Ordered a new splitting maul

That's incredible. But not real bad since they were close to $30 with shipping back in the early '80s if I remember....

 

At an auction 8-9 years ago I bid on a box of stuff. I won it at $10, inside was a crushed box that contained a complete Sotz barrel stove kit. Put it on the local CL and sold it to someone in Pittsburgh. Like a fool I sent along the newspaper type catalog that came with the stove.

I do think the Monster Maul was around $30 shipped.

 

I have a 6lb Olympia maul & it does real well also.

 

I can't decide between the stihl pa 80 and the husky maul. Both are in the 6-7 lb range.

 

Im debating between a Mueller and Wetterlings myself. Until I got my splitter I used the bargain brand mauls and monster mauls. Im way ahead on firewood so thought Id swing some out..... figured Id try a quality tool this go round.

 

There's some nice ones out there. The stihl and husky mauls are in then$70-85 price range.

 

I've been wanting one of those. How well does it work? I love my Gransfor Bruks wildlife hatchet.

 

A couple of years back I got a Mueller 3 kg maul ($150). Turns out to have been a great buy, in fact.

I learned a lot from it: 1) sharp edge is important; 2) faces should be flat- no lumps or bumps; 3) properly heat-treated alloy is very important.

With a 7" disc grinder, I applied lessons 1 and 2 to some old cheapie Bradlees-special mauls from back in the day. Took about 1.5 hr work on each of them with rigid disc and flexible pad. Resulting product: the (2) 5 lb and (1) 8 lb mauls are much more productive at splitting wood. The 8 lb. one is still too heavy IMHO. Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything to improve their metallurgy; two of them are made of very mild (soft) steel.

With the Mueller maul, the head's widest point is around the middle of the eye, much farther back than on the cheapies. Keeps the split faces away from smacking its (very robust) hickory handle- very effective insurance.

A year back I got a 2.5 kg Wetterlings, which serves very well with pieces smaller than I'd use the Mueller on. Wetterlings is owned by the same person who owns Gransfors. Mauls from the both and Hultafors (aka Husqvarna) sook very similar, except for the price tags.

These tools turned potential torture into fun. Neither the Mueller nor the Wetterlings have needed sharpening, so long as I split up on a block. What they can't handle gets a bit of noodling, because it can't be split. (I never split on the ground, or on blacktop. Ever.)

Council Tools in NC is now making a 6 lb maul in addition to their earlier 8 lb. I'm still looking for objective reviews. Might order one anyway.