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Over the last 40+ years of strictly wood heat, my assemblage of various axes & mauls has come to annoy me more than give enjoyment thru seasonal use.
I've got a couple of long-favored 'normal' splitting mauls. One is a classic Collins pattern, rather shorter nose/fatter body, while the other is a rarely seen Japanese version with a longer nose most excellent for such as older growth Doug fir rounds. At around 6-8# they've reduced mounds of forest product down to stove size, and of all species.
My Big Boy, the old orange "Monster Maul" of Mother Earth News fame, has been in continual seasonal use since circa 1978.
About 20 years ago I happened upon a marvelous 'kindling maul', a short handled/stack leather grip model about 3 1/2# that has proven surprisingly useful. A decade+ ago the leather simply deteriorated. I've fabricated a series of replacement panels (rather like a knife scale) but none have really satisfied. Even my fabulous 'leather wrap' didn't survive long. Plus, now the tired old thing has disappeared, buried somewhere perhaps in the mound of wood I've recruited for this season's use. So I found a new version at a farm store. Initial test is not complete, but at 3# it seems a bit light, requiring faster/harder stroke.
There's a pile of random single bit & a couple double bit axes, a most useful pulaski, and a small collection of various styles of hatchets.
Mostly the hatches are not very satisfactory for much splitting anything save kindling size. One marvelous longer-handle "boy scout hatchet" was found years ago carefully stashed in a mountain stream with the end of handle slightly above the water surface. Presumably placed so as to wet/swell the handle thus retightening the chopping head, just this season I had to insert another metal wedge. Its form & size is quite satisfactory for
that 'tactical terminal ballistics' between heavy kindling & moderate stove fodder production.
Far better splitter use than the long thin light style Estwing design.
I regard the 1-handed size more as 'adjuncts' while the long handled models are the actual 'splitting tool'. Some of my long handles are well over 30 years old. Most crap out one way or another in less than a decade.
Which brings me to the point of this discussion: I'm past tired, of the recurring need for attending yearly to fit & tightness of the handles. Yes, soak them in a bucket of water. Yes, wedge if needed. (Just discovered a store that had not 1, not 2, but a small package of FIVE different size metal wedges in a little baggie, all for about $3!!!)
Yes, hickory. Yes, ash. No, haven't found some of the esoteric exotic and indestructium variety. Yes, I've located an actual pro shop that charges minimal labor even if I buy a handle elsewhere.
I'm almost ready to venture into the unknown 'nylon/whatever is it' synthetic realm.
There's a dandy single bit integrated synthetic long handled 3 1/2# Fiskars with a proper flair on the nose, but something about $50 tag has slowed down my enthusiasm for taking it home. Waving it about in the store balance seemed virtually ideal, yet past exposure to shaped-head splitters has been less than satisfying.
What to look for in seeking a 'good one' to replace the wood.
Or: "is it any advantage to buy a whole new tool build WITH the synthetic handle"?
Any cyber-answers from the electronic camp fire here?
I've got a couple of long-favored 'normal' splitting mauls. One is a classic Collins pattern, rather shorter nose/fatter body, while the other is a rarely seen Japanese version with a longer nose most excellent for such as older growth Doug fir rounds. At around 6-8# they've reduced mounds of forest product down to stove size, and of all species.
My Big Boy, the old orange "Monster Maul" of Mother Earth News fame, has been in continual seasonal use since circa 1978.
About 20 years ago I happened upon a marvelous 'kindling maul', a short handled/stack leather grip model about 3 1/2# that has proven surprisingly useful. A decade+ ago the leather simply deteriorated. I've fabricated a series of replacement panels (rather like a knife scale) but none have really satisfied. Even my fabulous 'leather wrap' didn't survive long. Plus, now the tired old thing has disappeared, buried somewhere perhaps in the mound of wood I've recruited for this season's use. So I found a new version at a farm store. Initial test is not complete, but at 3# it seems a bit light, requiring faster/harder stroke.
There's a pile of random single bit & a couple double bit axes, a most useful pulaski, and a small collection of various styles of hatchets.
Mostly the hatches are not very satisfactory for much splitting anything save kindling size. One marvelous longer-handle "boy scout hatchet" was found years ago carefully stashed in a mountain stream with the end of handle slightly above the water surface. Presumably placed so as to wet/swell the handle thus retightening the chopping head, just this season I had to insert another metal wedge. Its form & size is quite satisfactory for
that 'tactical terminal ballistics' between heavy kindling & moderate stove fodder production.
Far better splitter use than the long thin light style Estwing design.
I regard the 1-handed size more as 'adjuncts' while the long handled models are the actual 'splitting tool'. Some of my long handles are well over 30 years old. Most crap out one way or another in less than a decade.
Which brings me to the point of this discussion: I'm past tired, of the recurring need for attending yearly to fit & tightness of the handles. Yes, soak them in a bucket of water. Yes, wedge if needed. (Just discovered a store that had not 1, not 2, but a small package of FIVE different size metal wedges in a little baggie, all for about $3!!!)
Yes, hickory. Yes, ash. No, haven't found some of the esoteric exotic and indestructium variety. Yes, I've located an actual pro shop that charges minimal labor even if I buy a handle elsewhere.
I'm almost ready to venture into the unknown 'nylon/whatever is it' synthetic realm.
There's a dandy single bit integrated synthetic long handled 3 1/2# Fiskars with a proper flair on the nose, but something about $50 tag has slowed down my enthusiasm for taking it home. Waving it about in the store balance seemed virtually ideal, yet past exposure to shaped-head splitters has been less than satisfying.
What to look for in seeking a 'good one' to replace the wood.
Or: "is it any advantage to buy a whole new tool build WITH the synthetic handle"?
Any cyber-answers from the electronic camp fire here?
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