New fiskars IsoCore 8lb maul. What a beast. I was quartering 30"x18" oak rounds like butter. 3-4 hits to cut in half, 1 hit on each half to quarter. I'm in love. 'nuff said.
I understand that these mauls you are talking about are perfect at what they do, but me personally, I prefer to use something that looks more like an axe and to be honest I don’t know why.
Owned mine just over a year and a great tool for sure. Perfect compliment to the X27 which i use for 90% of my splitting but when i need more oomph i reach for the isocore!
Does it make sense that wood that is a bit punky doesn't split easy? I scored some oak, don't know the species. Bark and wood looks like water oak to me, we have a lot of that here. Possibly willow oak. The tree was already bucked up into rounds, I just had to go get it. Upon splitting with hydraulic splitter, the wood is slightly punky. Has the wavy black lines in it. Not any rot but those black lines and it just doesn't look fresh. When next up was a really big round, I decided to whack it in half first. Couldn't do it! The Isocore just sunk into the wood, blow after blow. I never could split it. I figure if it was fresh, it would have.
I've noticed the same effect with a couple species. Apple and Hickory come to mind. My guess is once cut and starting to dry out, the grain structure changes; it either shrinks or gets tighter. That's what I'm going with Fresh cut splits easier (unless you're talking about the infamous Elm)
Imagine trying to split a sponge. Any good splitting wood is at least semi hard/brittle. Punky wood is just mush.
Just got my ISO Core about a month ago to go along with my X27. It’s a great combo but I had a huge fight today with a knotty white ash round, finally got through it. It took: X27, ISO core, another splitting maul that I ended up driving into the round with my sledgehammer. I then drove a wedge in and used another wedge from the other direction and a 30ish”crowbar. I’m not sure why my family thinks I’m super competitive. That seems like a completely normal response for that situation.
LOL, gotta go back to the woodlot maybe this weekend and get more. I'll take pics then... ya bunch of doubters...
I broke down and got one last year, I heard good things about them but I am cheap and it seemed like a lot for a maul... I'm glad I got one. Split 10 cords of wood with it last year.
Nope, need pics now! The Isocore is nice. I get into a rhythm with it and plow through big rounds. My dad saw me splitting a bunch of black walnut with it recently and remarked how much fun he could tell I was having!
Nope, need pics now! The Isocore is nice. I get into a rhythm with it and plow through big rounds. My dad saw me splitting a bunch of black walnut with it recently and remarked how much fun he could tell I was having!
for that effort. If the isocore doesnt make much of an impact, the log gets noodled. From the sound of it i wouldnt have even attempted to split one like that. What length was the round? I cut 16"
Same 16”, I was making progress, it was very slow progress but I was making progress. I have only resorted to noodling a couple of times. I’m not proud of my stubbornness but I will definitely own up to it.
