well making a couple of assumptions based on my size, the axe head would travel in an arc with a distance of 4.71 ft I am guessing it would take 1 thousandth of a second to cover this distance this would mean the axe head is traveling at 53.52 mph YMMV
I think you're off by a few orders of magnitude there. 4.71 feet is 1/1120 of a mile (4.71/5280), and if you assume 50mph, you're doing (5280*50/3600)=73.3fps. 4.71/73.3 is .06sec, and that assumes uniform speed throughout the swing, when it really starts at around 0mph for the beginning of the swing. Depending on your assumptions about speed and acceleration, it seems like 0.1-0.2 sec would be a good guess for how long a swing is. If you have a GoPro or something that can do 60-120 frames a second, and can freeze the individual frames on playback, you could probably find a way to plot it and estimate your speed empirically.
I've just finished reading this thread from stem to stern and in near 60 years of wood splitting have never seen so much discussion in print concerning the physics of splitting wood by hand. I have never owned nor ever held in hand a single one of the fancy tools ya'all talk of. All we had until hydraulics entered our picture in the late '70's were decades old post axes, yet older double bit axes and hand forged mauls made from 6 and 8 pound sledge hammers. I still use the original 6 pounder my dad shaped in the mid-50's and is the one I use on the few occasions that hand splitting is needed. I also have one of the first 8 pounders he shaped back in the day. We kept (and still keep) axes as sharp as possible, but not so much with the mauls. I can see added benefits to the various new splitting devices for all you youngsters that enjoy them, but I also see the benefit of the frugality of using my inherited old hand made mauls... Reading the grain to me is the greatest asset one can attain which in turn minimizes the amount of effort a fellow has to put into his swing....no matter WHAT he is swinging. What works for me sure as the dickens ain't gonna work for everybody and unfortunately I'll probably not get the chance to try the newer products. I can't justify the cost of the fancy alternatives in my case. I do thank you fellows for the active discussion and maybe at a GTG, I'll get a chance to swing a new one. Who knew it took so much math to split a dumb old chunk of oak..... Oh, and while I was at the junk yard dumping off some scrap I did find a monstrous Monster Maul laying on top of the heap. I bought it for .35/pound only for a converstion piece. I should weigh that thing...I believe its gotta be the biggest of the series. I sure don't put that one in the category of new fancy splitting tools though.
