Look what my old man bought!

[Nick Waring]

He bought this Splitting Maul at a garage sale in france today.

 

Now i know i've seen threads about these before, but for the life of me cant find them.

 

Are they any good?

 

Any other information would be usefull aswell.

 

Thanks

 

- Nick

[easy-lift guy]

That splitting maul is a very unique design. Never seen one stateside, Paul Bunyan approved I am sure!

easy-lift guy

[Daniël Bos]

We used to have one just like that years ago. I never got on with it, always found it jarred a lot as it strikes the wood, does its lever-thing and then stops dead.

 

Looks in good nick though and I'm sure it'll be beneficial in the right type of wood, I just never found its type...

[nepia]

Brilliant for starting big and hard stuff. Yeah they shake like hell on impact but they're not designed to penetrate the log deeply, just to burst it apart.

I had one to try recently and attacked logs I wouldn't have otherwise bothered with, e.g. 5-year cut 16" gnarly rings of yew. Once it had done its work the Fiskars X27 did the rest.

 

A word of warning; make sure there's nothing fragile within many feet. Every now and then a log will burst apart and fly miles sideways.

 

Jon

 

PS If your old man doesn't like it I'll have it off him!

Edited July 28, 2012 by nepia
PS

[Treemoose]

A customer had one and had a go on some logs with it and it was pretty terrible for splitting and it did jar you but as said it seems to be a specialised axe for certain splitting jobs

He called it his "Scandinavian axe"

That said it is a cool looking and interesting axe and would like to know more about it

[T14EES T14UNK]

I got one from Germany about ten yrs ago. I think it worked better without the little levers on and just as a wedge. And then the handle broke. I never bothered to re shaft it.

[finky]

that looks a nice tool... i got mine from screw fix and it dont look as that

[farmer rod]

I have one I was given as a present, thought it was a gimmick at first but I used to split apple ring all winter for years with it and I still use it. The dogs stop it from sticking in the wood which I think is the most exhausting aspect of the job. Using it one handed gives me tennis elbow for some reason.

[Warren Stirling]

My old man has used his for the last 25 years and swears by it. I dont get on with it and prefer good old brute force!