# Wood Splitin mauls



## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Ok guys anybody that uses wood like I do for heat knows the value of a good maul to split wood right? well I have had two different ones to compare and I have found the best of the two.
I borrowed this from my neighbor
Shop True Temper 4 Lb. Super Wood Splitter with 36" Fiberglass Handle at Lowes.com
Don't bother, its not worth the $31 only weighs in at 4 lbs and the "wings" as I call them actually stop the thing from sinking into the wood enough to split it, if its anything but totally dry. Plus the wavy handle kinda hurts if ya don;t grip it just right
this
Shop True Temper 8 Lb. Sledge Eye Woodsplitter with Guard at Lowes.com
is better 8 lbs the old school type, it hits the wood like a sledgehammer hits a wedge totally unseasoned wood gum to be exact 16" long two hits and it opened up like a egg shell. I recommend this one unless you can find an older school 20 lb maul 

Oh by the way that 3.5 lb ax, don't go no deeper than a Buck knife in oak either.


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## SABL (Jul 4, 2008)

Never had the luxury of owning one of those.......12lb sledge and a pair of steel wedges. Hydraulic splitter would've been too nice.....:laugh:


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

I got two steel wedges, one is new, and one is so old its made in the USA, that and a 12 lb sledge usually does the trick on most if the splitting maul bounces off, especially on Gum I like burning Gum sometimes to get rid of it cause it burns like Pallet boards, but splitting that stuff is like breaking concrete with a toothpick


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## Basementgeek (Feb 7, 2005)

Here is what you need for tough stuff, I had one very similar to this years ago:

Bailey's - Steel Handle 14.5 lbs. "Mega" Mule Maul

Don't try to split pieces that have a "Y" in them.

BG


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

bookmarked. Thanks


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Ok I now have two mauls  a 8lb from Lowes with eth wood handle (old school type) and a mega Mule


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## SABL (Jul 4, 2008)

I watched the vid from BG's link......sure wouldn't want to swing that monster very long.....:SHOCKED:


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Depends on how bad ya want wood for heat, I swung both of mine all day Saturday, seasoned I use the old school maul, Really tight and hard I use the Mega Mule.


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## Basementgeek (Feb 7, 2005)

On thing bad about splitting wood, on the ground, is that the ground
absorbs a lot of the shock. I always tried to wait until the ground was good and frozen.

Next best thing is to have a big log, 24 inches or so 3 foot tall, and use it to sit the wood I wanted to split on top if it. Leave it in the same place all the time, it will compact the ground as much as possible below it.

BG


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

I have a green Oak tree trunk about 2.5 ft in dia, and so far its hard as a rock and neither maul goes in farther than 1/4 inch


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## Pa Woodbutcher (Mar 10, 2012)

Splitting the log from the top to bottom will make a difference also! Of course major knot will blow that theory when encountered.:banghead:


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Pa Woodbutcher said:


> Splitting the log from the top to bottom will make a difference also! Of course major knot will blow that theory when encountered.:banghead:


This is true, Oh btw I swapped the Oak log for a 3'dia Black Gum that had the wood growing in a circular direction, lets see THAT split 

Burning gum is good it lasts as long as Oak, splitting gum is as much fun as a trip to Afganistan


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## Pa Woodbutcher (Mar 10, 2012)

LOL, back when I was a kid our sole source of heat was wood. Seen lots of it, from Iron wood, Hickory and the worst are the softer woods. We have this tree up here called the buttonball...Unsplittable until it freezes. You could drive a wedge all the way through it with =oout leaving a crack.

Think someone tells me they got some gum to split, I think I'll find something else to do:thumb: I helped a friend cut some wood this last weekend for the first time in a year or so. Kinda fun actually and felt good when you don't HAVE to do it:grin:

I use wood to heat my shop, but didn't use much this year as I didn't spend much time in there and still had plenty left over from the previous season


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## bruiser (Jul 30, 2005)

Try splitting Osage Orange, aka Hedge apple trees. They'll give a chainsaw a good tussle.


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## SABL (Jul 4, 2008)

bruiser said:


> Try splitting Osage Orange, aka Hedge apple trees. They'll give a chainsaw a good tussle.


A friend told me that they make great bow wood. 

I've split Locust.....nice and straight!!


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## Basementgeek (Feb 7, 2005)

I too remember Hedge apple almost impossible. I left most of it lay were it fell.

One winter I burn a pick up truck full of black walnut, that was sad.
We cut a tree over a creek bank that had to cleared. I left log about 14 foot long there for the next week. Our friend who live on the farm decide to help me out so he decided to cut it for me.

I showed up the next weekend with long M/C Trailer to haul it one piece. I had already another buddy that was going to make a 12-13 foot x 8 in mantel. Oh well, the wood was free.

BG


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## Pa Woodbutcher (Mar 10, 2012)

My brother in law who is fairly "citified" for a country boy burned black walnut off his father property all winter one year until he was caught. He had no idea what he was burning...wood is wood:sad:

I burned a red oak a couple years ago that was beautiful. 30' of straightness. It was on a side hill and no way to get anything in there to pull it out.


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## SABL (Jul 4, 2008)

I remember my dad burning old barn beams in the early 70's and I was his accomplice. They were clearing land for a new reservoir and had knocked the old barns down for removal. We'd go out on weekends and cut firewood from the felled trees and barns.....nice straight 10 x 10 beams up in smoke....:facepalm:


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

I remember iron Wood, from Arkansas, first time I ever saw it was on a shed out back Grey boards, that were so hard I bent a railroad spike trying to nail it in that stuff, later on I found its its a form of oak called Black Oak, so I went and fel a Black Oak tree cut it up ( only broke three chains doing it) and seasoned it for a year, tried to split it and broke the maul, didn't even dent the wood


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## Bubba007 (Mar 11, 2012)

As my dearly departed Dad used to say as we were filing up the wood shed for the VT. winters............
Good thing about firewood it'll warm ya up three ways.........once cutting and splitting, twice: stacking. third: burning.

The old man used to work on the railroad in his younger days pounding spikes and could still swing a mean sledge!


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## Gadsden (Mar 10, 2012)

I use a Wetterling splitting axe when I go camping.
I use a manual hydraulic splitter at home. I have a barrel stove in my shop. Not as young as I used to be...:whistling:


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

manual hydraulic splitter, you mean one of these type?


Wel-Bilt Horizontal Manual Hydraulic Log Splitter — 10-Ton | Log Splitters | Northern Tool + Equipment


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## Gadsden (Mar 10, 2012)

Yup, mine has tires and a tongue if you want to hook it to a lawmower to move around. Works great.


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

I'm gettin that one as soon as I can, I fully believe that gas is gonna be so expensive that I won't be buying it for anything except the vehicles here soon, so anything I can do to split wood without gas is good

Does that thing split Gum and red oak?


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## Gadsden (Mar 10, 2012)

wolfen1086 said:


> I'm gettin that one as soon as I can, I fully believe that gas is gonna be so expensive that I won't be buying it for anything except the vehicles here soon, so anything I can do to split wood without gas is good
> 
> Does that thing split Gum and red oak?


Oak..yes. Gum..dunno.

I split a lot of maple with no problem.


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## SABL (Jul 4, 2008)

I've split some maple......rosettes....:rofl:


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

OK well I'm gonna try, I can split gum with a maul juts gotta start at the outside and work inward


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