Maul swinging techniquie

[got wood?]

on the stubborn pieces or when I'm starting a large round I'll give it a bit extra by stretching (arching and elongating) the back on the backswing and essentially squatting a bit right as the maul is about to strike the round...sort of a downward knee bend to add that extra bit of force...seems to work really well for me.

I've gotta try this handle twist method everyone is writing about!

 

[DriftWood]

When I get a hold of easy splitting stuff I use a small 12 LB. Monster Maul. I center the head on the edge I want to hit and in one motion toss the head straight up as hi as I can reach, straight up. Them gravity dose the rest straight down. The big 16 lb Monster Maul is getting to heavy to lift.

...On BOX ELDER, ELM and a lot of the wood I pick up along the road and in the river. I use wedges. I can bury all five before I get out the chain saw. I center the hammer head on wedge and in one motion toss the head straight up as hi as I can reach straight up. Them gravity dose the rest straight down. It helps being 6'5" tall. I use a Sears Craftsman 8lb hammer. (Lifetime warrantee on broken handles and mashed heads, just clear tape the name on the handle so it doesn’t ware off).

 

[fbelec]

great reading guys. a couple of things to try now. i use a 12 pound fiberglassed handle maul and swing over my head. but i have to try some of these other techniques cause the slipped disk in the back only lets me do a certain amount before it tells me go sit down. one thing to remember that i find a bit strange and only because it has to do with how the body works and you almost have no control over it and that is when your swinging like your going to go thru the chopping block keep your eye on exactly where you want to hit, if you move your eye for a split second you'll miss that spot. and then it does pay to have your feet a mile apart :bug:

 

[pinefarm]

I split my wood right where it fell. I don't use a chopping block. By splitting where it fell, I leave all the bark etc. in the woods plus any unsplittable chunks. People say that frozen wood splits easier than nonfrozen. They also say you should split from the top down on chunks. I never found either of these things to be true. I do know that often you can split a tough chunk by simply turning it over. I slso always work on the end away from any knots etc. The wedging effect seems to help. I see no difference in splitting dead or live wood. The one true statement I can make is that some chunks split easier than other chunks even though they look identical. Dave Johnson

 

[Corie]

I think I might take a video next week of myself swining a maul, since it's almost impossible to describe my technique.

That, and it will give me an excuse to split all of the wood I cut up with my NEW CHAINSAW

 

[onno]

I'm feel a bit sad, reading about all of these splitting techniques, I split too much wood last year, that I still have a two year supply after this warm winter. I'm figuring out ways to burn more wood.

I find that it is speed, not force, that does the trick, so most of my power is spent by the time the maul is over my head. At that point, I merely pull on the handle as it goes down. Different muscles are involved in lifting the ax up in front of you than from behind. I like going from behind because it seems less work for a greater effect. Its more like swinging than lifting. Accuracy is not a problem.

By the end of the day, I am not as powerful as I was at the beginning of the day, but that only shows itself when there are multiple knots in the wood. Otherwise, I make sure I hit close to the edge, and try to use the right amount of force that the two parts are still standing, with the aim to spit the log into four pieces without having to pick them back up.