3 ms·
When your using a good size maul, you really should let gravity do the work for most of the logs. You really should only have to swing through on really tough
by JackFr 13y ago
When your using a good size maul, you really should let gravity do the work for most of the logs. You really should only have to swing through on really tough ones. (That isn't to say you don't need some strength -- picking up a heavy maul over your head is not easy.)
I split a lot of wood in high school, while working for a tree cutting company. After half a day of splitting with a 15-lb head, steel handled maul you'd be unable to make a fist from the shock your hands took. We used to have wood splitting competitions, in which you'd pick logs for your opponents. I still remember one exceptionally knotty piece of cherry that a guy who I was working with found for me. While he split all his logs, the maul would just bounce of that log.
- jtheory 13y agoI don't disagree -- esp. with decent logs, the strength you need for a maul is more about safety when things go wrong than about swinging it; i.e., strength grants control rather than brute force. The head is heavy and out on a long handle specifically so you can apply a lot of force just starting up high and letting it drop to the wood, but that works against you if you miss your target and it goes flying off to the side. And of course, if you've been at it for a while and are tiring, or you're less strong to begin with, aim suffers. > ...the maul would just bounce of that log I remember a few like that! I'll bet it was also pretty green and/or water logged... that would have that effect.