Lifting the maul as a part of your swing is definitely a waste of energy. Everything it gives back on impact is something your arms put into it on the way up. You might get going slightly faster that way but the muscle energy spent to do it is just too high.
I see what you all are saying. Will try it out starting above the head. The X27 seems light enough through that swinging it up over head doesn't seem to take much energy, even if a lot of it is wasted? Swinging a maul I certainly wouldn't do this! This is lighter axe form only. My 8# maul I don't start up high though, I swing it in a 360 degree arc, starting with a bit of a reverse swing forward up to the block, then letting gravity with a little bit of force swing down behind me up overhead and then down, all in one big circle. I generate way more force than I could when I try starting overhead. I think I've heard that technique called the roundhouse swing (if I understand it correctly) though I don't really use the maul anymore. Since I bought hydro splitter last year anything that the Fiskars doesn't split easy I save for the hydro.
" Or that at can lean over as in my pictures, just to remain straight through the rotation? " Yes. I could have been clearer - was just trying to say do not reach out too far. At the bottom of the swing are close to your body, Not reaching way out. I like this guys form. The other thing that this guy does is having his hands apart on the handle and sliding them together through the swing. That makes for a controlled, efficient, powerful swing. The guy in the vid is twice my size. I swing kind of the same with an axe or maul except my feet are a bit close together. The pro lumberjack guys are the guys that can swing an axe!
The funny thing is some people pay to have a guy tell them to swing a sledge against a tire because they call it "personal training." The FHC swings an axe/maul, gets a workout, some fresh air and free heat. We should be getting paid to have people split wood for us! It's the new workout craze! "The lumberjack workout"
I've tried (unsucessfully so far) to convince college kids that they should pay me if they want to cut my wood. I call it Greg's Gym. They'll come do some for fun (or for food, more precisely), but so far they aren't paying me! Someday, yes someday.
You had college kids doing something physical?!? That means they had to put their phone down. I want to see pics.
This guy has it exactly as I was taught many years ago and i think perfect for using the body to its fullest to maximize its potential splitting wood. I did not watch the entire video but once I saw him finally swing and his technique I knew i had seen enough . Having worked construction after I worked both logging and processing firewood I could smoke anyone driving stakes(actually made some money on bets )for form work specifically footings in both accuracy and power. I swung a sledge exactly as this guy in the video and exactly as I did swinging a maul whether it be a 8#-10# or a 12 pounder. Not patting my own back simply trying to emphasize to those who are splitting with a maul or an Axe (works with an axe as well) if you follow his instructions you will eventually maximize your capability splitting wood . The only thing I would add is to switch to each side meaning left to right or vice versa so you can work both without overworking one side, might take a while to get use to but it will come eventually . Great contribution Chipsflyin !
You mentioning "driving stakes" brought back some memories from back in the day when I was in school. I worked for a tent/table/chair rental company as a delivery/setup/take down guy. No tent stake had a chance. Bent one of the big 1' diameter stakes trying to get it out- someone sent it through a root when installing. My father was one of those guys that said " Come hear you are going to need to know how to do this someday. " That's how I learned many things including swinging a maul. I think when you learn stuff when young it kinda becomes part of you and a natural thoughtless movement.
I gave this a good bit of practice today and it's much better than what I've been doing so far. Something that's instantly better is my accuracy! Placing three or four blows on the same exact spot is unheard of for me but it happened over and over when I worked on this technique. I kinda miss my wild Hail Mary swings, but this works better. Thanks for posting the video! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'll have plenty of practice working on my "form" and "figure" a little later. The best upper-body cardio workout ever! MS250, MS029, MS066, Hsq141, JD 50V, Mc PM641, Mc MiniMac
I start my downswing with my right hand closer to the maul hea,and left hand at the back of the handle. Through the swing, my right hand slides down to my left, completing the swing and strike. Works for me
When I focus on my swing it gets all confused and I can't really decide which hand I like better. When I just grab the maul and line up on a round I find that I have no decision to make because I always end up doing it the same way. I am, generally speaking, right handed but when I just go for it I find I am using my right hand as the guiding hand near the head at the beginning of the swing while my left hand is putting the force into the swing.
I've been working on swapping sides. I like the idea of not throwing my back out or whack. It's awkward, bordering on dangerous right now. Think I'll make a point of slowing things RIGHT down when I swap. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'm more of a throw it straight up and pull it down technique...back straight...squat at the knees, let gravity and the maul do most of the work. Line the center of your body where you want the hit, "throw" the head of the maul up to straight over your head, not behind, and swing straight down, pulling down with gravity. I've found that the "half a roundhouse" technique in the gym video above is more effort and is harder to get an accurate swing, and I don't like the torquing torso. This guy is kind of hard to take but he demonstrates the swing I use.
Well I got that all wrong. I was out splitting today and thought to check and see what I was really doing after I had already started. I had gotten the hand thing all wrong in that post. I was tossing the maul head in the air with my left hand and holding the bitter end of the handle in my right. Shortly after starting the swing down I found that I brought my left hand down with my right to really put some a$$ into the swing.
Your right about one thing... That jabrony is hard to take. His form looks good, but anybody could split those little rounds. He would be much more credible if he were splitting some 20"-30" rounds.
