fishman
Veteran Member
When I was a teenager, we heated our old uninsulated farm house with wood, ran two wood stoves in fact. 15-25 pickup loads a year as I recall. We had a monster maul, and I really didn't like it, too much hand shock. My preferred splitter is the one I still have, and axe-eye 6 lb maul that uses ash handles. Because they are oval, you always know your maul orientation. Even the best ash handle would eventually break, because clingy wood remnants would strike the handle and gouge it as it went through the piece. I got a bit more life out of them by wrapping them with a piece of sheet metal and stapling it on the back side, but still 2-3 years at best. I really don't like the fiberglass round mauls because they have no "feel" and don't seem to transmit the power as well as a good ash handle.
Of course this is all academic now, since I rarely split wood. But I am happy to say that it is like a bicycle. Once you've split 10,000 pieces of wood, it becomes muscle memory and you can't forget.
Of course this is all academic now, since I rarely split wood. But I am happy to say that it is like a bicycle. Once you've split 10,000 pieces of wood, it becomes muscle memory and you can't forget.
