Which splitting maul to get next?

Wesspur
Rugged made
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For fun I picked up a 36" piece of 1" pipe on Friday and welded it to the head yesterday. Works ok but you have to make sure the round handle isn't rotated in your hands before you take a swing. Here's a pic of the bionic maul.

uploadfromtaptalk1445778467575.jpg

Sent from my SCH-S738C using Tapatalk
 
Pump some expanding foam down into the pipe and it will help with the vibrations. Cap the end you hold and pump it down into the pipe.
 
FWIW from a guy who over strikes a lot - you need a maul with an axe eye head. The sledge eye head snaps the handle fairly easily. I ran out of uses for all the old broken handles that I was accumulating. Finally ponied up for an expensive hand forged Swedish tool but pounding wedges was not its ideal use. I have a large eye fiberglass maul from Lowes that works just as good as the generic lower cost tools. I believe it is a Collins. Lowes now sells Truper. $31.98.

Ron
 
That's a good price on the X27. I gave $50 for mine a few years ago and it was on sale at the time.

I looked at some of the large eye mauls locally. They had fiberglass handles. Didn't make it over to Lowes to check theirs out, but the ones at Menards, and a couple local hardware stores said not for striking steel objects. I read that as not to be used on wedges, so I moved on. Looks like Colins has a large eye maul that might not be a bad one to look at. Should hold up a lot better. I'm not convinced that it will still hold up well to over strikes, but I've not had a problem with that for a long time now. Even if it did, I don't need it now. The 6# BASH will be here on Friday, and that will likely take care of most of my needs. If I need something bigger, and don't feel like getting the 064 out to noodle, then I can use my cheesy Bionic Maul. Between the BASH, X27, and the Bionic maul, my days of breaking handles should be done.
 
As an overstriker and an owner of a bunch of different axes and mauls, I can share my experience ;)
I have the Collins 6# fiberglass handled maul, it's good but don't have the oomph to split the big stuff. I made a splitting axe by taking a standard axe head and welding a chunk of steel to the back of it, approx. 1 1/2" long x 3/4 thick x the width of the head. Weighs about 4 1/2# and works great on medium size pieces that you probably wouldn't even split, but I just have a fireplace so I like them split smaller. I bought one of the big 14# monster mauls with a steel handle and it's not very impressive. It's awkward to swing, accuracy goes down, and it just don't split that good for me.
My latest effort is a 8# Truper wooden handle that I got at auction for $10. To protect the handle, I cut piece of pipe about the same diameter as the handle 5" long, then I cut it in half lengthwise. I put a 3/16" hole near one end, for a #10 screw, and welded the other end to the maul head so that it protects the striking side of the handle. I put a screw in the hole to keep the free end tight to the handle. I also ground the head smooth and sharpened it. So far, so good but I haven't split a lot with it. I'll have to add some pics tonight.
Eric
 
OK, that does it. This thread has convinced me to pull out my Eagle, 8-lb maul that I haven't used in ten years. I wrapped twine up near the head to protect the hickory handle. It still works. My procedure is to use the maul on the big rounds only after I use the 10-lb sledge hammer with an 80-lb wedge to split the thing in half. Works every time (well maybe most of the time).

But, can I still round house swing the maul? That remains to be seen.
 
Try the Stihl if you can find one .

IMG_20151024_143836.jpg


I also hear that Spike has the Husqvarna at a reasonable price .

http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/new-husqvarna-hand-tools.262491/
 
sunfish said:
With all the maul heads snapping off, I'd be checking my technique.
Click to expand...

I'm not terribly worried about my technique. After trying to access the image, it doesn't look like it posted correctly so here it is again. Sorry for the size.

Broken Handle.jpg


There's absolutely no damage to the handle. Never a single over strike in the 2 years of use that I got out of it. Previous handle was the same way, as was the one that was originally on the maul. My dad still has the maul that I learned to split with when I was a kid. He started burning firewood in '78, and I don't ever remember him buying an axe or a maul, so his are probably as old as me (40). Up until I moved out of the house, the maul was my splitting tool of choice (young and dumb) so I had about 6 years of service out of that maul splitting primarily shagbark hickory and red elm. I won't say that the handle still looks brand new, but it is still in good shape. My broken handles look a little better, but they only lasted 2 or 3 years, and even though they look better, they are still broken. I'm actually thinking that it has something to do with the shape of eye in the head.

As far as the expensive tools go, I have no problem spending good money for a tool. But $150 for a piece of forged steel with a wooden handle is a rip off. If it were all hand made, that would be a different story, but they are not. They are all mass produced, and the difference between a good one and a bad one amounts to about $15 worth of materials and labor. I'd gladly pay that extra $15, or even an extra $30 for a good one, but paying 3x what it should cost is insane. Good for those companies that they have been able to market their product so well, but no thanks. I'm just not spending that kind of money for a sledge hammer that's sharp on one side. If it were a double bit axe that I had to use to fell trees, that would be different. Then the quality of the steel, and attention to detail would make a huge difference in how much effort it took to get the work done. But on a splitting tool, it's just not that big of a difference. I like my X27 just fine, but it's only marginally better than the 3lb Truper axe that I have. If it weren't for the life time guarantee on the handle, I would have never bought the X27. If I'm going to save up $150 for a splitting tool, I'll keep on saving until I have enough to buy a used hydraulic splitter.
 
That's a pretty large maul head to utilize a sledge eye. As mentioned previously, sledge eye tools are much more prone to breaking. I think an axe eye maul would have served you much better.
 
I agree. Unfortunately, I didn't know about the axe eye mauls until I bought the last replacement handle. I still haven't seen an axe eye maul with a hickory handle sitting on the shelf/rack anywhere. I've seen a few fiberglass ones, but when I've read the labels on some of them they have warned against striking steel tools with them. So, I've stayed away from those as well. Had I seen that 8# Collins with an axe eye, I would have bought it instead of the replacement handle and I probably wouldn't be having this conversation right now. I could have gone that route this time I suppose, but I'm just tired of dealing with the issue. If I break the BASH, I'll gladly claim my $10,000 prize and smile about it, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Between the X27, and the BASH, I imagine I will have my bases covered for anything that requires any degree of finesse. If I break or damage the bionic, a grinder, a couple sticks of welding rod , and 30 minutes will have it back in shape. Takes me that long, and costs me more in fuel to go buy anything.
 
In close to 40 years of wood processing the best hand splitting ax/maul I ever used has a head like this one.
But mine has a fiberglass handle. I also have a couple 6 lb mauls with wood handles, but usually
have to replace wood handles every 6-8 years or so, this was with heavy use.

49644_1_o.jpg
 

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