno what I'm doing wrong. I've been splitting by hand for around 30 years now, so its not like I'm new at this. Maybe I've got a bum X27...the steel just shouldn't be this soft.

No steel on any axe should be as soft as what you are describing.

Also, the Fiskars does not do nearly as well with a normal round house swing. The Fiskars axes are designed to come straight down on the wood. This would cause a normal axe to get stuck, and even with a Maul, it's not teh most effective swing. With a round house, we normally hit the wood with at least a slight angle. The Fiskars works best when it comes STRAIGHT down onto the firewood. I can, and do do it with a round house swing, but my swing with a Fiskars is modified so that the head is comding straight down. I can't hit it full strength this way, but with the Fiskars I don't have to.

 

[cheeves]

I have a 6 pound black knight with fiberglass handle.I have a 6 pound old hickory that is by far more ergonomic.They are ok i'm in searching for the cadilac of hand mauls.

I have an old Stanley that I love. Have 2 Snow&Neally mauls. One 6lb. and a 8lb. Most always pick up the Stanley 7lpounder though. Only split by hand in middle of winter for the exercise. Have a 27ton Troy-Bilt with Honda engine for most of my splitting. Tried the 41/2 Fiskars and didn't like it. Will stick with what I have. Good enough! Bob (Cheeves)

 

[wampum]

Reality is some folks just do not know how to use a maul and possibly never will. Working in the mill,my job required me swinging a sledge very often.
Often I would be hitting a tool,and before we had tool holders,that meant a real human held the tool.If you missed there was a good chance you would hit your
Buddy. I do not care what kind of maul you use,unless you hit the round, square and where you are aiming that maul will not work.I have several mauls,
unless the wood is knotty I will grab the light Chopper I first every time.Back when I sold chain saws,I literally sold several hundred of these.At the fairs back
then we would cut about every 45 minutes for 10 minutes or so. Then the time in between I would split with the Chopper I. I would line up 10 to 15,12 inch rounds and split them as fast as I could swing. I have heard several on here say that the Chopper is a piece of junk. I and several others could prove them wrong,they just do not or can not hit a round correctly. Really I am not picking on people,but lots of folks are not use to physical work and can not do it.
An old monster maul is probably the easiest maul to split with.You can really just raise it in the air and allow its weight to split the round.Usually it does not
require any force by you on the down stroke. Because you are not coming with force you can get it to line up square fairly easy.
Basically what I am saying is that if you have a lot of experience using a sledge or maul,and you can hit square what you are aiming at just about
any maul will work for you.Then you can decide which is best for you. Until you learn how to use a sledge save your money,there is no magic splitter.
Its all about you learning how to use it first.

 

[Coldfront]

A lot also depends on what you are splitting. On a lot of my straight red oak, or Ash, it splits so easy if you put too much force into your swing you not only split the wood but bury the maul 8 inches down into the dirt. And if I get one where after 2 swings the maul bounces off it like it's laughing at it, I set the round aside for the hydraulic splitter unless I get mad at the piece of wood and say I won't let any piece of wood beat me. There is a special satisfaction splitting a super tough round with a maul sometimes.

 

[mayhem100]

No steel on any axe should be as soft as what you are describing.

I agree 100%. Sent an e-mail to Fiskars for a warranty request today.

Also, the Fiskars does not do nearly as well with a normal round house swing. The Fiskars axes are designed to come straight down on the wood. This would cause a normal axe to get stuck, and even with a Maul, it's not teh most effective swing. With a round house, we normally hit the wood with at least a slight angle. The Fiskars works best when it comes STRAIGHT down onto the firewood. I can, and do do it with a round house swing, but my swing with a Fiskars is modified so that the head is comding straight down. I can't hit it full strength this way, but with the Fiskars I don't have to.

Because I use a splitting block, the top of the wood I'm splitting is about waist height, so the axe head is about as square as its going to get I think. I can't understand how the swing style would change the angle of impact though. If I swing the axe behind my back, over my head and down in a full roundhouse swing (or what I'm calling a roundhouse swing anyway), my arms and the axe are at the exact same angle they would be if I were to raise the axe over my head in front of me and brough it down. My grip hasn't changed, nor has the length of my arms, axe or my stance. The only part of the swing that matters for splitting wood is from the vertical and down 90 degrees, the rest of the swing is just how you get the axe up over your head...I just find the roundhouse is far less tiring for me.

Hopefully Fiskars will replace my X27 and my opinion will improve. Right now, this thing is just snake oil to me.

 

[Coldfront]

My version of a round house swing (I'm right handed) is left hand at the bottom of the handle, right hand up near the maul head on the handle, maul off to my right side, lean back and to the right, come around with a big swing and my right hand slides down the handle to the bottom as I swing with as much speed and force as possible at the point of contact, while also stepping into the swing. I also but rarely do it straight back over the head sometimes, but that is more of a sissy girl looking swing imo, but it does work sometimes when I'm tired and the wood is splitting easy. If you ever watch how the guys used to swing a maul in the old days pounding in rail road spikes in old movies is how I imagine my round house swing.

 

[JimmyT]

Top Four are: Gransfors Bruks--Sweden, Oxhead--Germany, Wetterlings--Sweden, Fiskars--Finland
You will have to make the determination when it comes to price.
Take a look at this Gransfors Bruks splitting axe with a 3 1/2 lb. head. I read about a 76 year old woman that lives in the Smoky Mountains by herself. She uses one of these splitting axes and can out split most men that use a 8 lb. splitting maul. Ain't cheap $160

http://
duluthpack.com/gransfors-long-and-large-splitting-axe.html

 

[leeave96]

I have used axes, mauls, sledge hammer and wedges and have found the x27 to be far away the BEST splitting tool short of a hydraulic log splitter I have ever used.

Highly recommend the x27.

Bill

 

[JimmyT]

I have used axes, mauls, sledge hammer and wedges and have found the x27 to be far away the BEST splitting tool short of a hydraulic log splitter I have ever used.

Highly recommend the x27.

Bill

Bill, I bought the Fiskars X27 with the 36" handle last January. I haven't tried it yet but it is built like a tank and a pretty good splitting axe for $43.99

 

[Boydt8]

Fiskars!
I owned other mauls before, then switched to fiskars.
Goes through juniper easy. Very light weight, but very effective.

 

[Iron Head]

I'm still struggling to find a way to integrate my X27 into my splitting...not really having much love for it yet, but its only been a few months and a couple cords. The Fiskars needs to be razor sharp to be effective and unfortunately the edge dulls to nothing really quickly, I find I have to sharpen mine daily in order to keep up with the productivity of my old fashioned $25 yellow fiberglass handled maul.

Just last night I decided to attack a piece of maple, about 20" or so in diameter, maybe 18" long, no visible knots. Started whiddling the thing from the edges since thats what everyone says to do with the Fiskars. Sucker just kept bouncing off the wood, barely leaving a mark in the wood and thats with a full strength roundhouse swing. Took a half dozen hits to get one hunk about 2"x8" off the left edge. Another dozen hits did not yield up any more splits...but the X27, which was sharp enough to shave with when I started now is more like a butter knife. I did not try the old maul, but in the past years I would take about 3-6 swings straight up the middle of a pices of wood this size and it would just blow in two.

Dunno what I'm doing wrong. I've been splitting by hand for around 30 years now, so its not like I'm new at this. Maybe I've got a bum X27...the steel just shouldn't be this soft.

That is my exact experience with the fiskars.
I'm a razor sharp freak and like my tools to be razor sharp from.
The edge on the fiskars is way too soft and brittle.
After a few rounds, I constently find chips and dings on my fiskars.
I don't split stuff on the ground, I set my rounds on a block and carry a handy brush and a small sharp slotted screw drive to brush off any dirt and pick out any indented grits and gravel.
My guess is the cheap metal directly correlates with the cheap price tag.

 

[zogger]

Different production runs?

That is my exact experience with the fiskars.
I'm a razor sharp freak and like my tools to be razor sharp from.
The edge on the fiskars is way too soft and brittle.
After a few rounds, I constently find chips and dings on my fiskars.
I don't split stuff on the ground, I set my rounds on a block and carry a handy brush and a small sharp slotted screw drive to brush off any dirt and pick out any indented grits and gravel.
My guess is the cheap metal directly correlates with the cheap price tag.

Maybe they are experimenting with different steels, and different people get different axes, even though they say they are the same model number. Heck, every other manufacturer of most anything out there does it.

Mine -the shorty version- gets dull, too, but a few strokes brings it back to the "good enough" stage.

I get "rubberwood" as well. One of those and I stack it up and don't bother with it until it starts to crack and the bark gets loose on them.

Starting my fifth wood stack this weekend, already started cutting for it. Gonna be all green sweetgum mostly because I have a ton of them dandelion trees to thin out. I ain't splittin nuthin! Not a single one will I even bring any axe or maul out for, I learned my lesson.... I'm cutting the beefier rounds short then noodling, my heater loads from a normal front door or the top flips up and you can drop in a real decent much bigger chunk... then all the branch action that will fit is just cut to size and stacked. That's for winter next. I dropped a magnum whopper one about four years ago, even with the hydraulic is just sucked. Burns fine, just sucks to split. They ought to call them hoover trees....that and dutch elm are the two worst I ever encountered in any quantity.

 

[Guido Salvage]

After a few rounds, I constently find chips and dings on my fiskars.

I have never, ever sharpened my Sotz Monster Maul and it is still working great 25+ years later.

 

[JimmyT]

I have never, ever sharpened my Sotz Monster Maul and it is still working great 25+ years later.

Sotz Monster Maul with a 12 lb. head and overall weight of 15 lbs. will definitely get the job done if you can swing that beast.

 

[zogger]

thought of something else

That is my exact experience with the fiskars.
I'm a razor sharp freak and like my tools to be razor sharp from.
The edge on the fiskars is way too soft and brittle.
After a few rounds, I constently find chips and dings on my fiskars.
I don't split stuff on the ground, I set my rounds on a block and carry a handy brush and a small sharp slotted screw drive to brush off any dirt and pick out any indented grits and gravel.
My guess is the cheap metal directly correlates with the cheap price tag.

maybe you are making it to sharp, the edge gets too fragile? You might have lost the factory angle they shipped it with.

Try contacting fiskars and see what they say about things. Maybe they will pop for shipping and then they can look at it and see what might be different with your experience. So far, just rough guessing here on this site, about 90% or better of the guys love them and don't seem to have all that many problems with them. There's got to be some real bonafide engineering reasons here for this discrepancy with ya'all who have bad experiences with them, and I bet fiskars would be interested in that..

I have noticed mine is acutely angle sensitive. If it goes in anything but deadnutz straight it doesn't work as well. Like just a few degrees off is noticeable in its effectiveness.

 

[zogger]

never tried one

Sotz Monster Maul with a 12 lb. head and overall weight of 15 lbs. will definitely get the job done if you can swing that beast.

15 lbs is over 10% of my body weight! I wouldn't be using one of them things for any length of time..I'd give it a shot though, but I ain't buying one. Half that is quite enough. I jiss ain't that desperate to need something like that to get me wood in. If I can't bust it with something less than that..ain't interested, I'll move on to the next log....

Heck, I cut for years when I lived in maine with a sandvik bow saw and used my regular utility one size fits nothing in particular generic ax to split with. Didn't even own a maul...and ya know, I burned a little more back then than I do today, around five cords up there, 4.5 here (larger cabin here, plus thin and thin blooded GF)

heh where is the "big ole boy" splitter with a comparable proportional head, the 35 lb maul for the "bigger is better" enthusiasts

 

[mitch95100]

Idiots- who the #### needs a splitting maul when god invented black powder:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[turnkey4099]

Mine came today. Unboxed it, admired it, showed it to the wife, thought about going out and giving it a try. Glance at clock said "No way, it is already 2 pm and you just opened the first brew!".

I'll give it a shot tomorrow

Harry K