Maul or Splitting axe?

[1000arms]

If you had to choose between one for splitting firewood, which would you choose and why?

Basically looking to split a bunch of logs that were already split into large quarters but still too large for firepits....

Maul.

That is the tool for splitting short (18 inches to 2 feet or so) logs into firewood. Always has been. ...

Incorrect. The maul is a tool for splitting.

You might prefer it for splitting, and many people do, but I prefer splitting wood with an axe.

I lived a number of years in a 16' x 16' platform tent, where the air temperature regularly hit -40 F (-40 C), and I heated the tent with a wood-stove. I also taught many other people to do the same. Yes, I have split a lot of wood with an axe.

I've watched peoples' eyes bulge in surprise when I have ripped an axe through some very large, tall, and tough rounds of wood.

The axe make it much easier for me to split wood and leave the round standing in the same spot. Doing so minimizes the need to pick the wood up until I'm ready to stack it.

I can start on one side of a 3' diameter round (yes, three feet, (36 inches)) take pieces out of it while I work my way around it, kick a path clear of wood for my axe handle to travel through, and finish the center. Yes, that can also be done with a maul, but I find it much easier and faster with an axe.

For what @Todd n Natalie is asking about, I suggest that he use an axe. A nice and sharp axe with a stiff long handle. Why chase maul-struck pieces?

Stay safe!

 

[Todd n Natalie]

I can start on one side of a 3' diameter round (yes, three feet, (36 inches)) take pieces out of it while I work my way around it, kick a path clear of wood for my axe handle to travel through, and finish the center. Yes, that can also be done with a maul, but I find it much easier and faster with an axe.

Stay safe!

Holy crap.

 

[1000arms]

... I can start on one side of a 3' diameter round (yes, three feet, (36 inches)) take pieces out of it while I work my way around it, kick a path clear of wood for my axe handle to travel through, and finish the center. Yes, that can also be done with a maul, but I find it much easier and faster with an axe.

Stay safe!

Holy crap.

Lots of practice with (and a healthy respect for) a sharp axe with a stiff long handle!

You might enjoy Tall Trees, Tough Men (Vivid, Anecdotal History of Logging and Log-Driving in New England)

"The New England loggers and river drivers were a unique breed of men. Working with their axes and peaveys through Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, they contributed mightily to the development of the United States. The daily life of the loggers was hard ― working in deep icy water fourteen hours a day, sleeping in wet blankets, eating coarse food, and constantly risking their lives."

 

[Rovertrader]

Grew up in and around the timber business, on the business end of a two man chain saw at 12yo.
For narly twisted wood like hickory, maul or sledge/wedge.
For straight grain wood, sharp axe with hickory handle. Remember hit ‘through’ the wood, not at the wood- makes all the difference!!
Stay safe, a deflected axe blow to the leg is uglier than a chain saw bite…

 

[Tudor Tanase]

I used to favour the axe, but that was for beech and pine, in Europe. In Australia when I hit a log with the axe I essentially started to laugh as it jumped back, barely leaving a mark!!! The wood here has interlocked fibres and is incredibly hard and tough - which is why it is surviving regular forest fires. Hydraulic log splitters 30 ton minimum is the norm here. Split it at home and take it with you camping.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Incorrect. The maul is a tool for splitting.

You might prefer it for splitting, and many people do, but I prefer splitting wood with an axe.

I lived a number of years in a 16' x 16' platform tent, where the air temperature regularly hit -40 F (-40 C), and I heated the tent with a wood-stove. I also taught many other people to do the same. Yes, I have split a lot of wood with an axe.

I've watched peoples' eyes bulge in surprise when I have ripped an axe through some very large, tall, and tough rounds of wood.

The axe make it much easier for me to split wood and leave the round standing in the same spot. Doing so minimizes the need to pick the wood up until I'm ready to stack it.

I can start on one side of a 3' diameter round (yes, three feet, (36 inches)) take pieces out of it while I work my way around it, kick a path clear of wood for my axe handle to travel through, and finish the center. Yes, that can also be done with a maul, but I find it much easier and faster with an axe.

For what @Todd n Natalie is asking about, I suggest that he use an axe. A nice and sharp axe with a stiff long handle. Why chase maul-struck pieces?

Stay safe!

Sounds like kicka$$ work you did! Much respect to you! I wouldnt dare take any of that away from you.

However, just for the sake of discussion...the large quarters @Todd n Natalie are not rounds so big that you have to chip around the edges and do the centers separate.

In this case, I believe you could stand up all the quarters in a circle around you, take the maul and split each with one blow, spinning like the hour hand of a clock as you go, and have it all done in mere minutes if the wood is dry

 

[1000arms]

Sounds like kicka$$ work you did! Much respect to you! I wouldn't dare take any of that away from you.

However, just for the sake of discussion...the large quarters @Todd n Natalie are not rounds so big that you have to chip around the edges and do the centers separate.

In this case, I believe you could stand up all the quarters in a circle around you, take the maul and split each with one blow, spinning like the hour hand of a clock as you go, and have it all done in mere minutes if the wood is dry

Thank you!

You are right that @Todd n Natalie doesn't need to do that with the quartered rounds he is asking about. I've split large rounds in to quarters by ripping an axe through at about 1/4 diameter in and then ripping the axe through at about the center, followed by splitting each half, but, one of the reasons I like taking apart the large rounds with an axe is that I can simply split off pieces of the size I choose while minimizing the number of pieces that I need to stand up. I could use (and have used) a maul for this, but, I find it to be faster, easier, and less work to use a sharp axe with a stiff long handle.

@Todd n Natalie could do just as you have suggested, and it would probably work quite well for him. I have done so with a maul, and with an axe. I find that when I use an axe, I minimize (NOT eliminate) split pieces flying in to upright pieces and knocking them over.

 

[BritKLR]

I don't have a fireplace. I do have a pellet stove. I have plenty of deadfall, windfall wood on our property I'm always clearing for fire mitigation. It's either fir or pine and once dried and bucked to 12" - 15" it splits very easily with an axe. All my splitting is for our firepit or for friends or it goes to the forestry sort yard and I've never had any issues with a sharp axe.

 

[1000arms]

... Stay safe, a deflected axe blow to the leg is uglier than a chain saw bite…

Someone I know sent me a photo of his coworker's thumb that had the tip off it popped off by a hydraulic woodsplitter. He said, "The tip of the guy's thumb was not sheared, not cut, but popped off, like a pimple, by the woodsplitter."

Having seen the photograph, I understand his description.

Pay attention, be careful, and stay safe are all worth repeating!

 

[Alloy]

I used to use axes to split everything. I've an assortment of them but stopped using them to split wood years ago.

Is a 1lb hammer and a 10 blows better than a 10lb hammer and 1 blow?

The shape of an axe is for cutting so it cuts into the wood then gets stuck. A properly shaped maul doesn't get stuck.

A maul takes more effort lift in the air but little down force is needed on wood that splits easy.

Is there more of a chance of something going wrong swinging a 2.5lbs axe with 80% effort or an 8lb maul with 20% effort?

 

[1000arms]

I used to use axes to split everything. I've an assortment of them but stopped using them to split wood years ago.

Is a 1lb hammer and a 10 blows better than a 10lb hammer and 1 blow?

The shape of an axe is for cutting so it cuts into the wood then gets stuck. A properly shaped maul doesn't get stuck.

A maul takes more effort lift in the air but little down force is needed on wood that splits easy.

Is there more of a chance of something going wrong swinging a 2.5lbs axe with 80% effort or an 8lb maul with 20% effort?

I rarely get an axe stuck, even splitting large rounds of wood, and I can quickly and easily free an axe if I do get it stuck.

Your results might be quite different from mine, so I can understand if you choose to split wood with a maul.

... Although, you might regret that decision if the world ever descends in to a "zombie apocolpyse" ...

 

[ThundahBeagle]

I rarely get an axe stuck, even splitting large rounds of wood, and I can quickly and easily free an axe if I do get it stuck.

Your results might be quite different from mine, so I can understand if you choose to split wood with a maul.

... Although, you might regret that decision if the world ever descends in to a "zombie apocolpyse" ...

Estwing Camp Axe (hatchet, really) for the Zombie Apocalypse. Two of them. Light, accurate, easy to swing as extensions of your hands...just have to be closer

 

[Inyo_man]

Great all arounder!

https://www.stihlusa.com/products/forestry-tools/axes/prosplitaxe/

Cheers

 

[Todd n Natalie]

I think this calls for a split off with @ThundahBeagle using a maul and @1000arms using a splitting axe!

 

[Boatbuilder79]

Do they still have the timber sports competitions on tv